When the Cable Production Fund opens its doors April 3 with a $38 million budget for year one, the fund will be more accessible to producers than originally anticipated.

A cross-country tour of consultations with the industry in February made it perfectly clear to executive director Bill Mustos that broadcaster commitment requirements for drama and Canadian-content points required for treaty coproductions were too high, and licence fee commitments for children’s programs and documentaries too low.

The finalized guidelines, which will be available March 20, include amended broadcaster commitment requirements for drama, documentary and children’s programming, an increase in the cpf’s contribution to production budgets, and new definitions for children’s programs and documentaries.

Under the original terms of the fund, for drama projects, broadcasters were required to commit 35% of the production budget to the producer and the fund would then pay 30% of that amount. That left broadcasters with a cash commitment of 24.5% of the budget, a figure deemed too high by broadcasters and producers alike.

Now drama requirements have been altered and divided into two categories: regional programming and productions in Toronto and Montreal.

In the two cities, while the broadcaster must still commit 35% of the budget, the cpf contribution has increased to 35% of that amount, dropping the broadcaster’s commitment by approximately 1.5% to 23%.

In the regions, the cpf contribution is 43% of the broadcaster’s commitment, or 15% (up from 10.5%) of the budget, thereby reducing broadcasters’ cash obligation by 4.5% to 20% of the budget.

In the area of documentary and children’s programming, the broadcaster’s commitment has been raised from 15% to 25% of the budget, with a cpf contribution of 40% of the broadcaster’s commitment. The end result is that the broadcaster’s obligation increases from 10.5% to 15% of the budget, with the cpf putting up 10% instead of 4.5%.

New definitions for children’s programs are an amalgamation of the fund’s original guidelines with ytv definitions and Alliance of Children and Television policy. Programs must be targeted to kids 12 years and under.

With respect to documentaries, the Canadian Independent Film Caucus was consulted to create the new definitions, which apply to films of at least 30 minutes in length and have ‘a long shelf life.’ Details will be available in the guidelines.

Mustos says this is it for amendments for now, since broadcaster-commitment and Canadian-content issues were laid down as non-negotiable in the crtc’s original public notice for the fund.

The eight out of 10 Cancon point requirement for treaty coproductions, despite producers’ complaint that it is a hindrance to attracting international coproduction partners, will remain unchanged.

In addition to the above-mentioned types of programming, all of which must be made for primetime viewing, variety, music and dance programs are eligible for the fund. Approval involves two review processes – one at the core documentation stage, whereby 50% of the allocation will be provided, and the second at the time of the production’s audit. Mustos says the final 50% payment can be banked by way of an interim certificate.

Mustos has estimated the five-year allotment of the fund will be $250 million. Because contributions to the fund by cable companies are made on a voluntary basis, Mustos says the key to keeping the money flowing is to provide programming the cablecos will want to broadcast. PC