Although the Ministry of Heritage will confirm nothing, the film and television industry is buzzing that a new government production fund could be in the offing before the end of August.

At this point, pinning down specifics is like nailing mud to the wall, but speculation is that big money is coming, a production fund widely thought to start between $100 million and $120 million available to private and public broadcasters and independent producers.

While many theorize an announcement could be made in late August using the Montreal World Film Festival as leverage, others say word could come before the end of July in order to ride the momentum of the return to office of newly re-elected Heritage Minister Sheila Copps.

cftpa president Elizabeth McDonald confirms Copps has expressed an interest in pursuing the fund over the summer, a mechanism more a response to the Juneau Report than cutbacks to the public funding agencies. The new fund could be a major job stimulator ‘and we think that will be a real win for government,’ says McDonald.

Telefilm Canada executive director Francois Macerola is similarly optimistic a new production fund will come to fruition.

‘It’s a priority for Madame Copps and I’m sure the minister is going to find an imaginative solution for the establishment of a production fund.’

According to industry sources, Heritage is in the process of sussing out which of the established funding arms could administer the new monies, with agency reps confirming they are fielding information-seeking phone calls from Heritage on the particulars of their processes.

Telefilm is lobbying to hold the purse strings, and although most don’t want to see Telefilm undermined in any way by a fund competitive in any way, some are advocating a less subjective administration under cavco or the Cable Production Fund.

For the cftpa’s part, McDonald says the producers could warm to Telefilm as the agency of choice.

‘If a fund is introduced, we believe it has to be for identifiably high-quality Canadian programming. We are open to having Telefilm administer (the fund) if we are satisfied with the Memorandum of Understanding governing it. We don’t want it to be overly burdened with subjective analysis. There might be some requirements. But we all must wait for the minister to indicate what she wants.’

McDonald also adds that ‘some of the models of the cpf have been excellent’ and that ‘the cftpa fully supports Bill Mustos and the job he’s done for the Cable Production Fund. It has been outstanding.’

One deterrent to having the cpf administrate could be the establishment of the new funding mechanisms for broadcast distribution undertakings. The crtc hearing, which begins Oct. 7, will examine the viability of all broadband, subscription-based distributors – including cable, dth and wireless service providers – contributing 3% of gross earnings to an independently administered production fund, which could crank up the cpf’s budget to about $80 million.