Indigenous Canadian production got an adrenaline shot this month with the renewal of the $300-million Canada Television and Cable Production Fund and the subsequent release of its revised eligibility criteria.

At press time, a condensed version of the new guidelines to the Licence Fee Program and Equity Investment Program was set to be released to industry types Feb. 20. The complete package will be available Feb. 25, the day after the federal budget, but even in the abbreviated version, the operative word is ‘distinctive.’

Within the lfp, for example, although licence fee thresholds remain the same, only programs eligible for the new ‘Distinctly Canadian Bonus,’ may make use of the big-budget threshold. The dcb, a series of caps incentives for those that qualify, takes the 10% baseline top-up to between 15% to 30%, depending on language and region. At the same time, newly implemented is a cap reduction of 30% from last year for those projects which don’t qualify as distinctly Canadian.

Tweaks to the ctcpf are in part geared towards increasing the volume of culturally significant Cancon tapping the fund, says ctcpf president Garry Toth.

‘We want to become known for raising the bar for distinctively Canadian programming. Most of the programs we’ve done in the past have been, but we want to see the money more directly encouraging broadcasters to utilize Canadian talent, stories, crew, key creative. We want to see if we can raise that a notch.’

The guidelines’ release followed a week of similar dialogue from industry executives vis-a-vis the impact of the renewed ctcpf on Canadian content.

‘For the highly distinct, culturally significant Canadian shows, this is an insurance policy on their longevity,’ says Alliance Communications ceo Robert Lantos.

‘It means that we will devote a significant portion of our resources and creative energy to inventing, creating, developing and producing those kinds of programs. For that portion of our menu, it’s crucial. In the absence of this level of government contribution, we would have to spend more of our resources and our energy on the non-Canadian-specific production.’

The money and its three-year guarantee is being heralded across the board – drama to kids’ to non-fiction programming. Family Channel president and coo Len Cochrane points to the stability factor.

‘If you have a really good series in the works, you’re in a position to plan with confidence. It allows us to plan in the long term and consistently schedule for the audience.’

cbc head of English-language television Slawko Klymkiw makes the same point, saying that specific to the public broadcaster and its all-Canadian schedule agenda, the fund has ‘essentially given us hope.’

‘Without it, it would have been a very serious situation.’

Atlantis Broadcasting vp programming Barbara Williams says at least six series commissioned by Life Network wouldn’t have been greenlit without the fund last year.

‘But three years is even better. tv has to work far ahead, so knowing the fund is there for the duration means you can really sink your teeth into some projects because you know you have some longevity.’

EIP caps series

At the eip end, Telefilm Canada’s policy changes have focused on increasing the number of projects ably financed.

For example, caps on English-language, one-hour drama series have been reduced to $3 million for 13 episodes. The maximum series contribution ceilings at $4.8 million for 22 episodes. Programs with fewer than 13 episodes will see the maximum contribution prorated down based on the number of episodes.

To limit the number of potential series made at the cap level, the eip will finance no more than two series for each public and private broadcaster envelope at the $4.8 million cap. Each private broadcaster will be able to access the full series cap funds only once per broadcast season. If all the broadcasters apply for the series peak cap money and there isn’t enough to go around, then a judgment call based on recoupment and ratings and will come into play.

‘We have made these decisions for a better distribution of Telefilm’s financial resources,’ says Telefilm Canada’s Francois Macerola.

‘Although we want to ensure continuity for existing series, at a certain point we have to limit the number of series we participate in and redistribute the resources to generate the production of new projects.’

On the feature film side of the eip, an incentive for producers to negotiate better licence fee deals with broadcasters has been added. For English-language feature films, the non-recoupable contribution is up to four times the Canadian broadcaster licence fee and for French-language theatrical films the contribution is up to eight times the licence fee. The maximum non-recoupable contribution is the lower of $750,000 or 20% of production costs. This also applies to official coproductions.

‘We have added a little plus to the program by establishing a relationship between the Telefilm contribution and what the producer can convince a broadcaster to put in,’ says Macerola. ‘I believe the broadcaster should be more financially involved in feature film production.’

Highlights

Other guideline revisions include, for the lfp:

– New program eligibility criteria includes a restriction preventing a foreign entity from being involved in development and later participating in distribution of the project, a requirement that the producer must retain 15% participation in ‘exploitation’ of a project, and a new restriction preventing a non-Canadian company from providing more than 49% of production financing

– Programs eligible for the dcb and a regional bonus will receive a 25% top-up; the top-up for the dcb plus the French bonus is 20%; programs qualifying for the dcb and both the regional and French bonus will move to a 30% top-up

– Two application periods have been established. Applications will be accepted April 14, 1998, with 90% of the funds for the period allocated between Sept. 14 and 15. The remaining 10% will be allocated after the 15th.

Highlights from the eip include:

– On the French-language side, a $3.5-million cap on 13-episode, one-hour French-language drama series has been established. If the series includes fewer than 13 eps the cap will be prorated down, making the cap per episode for a series of up to 13 episodes $269,230 for a French-language episode.

– Half-hour drama series face a maximum contribution of $2 million based on 13 or more episodes. If the series includes fewer than 13 episodes the cap is prorated downward based on the number of episodes.

– Up to $1 million of the eip funds will be earmarked for aboriginal-language productions which do not meet the eip’s licence fee threshold, to a maximum of $100,000 per project.

Telefilm will no longer provide guidelines regarding the number of plays the triggering broadcasters may acquire, but the languages and terms that may be acquired cannot exceed four years for drama programs (broadcast licences may include one language of broadcast only except in the case of mows), and six years for children’s, documentary, variety and performing art programming (broadcast licences may include English- and French-language broadcast rights.)

Minutia can be found on the agency’s Websites post Feb. 25. //www.ctcpf.com or //www.telefilm.gc.ca.

With files from Andy Hoffman.