Western Canadian producers (including b.c.) received $10.5 million from Telefilm Canada and $5.5 million from the cbc’s exclusive Telefilm kitty in the most recent round of equity investment.

In all, Telefilm’s Western Canada office received 80 applications prior to the opening of the ctcpf’s Licence Fee Program April 14. Of the 80, 18 projects were approved in b.c., seven in Alberta, three in Saskatchewan and three in Manitoba. In the unofficial, unaudited tallies, the West represents 46% of the English-language funding available and 66% of the available funding for aboriginal production.

‘The West’s access to film, television and multimedia funding has increased in the past year and is expected to be even higher this fiscal,’ says Telefilm’s director of Western operations Elizabeth Friesen. ‘This increased level of regional production is a clear demonstration of the commitment Telefilm made to small and medium-sized business and regional production in its business plan published two years ago.’

Alberta – which is suffering the loss of the Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation – saw a decrease in participation, despite the investment of A-Channel in homemade production.

‘From Alberta, there was a decline in both the number of applications and the types of projects,’ says Shelley Nowazek, public relations officer with the Western Telefilm office. ‘[For producers], there is a greater difficulty in putting their funding together without a provincial funding organization and a tax credit. That produces quite a gap.’

Because A-Channel licenses television movies, the kind of application from Alberta has become more mow-oriented.

The most notable aspect of the applications was the predominance of non-dramatic productions: 66 of the 80 applications dealt with non-dramatic material.

Nowazek says producers are flocking to the documentary genre because of the proliferation of specialty channels to trigger such productions and ability to use, in most cases, smaller budgets than drama.

Nowazek says the decision making as to who received or wouldn’t receive funding was very tough this year. Applications were evaluated on their Canadian content, their market exposure (through audience potential, participating broadcasters, anticipated box office, home video sales, etc.) and expected return on investment.

According to Telefilm’s most recent audited quarter – which ended March 31, prior to the funding crisis that the ctcpf faced in April – Big Bear was the big winner in the Prairie province sweepstakes.

During the quarter, the miniseries, inspired by Edmonton writer/director Gil Cardinal of Kanata Productions and produced by Montreal’s Productions Tele-Action, Kanata and Saskatoon’s Blue Hill Productions, received $2 million of the $6.7 million handed out to producers in the West and northern territories.

Saskatchewan producers received no funding during the quarter, while only one Manitoban production – the drama Epiphany Rules, produced by Winnipeg’s Buffalo Gal Pictures and Journey Films – received funding. Epiphany Rules got $34,500.