The Canadian Television Fund’s breakdowns of funding to the documentary sector show combined oversubscription to the tune of $23.3 million.

On the English-language private broadcaster side, the Equity Investment Program was oversubscribed by $11.3 million and the Licence Fee Program by $6.5 million in the documentary category for a total of $17.8 million. Preliminary stats from the ctf show that oversubscription in the children’s category totalled $18.3 million; $16.6 million in drama and $1.8 million in variety/performing arts.

In the French-language private broadcaster envelope, doc oversubscription came to $5.5 million, as compared with drama with $10 million and kids with $2.7 million in oversubcription.

‘Documentaries are a booming genre garnering high audiences and broadcaster attention,’ says Peter Raymont at White Pine Pictures, pointing out that he has been licensed by ctv, ‘one of the most commercial networks,’ to do a three-hour history of Toronto.

Over the next few years producers are also anticipating a doc boom as a result of the crtc’s new tv policy which includes documentaries of at least 30 minutes in the priority programming category. ‘It makes sense that, for a broadcaster, documentaries are a far less expensive way of filling their eight hours a week commitment,’ says Great North Productions’ Andy Thomson.

Based on the funding allocations in the 99/2000 ctf guidelines, roughly $45.4 million was available for English-language drama; $19.1 million for kids programming; $16.8 million to docs and $656,000 to variety/performing arts. French language tv drama was allotted $41 million; kids $7.9 million; documentaries $9.7 million; and variety/performiing arts $3.2 million.

As the ctf board’s sub-committees begin the process of addressing concerns and making recommendations for the next set of guidelines, to be hammered out this September, doc producers have presented a number of suggestions.

First, ideas on how to improve the way projects are ranked for funding.

In the 85 ranking points on the lfp side, projects garnered 15 points if Telefilm invested a minimum of 15%, which Thomson suggests is a token amount. ‘Producers were applying to the eip not because they really needed the money but because they needed the ranking to get the lfp. A solution is to either make it 10 ranking points at the lfp or increase the Telefilm invesment to 25%; then the eip investment is significant and dislodges the need for some of the other funds.’

Thomson also questions the evaluation grid at the eip which does not rate the Canadian-ness of a project. Great North’s biography series on great Canadians, for example, was turned down by the eip. Thomson says the ctf is looking at ways the eip can bonus projects which rank higher in Canadian points.

Money-at-risk formulas are also a bone of contention. ‘I have argued that the only money-at-risk that means a thing for very-Canadian programs is the amount the Canadian broadcaster will pay for the show,’ says Thomson. ‘Anything else – the distribution advance, equity, is all fabricated just to achieve ranking points. It’s an artificial construct.’ He says the dollars-at-risk formula was placed in last year’s guidelines at the request of government reps who wanted to encourage private financing.

Michael McMahon at Toronto’s Primitive Features says it is particularly difficult to raise dollars-at-risk for pov documentaries. ‘Encouraging producers to look for other ways to finance is important but pov docs are most often made by individuals, not companies, and these are not the most market driven projects.’

While many long form and pov docs sell well once complete, they are less obviously marketable and thus more difficult to finance early on, he says.

David Paperny of Paperny Films in Vancouver agrees that less emphasis should be placed on dollars-at-risk. ‘There’s an inherent contradiction between the focus on recoupement/making a profit and the requirement for a documentary to be super-Canadian….The ctf wants super-Canadian and high-dollars-at-risk, but to get this from a distributor the project has to be marketable internationally.’

Paperny’s doc series on Canadian business tycoons and leaders, based on Peter C. Newman’s book Titans, was licensed by Global at a high fee but was turned down by the ctf. Paperny says garnering the dollars-at-risk was difficult because distributors were unsure of the series’ international appeal.

Paperny suggests that instead of the dollars-at-risk criteria, a mechanism be introduced to encourage broadcasters to put more money into projects they want to see happen. ‘An open sliding scale so production companies can achieve more points on projects where broadcasters put up more than 25%,’ he proposes.

Multiple deadlines is a popular request across the doc sector, particularly in the case of of projects which require shooting based around an unfolding situation. ‘In the real world of documentary production events happen in the middle of summer or winter and you have to shoot right away,’ says Raymont. ‘The annual funding rush forces you into pre-scripting films that shouldn’t be scripted at all.’

Paperny actually had to begin prepro on several doc projects before final word from the ctf because broadcasters required delivery for fall launch. ‘It is difficult to turn around a high quality project in three to four months.’

In the final analysis, the eip supported 42 of 116 docs requesting funding and the lfp 68 of the 171 projects. English-language docmakers requested a total of $30.5 million from the ctf and $12.7 million was committed by the fund.

In the French-language private broadcaster envelope, the eip supported 18 of 42 doc applications and the lfp 33 of 43. Of the $13.3 million requested of the ctf, $7.8 million was committed.

In the English private broadcasters kitty, the eip supported eight documentary renewals, 13 series and 29 one-offs. The lfp committed to 17 renewals, 38 series and 30 one-offs. The number of renewals on the French side totalled four at the eip and six at the lfp; series accounted for seven projects supported at the eip and 22 at the lfp; and one-offs totalled 11 at the eip and 11 at the lfp.