The Canadian Television Fund has posted its Licence Fee Program funding approvals online for the first round of applications in the drama, children’s, variety/performing arts and feature (French only) categories. The list features cross-Canada representation – including support for new drama series and limited series out of Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa, St. John’s, and Winnipeg – and some notable exceptions. Both CTF and Telefilm Canada have suspended financing decisions on Cinar program applications for the time being.

Following are some highlights, (from the www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca website), beginning with new drama series (and referring to ‘episodes’ in all cases):

* 22 episodes of Diva Productions’ The Agency (Vancouver);

* 6 eps of Beyond the Barbed Wire, Grasslands Entertainment (Calgary);

* 13 eps of Blackfly, Blackfly ii Productions (Halifax);

* 13 eps of Blue Murder, Barna-Alper (Toronto);

* 11 eps of Le Bunker, Motion International iv (Montreal);

* 13 eps of Le coeur decouvert, Communications Claude Heroux (Montreal);

* 6 eps of Dice, Cite-Amerique Cinema Television (Montreal);

* 6 eps of The Daily Blade, Jigsaw Pictures (Halifax);

* 26 eps of Fred-dy, Productions Pixcom (Montreal);

* 13 eps of La grande expedition, Telefiction (Montreal);

* 6 eps of The Last Band on the Planet, Last Band on the Planet Productions (Ottawa);

* 13 eps of Puppets Who…Kill, PWK Productions (Toronto);

* 13 eps of The Itch, Salter Street (Halifax);

* 10 eps of Lance et compte: The Next Generation, cch (Montreal);

* 13 eps of Liography, Liography 2000 Productions (Halifax);

* 6 eps of Night and Day, Red Violin Productions (Toronto);

* 8 eps of Random Passage, Passage Films, (St. John’s);

* 26 eps of Riviere-des-Jeremies, Verseau International (Montreal);

* 13 eps of Steelstring, Steelstring (Cycle 1) Productions (Toronto);

* 6 eps of Trailer Park Boys, TPB Productions (Halifax);

* 13 eps of Young Lawyers, Big Firm Productions (Toronto);

Notable among returning series are The Red Green Show, Red Green Produsctions (Toronto) and Watatatow, Productions jbm (Montreal), both back for a tenth season.

Some children’s highlights:

* 13 eps of Bunwin, Snook & Creakie, Good Night Monsters Productions (Toronto);

* 65 eps of Capitaine Plouf, Motion International (Montreal);

* 26 eps of Door to Door, 3632865 Canada Inc. (Montreal);

* 13 eps of Jumpstart, Genuine Pictures (Ashton);

* 26 eps of Magical Kitchen, Motion International (Montreal);

* 35 eps of Le monde a la loupe, Productions Megafun (Westmount);

* 10 eps of Ollie’s Under the Bed Adventures, Collideascope Digital Productions (Halifax);

* 13 eps of Spy Fly, Credo Enterprises (Winnipeg);

* 13 eps of The Screech Owls, Shaftesbury Films (Toronto).

And in variety/performing arts:

* 13 eps of Anecdotes, Productions Point-Final (Montreal);

* 13 eps of Cirque du Soleil presents The Greatest Show on Earth 3719731 Canada (Montreal);

* 26 eps of Dominic et Martin, Productions Point-Final (Montreal);

* 33 eps of Impro Quebec, Distributions Rozon (Montreal);

* 6 eps of The Improv Comedy Games, KKBL No. 293 Ventures (Vancouver).

Five French features were approved, all from Montreal: L’ange de Goudron from Studio Max Films; Comme pour un mariage from Coop de Production Videoscope; Une jeune fille a la fenetre from Palomar; Nuit de Noces out of Cinemaginaire; and Seraphin from Cite-Amerique.

For ctf highlights from the West Coast, see B.C. Scene, p. 37.