Vancouver: B.C. television producers will have to look elsewhere for production financing now that British Columbia Film has opted out of the TV equity financing game in the wake of the provincial government’s cost-cutting budget announced Feb. 19.

B.C. Film’s allotment for fiscal 2002/03 was chopped by $1 million, which along with the loss of the Features in Focus equity program will also mean the demise of sponsorship for festivals and awards over the next two years.

‘We are a smaller B.C. Film and a different B.C. Film,’ says CEO Rob Egan. ‘We are sharpening and refocusing our programs to make a difference with limited resources.’

What’s left is an operations budget of $2.26 million, a special feature film budget of about $1 million this year, revenue from application fees, yields from past projects and cash reserves, which until this year allowed B.C. Film to do much more than its modest budget would allow. Staffing will drop from eight to six to reflect the changes in administration needs.

Program-wise, B.C. Film will focus on development financing for all genres, production financing for three to five feature films this year, marketing and skills development.

The revamped Markets in Mind development financing program, for instance, is now a first-come-first-served non-recoupable grant given to producers of any genre who have development advances from broadcasters or distributors. Individual projects are capped at $30,000, except for television series, which are capped at $50,000. Corporations with multiple development projects are capped at $50,000.

The provincial budget also chopped the special B.C. Feature Film Fund by $1 million to $4 million. After funding a record nine features last year, B.C. Film has about $2 million left in the feature kitty, which will likely expire in fiscal 2003/04. There is no plan to replace that funding beyond 2003/04.

Boosting the Box Office is a new marketing initiative that is designed to enhance the marketing plans of B.C. theatrical productions and to match the contributions offered by their Canadian distributors. Producers who jointly apply with their distributors can get a maximum $100,000 recoupable advance.

Passport to Markets, a program that assists producers attend international markets, remains unchanged from last year.

As for skills development programs, B.C. Film’s bursary program that essentially helps B.C. residents attend the Canadian Film Centre is also unchanged. The professional internship program, which contributes wages to writers-, producers- or distributors-in-training with approved mentors, is beefed up to assist more feature film screenwriters and compensate for the loss of writing support from the late Features in Focus program. About 12 people took advantage of the internship program last year.

A new program called Partnerships in Training will contribute funds to organizations such as Praxis and Cineworks that facilitate skills development training.

Egan says it is difficult to predict what impact the changes – especially the cuts to TV financing – will have on B.C.’s domestic production volumes. ‘We hope it’s less of a blow by the way we’ve structured the development financing,’ he says.

In 2001/02, when domestic production volumes dipped substantially, 27 documentary producers shared $869,000, although total demand was $1.5 million. Also last year, 10 drama and animated TV series shared $1.4 million, although there was demand for $3.2 million.

Generally, there is less TV licensing happening, adds Egan, and fewer series now that the CRTC has taken the incentives away for producers to commission them. B.C. Film’s contribution to TV, meanwhile, was less important to the overall financing of TV series and more important to the financing of documentaries, which are the most at risk by the cuts.

The domestic tax credit remains intact after the provincial budget and has become an important engine for producers, says Egan, including documentary producers. It was a surprise, he says, to see that 80% of B.C. documentaries accessed the tax credit last year.

-www.bcfilm.bc.ca