Vanccouver: Fewer than half of the English-language applicants to Telefilm Canada’s Equity Investment Program received funding in 2002 and Canadian icon The Beachcombers wasn’t among the fortunate, an indication of the fierce competition.

By category: 31 of 63 English-language drama applicants were supported (49%), 13 of 31 children’s programming applications made the grade (42%), and six of 13 variety show applicants were successful (46%).

By dollar value: unaudited estimates indicate that successful applicants in English-language drama will share $39 million (57% of overall demand), children’s genre producers will share $12 million (44% of demand) and variety producers will share $1.6 million (57% of demand).

Documentary producers have to wait until the fall for results, but to date there is $17 million in demand for a kitty of only $8 million.

Overall, just 52% of the English-language demand was met, and that’s after a $10-million transfer from the Licence Fee Program to help bolster the EIP’s abilities. Another $5 million was transferred from the LFP to bolster French-language production.

(When programs that received LFP do not get EIP, they may not proceed. The LFP contributions for the failed projects are revoked and deemed freed-up money, which traditionally goes into the following year’s budget. Last year’s freed-up money was $7 million and this year is projected at $8 million, but because EIP demand was so high, this year’s and last year’s freed-up money were combined and shifted to EIP to help meet demand.)

In French drama, EIP was able to support $18 million in production (86% of overall demand), while the kids’ genre received $5.2 million in funding (80% of demand) and variety producers got $900,000 (100% of demand).

‘The quantity and quality of applications was higher than in previous years,’ says Lauren Davis, interim director of the Western region. ‘It was really unprecedented. It put a lot of pressure on the decision-making process.’

In the Western region, returning series like Da Vinci’s Inquest (Haddock Entertainment/Barna-Alper Productions), Cold Squad (Keatley MacLeod Productions) and Tom Stone (Alberta Filmworks) were funded along with more MOWs than ever before, including Mafia Princess (Brightlight Pictures/Nightingale), Odd Squad (Haddock) and Poisoned Water (Minds Eye Pictures).

New series The 11th Hour (Alliance Atlantis) made the cut in Ontario along with returning dramas Blue Murder (Barna-Alper) and The Red Green Show (S&S Productions) and one-offs such as MOW Sacrifice: The JJ Harper Story (Filmworks).

Made in Canada (Salter Street Films), MOWs Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (Salter Street) and Sleep Murder (Big Motion Pictures), miniseries Rideau Hall (Topsail Entertainment), and low-budget comedy Trailer Park Boys (Topsail) comprise the sum total of Atlantic Canada recipients.

Notable omissions include CTV MOWs Lie with Me (Sarrazin Couture Entertainment) and Mad Trapper (Summit Films), CHUM MOW Wired for Sound (Snapdragon Productions), and the pilot for a new take on the CBC’s venerable Beachcombers series (Molly’s Reach Productions), all of which were successful at the LFP early this year. Showcase’s wacky primetime serial Paradise Falls (Breakthrough Entertainment), which had a 52-episode run in season one, was left out of both LFP and EIP this year.

‘Every project comes to us as 10-out-of-10 and ‘culturally significant,” says Davis. ‘That The Beachcombers doesn’t get funded shows how competitive the process was.’

Applicants are evaluated on a grid that weighs elements including creative, recoupment, audience and broadcaster interest. EIP maintains minimum funding thresholds: for example, $35 million for English-language drama.

Returning series, says Davis, have some advantage in that many of the key elements of their applications are proven, but they are not guaranteed success.

For instance, returning English-language children’s genre series What About Mimi? (Studio B Productions), Edgemont (Water Street Pictures), The Toy Castle (Sound Venture Productions) and Wumpa’s World (Cite-Amerique) were funded along with newcomers such as Silverwing (Bardel Entertainment), Poko (Salter Street) and Blobheads (Decode Entertainment). Existing kids programs such as 2030C.E. (Buffalo Gal Pictures), Roboroach (Portfolio Entertainment), Hoze Houndz (Amberwood Productions) and Yvon of the Yukon (Studio B) were not funded.

Drum! (Citadel Communications), Firebird (Rhombus Media) and The Fairie Queen (Sextant Entertainment) are among the successful variety genre applicants.

French-language winners

In French-language drama, returning series with EIP support this season include Cauchemar d’amour II (producer Match TV), Fortier IV (Aetios Productions), Music Hall II (Aetios), starring Veronique Cloutier, and the Alain Chartrand-directed bio-miniseries Simonne et Chartrand (Videofilms). Also returning, Tabou II (Cirrus Productions/Sphere Media) and the third season of the ad agency drama Tribu.com (Sovimed), starring Caroline Neron. Cirrus is also ranked on the English side with the breakthrough CBC series Escaping.

New Quebec primetime episodics with EIP funding include Annie et ses hommes (Sphere), the offbeat (8 x 1 hour) police suspense Les Aventures tumultueuses de Jack Carter (Cirrus) and the biographical miniseries Felix Leclerc (Rose Films).

La Grande Ourse (Point de Mire) is among the major LFP/EIP winners in the current round. Billed as a small-town, Twin Peaks-style fantasy drama, the series stars Marc Messier, with Patrice Sauve (La Vie, la vie) slated to direct.

Other all new EIP drama recipients this season include Harmonium (Zone 3), the sitcom Hommes en quarantaine (Cirrus), the TV adaptation Petit monde de Laura Cadieux (Cinemaginaire), Rire de la mer (Pixcom), Rumeurs (Sphere) and Trois fois rien (Avanti Cine Video).

In Quebec-based, French-language children’s series, EIP-funded production includes returning shows Ayoye II (Telfiction), Bonjour Madame Croque-Cerise IV (Zone 3), the award-winning preschool entry Cornemuse V (Telefiction) and Macaroni tout garni (Vivaclic).

Also returning, are, Ramdam II (Vivaclic) and the big-budget VRAK-TV flagship series Real-TV (Productions J).

New children’s series with EIP support include Capitaine Cretin (Zone 3), Histoire du bas de Noel (Productions 10e Avenue), Moi/Me Too (Zone 3) and La Saison perdue/The Lost Season from Galafilm.

-www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca