Public-service broadcaster VisionTV will give three producers $100,000 each to develop one-hour dramas reflecting Canada’s diversity.

The initiative’s emphasis on diversity is in line with the well-publicized mandates of the likes of Toronto 1 and OMNI Television.

CHUM Television also recently announced it will be awarding licence fees up to $100,000 to emerging and culturally diverse Canadian filmmakers for an anthology series about love.

Vision’s move towards drama comes after the caster, known for its doc programs, launched the sitcom Lord Have Mercy! earlier this year and also partnered with Ellis Entertainment to form a development, production and distribution wing for the global marketplace called VisionTV International.

The one-off projects could serve as series pilots, according to Vision senior VP, programming Chris Johnson. The caster has received 88 submissions and will meet with the shortlisted filmmakers on Aug. 15. Finished programs will be delivered in January 2004.

-www.visiontv.ca

CFC’S Feature Film Project opens doors to WGC

The Canadian Film Centre and the Writers Guild of Canada have signed a deal to let WGC members into the CFC’s Feature Film Project.

The FFP sees creative teams selected several times a year for its development and preproduction program that helps first-time feature filmmakers prep all aspects of their low-budget movies. Those projects then become eligible for 100% production financing at levels of either $250,000 or $500,000.

The benefits of the agreements are two-way. Firstly, with traditional funding routes becoming increasingly hard to secure and drama drying up on the airwaves, it gives established WGC television writers an opportunity to mount their first feature. Meanwhile, the CFC, which has at times been challenged to find high-caliber scripts for the FFP, will have a more seasoned pool of talent to draw upon.

-www.cdnfilmcentre.com

-www.wgc.ca

WIFT-T helps incubate financing

Women In Film and Television – Toronto is launching a program to foster new talent and market-driven features. The Feature Film Incubator is a partnership with Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Media Development Corporation in association with grant-maker the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

The FFI consists of two parts. The Financing Incubator allows up to six emerging film producers working in the industry the chance to collect domestic and international financing tips from a panel of industry experts in an intensive workshop Dec. 4 and 5. Producers must have at least one credit on a recognized short film and cannot have produced more than one previous market-supported feature. They must also have a feature already in an advanced state of development. The application deadline is Oct. 20.

The Development Incubator also accepts up to six producers to develop a script with a story editor over the course of three months. Full guidelines for the FFI are available at the WIFT-T website.

-www.wift.com