Vancouver: Eleven West Coast companies have been tapped for the first round of financing from B.C. Film’s Slate Development Fund and are each expected to take home $150,000 to develop new shows.

The list, a who’s who of B.C. production houses, includes Omni Film Productions, Brightlight Pictures, Force Four Productions, H3O Filmed Entertainment, Haddock Entertainment, Infinity Media Canada, Insight Film & Video Productions, No Equal Entertainment, Paperny Films, Rampage Entertainment and Studio B Productions.

The fund is meant to help established producers and ‘gives companies… greater flexibility to develop projects as they see fit,’ says Rob Egan, CEO of B.C. Film, noting that companies were thoroughly reviewed for their track records in developing and delivering productions. The fund is not used for production financing.

Omni ranked highest among the 11 companies, although this will not affect its allotment.

‘We’re extremely pleased that B.C. Film has come up with such an effective way to generate grassroots development,’ says Omni’s Gabriela Schonbach. ‘The Slate Fund gives us flexibility as a company to manage development on a much higher, big-picture level.’

Among the projects highlighted in the Omni slate are Finding Fletcher Christian, a two-hour documentary special, perhaps for National Geographic, and Shadowlands, a 13 x 30 children’s animation and a coproduction with Singapore.

Companies that made the short list but not the final cut include Bardel Entertainment, True West Films, Network, Front Street Productions, Crescent Entertainment, May Street Group and Soapbox Productions. Some may reapply this spring, when the fund enters the second of its three-year commitment.

In the recent provincial budget, effective April 1, the budget for B.C. Film held steady at $2.28 million.

That means that B.C. Film is still out of the production financing game. The Slate Fund, says Egan, is designed to help local producers attract international and other financing that can trigger production. A separate Project Development Fund is also available to producers on a project-by-project basis.

-www.bcfilm.bc.ca