MONTREAL — Telefilm Canada is launching a new financing program to help producers develop feature films with box-office potential.

The new Slate Development pilot program for the English-language market was set up to give a boost to production companies which have not benefited from the Canada Feature Film Fund’s performance envelope, explains Telefilm spokesman Douglas Chow.

‘By giving production companies predictable financing they will have more resources to develop their projects. We hope that the resulting films will ultimately have enough success to have access to the performance envelope,’ he says. Producers get money from the CFFF performance envelope based on the box-office receipts of their previous film; films which sell few tickets don’t have access to the envelope.

The pilot program will last three years and the financing will take the form of a non-interest bearing line of credit — available for up to three years — for companies that have three or more projects in development and are affiliated with a recognized distributor, the funding agency announced this week.

Telefilm believes involving a distributor at the early stage of a film’s development will increase audiences for Canadian feature films, says Chow.

‘The English-language cinema market is a challenging one,’ says Chow. ‘We’ve done three industry meetings in the last two years. One of the key issues that came out of these talks is that producers and distributors must work together at an earlier stage.’

Guidelines for the Slate Development pilot program are available on Telefilm ‘s website along with detailed business policies, application forms and an FAQ.

The deadline for applications is Nov. 30. Applications are to be submitted to the Telefilm office in your region.