You’d expect someone whose career has revolved around numbers and the administration of stodgy bodies to be, well… rigid. (Hell, her first job was in the bowels of Ottawa’s bureaucracy.) But Andra Sheffer exudes enthusiasm and has a remarkably lithe approach, most recently demonstrated in her role as prime mover in funneling much-needed millions to drama producers.

Sheffer is the executive director of three critical funding bodies – the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, the Independent Production Fund and the Cogeco Program Development Fund – which allows her unique flexibility when it comes to responding to market conditions. So, when demand for drama had the IPF strapped, but a drop-off in MOWs and miniseries saw Cogeco flush with cash, Sheffer could help make $2 million to $3 million in additional funding available for drama series by proposing that the Cogeco board to agree to a one-year shift in priorities. The IPF will go through its normal process, and will then recommend to the Cogeco board projects which it can’t fund itself.

It’s likely the first time that the mandate of one fund has been adapted to compensate, at least temporarily, for a lack in another. But it’s not the first time this year that the funds have adapted to market conditions. Earlier, Cogeco was able to free up money for pre-development, helping producers get to that stage where they could pitch a broadcaster. That new fund had over 80 applications, 17 of which were recently selected to receive $4,000 to $10,000.

But if Sheffer is quick to respond to changes in media, her constituency sometimes lags. It’s only in the last year or two, she observes, that the majority of content creators ‘get it’ – that they’ve begun to consider how projects might benefit from digital enhancement. Digital interactive media isn’t just for geeks anymore.

To be fair, Sheffer understands it’s all about the back end, and short of evidence of profitability, producers have been loath to part with limited resources for other media. For that to change, the industry needs what she describes as a ‘Eureka moment’ – the breakthrough project that unquestionably demonstrates there is enough online revenue to fund projects.

To help that moment along, the Bell Fund is producing a ‘Bliki’ – a combination wiki and blog – which will be online mid-May. The project offers a collection of wiki articles written by experts in new media revenue generation, which will then be opened up for blogging, so that information can be kept up-to-date and people from around the world can offer ideas for making money.

What remains puzzling to Sheffer is the disparity in expectations between ‘new’ and ‘traditional’ media in Canada. She points out that the average return on investment for television is 10% to 15% – for every dollar invested, a 10-cent return – and that of the hundreds of series the IPF has supported since 1991, fewer than 1% have gone on to profit.

‘Cultural product in Canada typically does not make money,’ she observes. ‘The revenue generated [from TV] is about 10% of the cost, so why are we making any greater expectations of our new media? We can certainly generate 10% of the costs of the new media projects.’ That’s especially likely given that new media companies have had to work with fewer subsidies and therefore become exceptionally entrepreneurial.

Sheffer suggests such entrepreneurial spirit might be the solution for many conventional broadcasters’ woes. ‘We are [digital] leaders,’ she says, ‘and yet we are really reluctant to change our old ways of doing things. I think it is going to take a lot of new talent being hired by some of these older, traditional media that will force it to happen.’

Well, that and more homegrown: ‘Conventional broadcasters are going to have to have more Canadian programming than ever if they are going to be unique in this world, because everyone is going to be able to download American programs. They don’t need a Canadian broadcaster to give it to them. To stay in business, [conventionals will] need more Canadian production to have their own original content.’

Given her expert POV and experience in the areas of broadcast, feature and digital media, it is reassuring that Sheffer remains optimistic. ‘I think right now there is a lot of potential. We are actually going into a good cycle, but it is one that is probably going to require a more dramatic change than any of the previous cycles, and that’s what is frightening. Conventional television is going to change. It isn’t going to be what we have known since the 1950s, and the Internet is providing not only a challenge to television but a great opportunity. There are fantastic things that can be done. Right now, everyone is just trying to figure out how to adapt.’

ET CETERA…

• Born in Ottawa
• Avid cyclist, cross-country skier and reader
• Background education in child psychology (insert producer joke here)
• Former managing director of the Toronto International Film Festival
• Founding executive director of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Rolled out both Genie and Gemini Awards. (Recalls that Al Waxman was involved in the setup of the Academy, so the first meetings of the committee were in the green room of King of Kensington.)
• Worked with Dinah Hoyle and Pat Ferns in defining what a Canadian film was in order to set up the CAVCO 10-point definition