Everyone knows the loonie has risen sharply against the U.S. dollar, and has endured wild fluctuations against other world currencies. So what are indie producers doing to protect their production budgets from currency fluctuations as they increasingly participate in international coproductions or co-ventures with Americans?

Not much, argues John Daldin, managing director of Toronto-based investment vehicle Rotherham Trust, who advises them to hedge their currency risk as they produce abroad or back in Canada with a foreign partner.

‘Some producers do some basic hedging, most do next to nothing, a lot do get hurt [by currency fluctuations], and it’s a big question that they always think about,’ he says.

Much depends on where a project is shot. If a movie is lensed in Canada and financed by U.K. pounds, then a decline in the loonie will benefit the project as the pound will provide more purchasing power for the budget.

If the loonie rises in value, the project will lose purchasing power.

To hedge away that currency risk, Daldin has launched the RT Global Access Fund to invest on behalf of the producers — to ensure they preserve and, ideally, grow their future dollar cash flows during any period of the production schedule.

‘The currency question is an ongoing daily balancing act that producers simply do not have the expertise or the time to manage,’ he said.

The new currency hedging instrument comes as Canadian producers increasingly look abroad for project financing as traditional funding sources at home dwindle or dry up.