Online producers have a new place to turn for funding, following word that the Independent Production Fund plans to support drama series made specifically for the web.

The IPF said this week that a new pilot project will put money into web series, on top of the equity financing it already supplies to drama series with a broadcast licence.

‘The IPF has about $1 million or so [per year] and will likely fund a couple of TV drama series and the rest will be for web drama series,’ says exec director Andra Sheffer, adding that the money comes from interest generated by the IPF’s $35 million endowment.

Because funding that would normally go into TV dramas is being redirected, IPF has partnered with the Cogeco Fund on the effort, looking to offset the reduction in TV funding, she adds. The Cogeco fund recently expanded beyond MOWs to fund series, too.

IPF is also working with Film Nova Scotia, which was developing its own web fund as IPF’s took shape. ‘So they decided to partner with us so that the administration and selection process would be co-ordinated by us more effectively,’ says Sheffer. The roughly $100,000 in additional funding put in by FNS will go towards applicants based in that province.

Applications are due by March 31. See www.ipf.ca for details. Based on the results, the IPF board will decide at a later date whether to extend the web funding.