Hoping to put more emphasis on development, Andra Sheffer (pictured) announced at Interactive Ontario’s iLunch last Friday that the Bell Broadcast & New Media Fund will soon be accepting applications to its development program on a monthly basis.

It’s a shift in focus for the Bell Fund, which had previously only accepted applications to the program three times a year. But as the executive director noted, it was difficult for the TV producers to coordinate with the interactive folks for the digital product.

“It wasn’t practical,” Sheffer tells Playback Daily. “TV always gets the focus and the timing doesn’t work.”

She later confirmed that starting February 1, 2011, the Bell Fund will begin accepting applications on the first of each month.

Sheffer was moderator and panelist at the iLunch, titled Public Works, sharing the stage with OMDC’s Kim Gibson, CMF program administrator Francesca Accinelli and Smokebomb Entertainment’s Jarrett Sherman, as the panel discussed the do’s and don’ts of applying for government funding.

For Accinelli, she wants to see applicants sell themselves. “Brag,” she stated. “Tell us what you’ve achieved in the past will help you. Compare yourself to others and explain why what you’re doing is an improvement or different.”

What does she want? Not “a straight brochure site. We want users to interact with the show on a new level.”

Sheffer agreed, adding that the Bell Fund is really looking for a “wow” factor.

“For each platform, it should enhance as a whole. It’s not just taking clips from TV and putting it online,” she says.

Sherman, president and executive producer of Shaftesbury’s Smokebomb, stressed that there’s a craft to writing applications and that they cannot be written the night before and to create what’s relevant for the audience.

“The one time we strayed away from the target audience, it was not successful,” he shared.

Applicants may also want to avoid using the word “unique” as Sheffer adds, “The word unique has been banned from the office.”

One of her pet peeves is a poorly written synopsis. “It’s a real art – you want a synopsis that says, ‘This is what we’re about, and this is what we’re doing.’ It’s amazing how many people don’t focus. And evaluators complain about spelling and grammar, too.”

“I know it’s a pain and overly bureaucratic, but that’s the sad existence of cultural funding in Canada,” acknowledges Accinelli. “The CMF spends a lot of time to tailor the applications to make you successful, so answer those questions.”

There’s no such thing as a perfect application, states OMDC’s Kim Gibson, program consultant for interactive digital media. “Even if you get the funding, call us and get feedback on the application. That will help you with future applications.”