CMF president and CEO Valerie Creighton sat down with Playback Daily following her participation in The Future of Content panel at Whistler Film Festival to share her thoughts about the CMF’s first year thus far.

“What we’ve seen this year is that audiences certainly want Canadian content,” Creighton tells Playback Daily. “They want it anytime, anywhere and anyplace and that’s a big part of our mandate.”

And because the CMF mandates that all projects seeking financing must have a convergent application, the fund allowed VOD and streaming for eligible content. However, as Creighton acknowledges, there have been some challenges.

“After a year of working with the industry and talking to the community, the issue of having to force, or having to require, a traditional TV piece of content to have convergent piece works in some cases and doesn’t work so well in others,” she says.

Right now, access for Canadians is her biggest priority, and VOD and streaming seems to be the way to go for now, as that’s what she’s seen as the demand.

“Whether or not the rich and substantial content that’s associated, or has to be associated with it right now for us is working… is as important as access is a question in our mind,” she states. Because of that, Creighton is aware that a shift needs to happen.

“We’re finding that some stuff doesn’t work, so we’re beginning to question: does it make sense to force that marriage just for the sake of getting the financing?”

That said, she also had an argument for the other side. “Sometimes people are forced into something they don’t like and out of that comes a spark that’s really interesting. So both of those things are happening right now and the question becomes: Where should we land on it with the funding mechanism?”

But discussions take time and the guidelines for 2011 have already been set, which will be announced in mid-December. Not to worry — Creighton says the CMF had already had conversations about these challenges and will likely continue the dialogue after the holidays and into the following year.

“When it comes to where we might head, we want to make sure we’ve got some really good results and statistics,” she says. “Then we can say, ‘Okay, here’s what works, here’s what doesn’t and here’s what we need to change.’”