Telefilm has unveiled changes to the way it finances Canadian French- and English-language movies through the Canada Feature Film Fund, in a move it says was made to provide indie producers with more flexibility to line up co-production deals internationally.

Producers will now be able to choose between receiving production financing via a recoupable advance or continue to receive a recoupable equity investment from Telefilm.

Structuring financing as a recoupable advance would eliminate Telefilm’s copyright ownership in a production.

“In some instances, this may facilitate negotiations with their other financing partners, some of whom may require security over the copyright,” Stephanie Azam, Telefilm national feature film executive, English market, tells Playback Daily.

The aim is to allow a producer to more easily negotiate a co-pro deal with a foreign partner who may be wary of participating in a Canadian co-production with a government agency like Telefilm.

There were no announced changes to how Telefilm will recoup the advance, which is normally across all revenue streams, and subject to project-by-project negotiation.

The change will apply to all contracts signed as of April 1, 2012. Producers who have already received decision letters for 2012-2013 commitments will be contacted regarding their choice of funding model.

In a step to simplify its development financing, Telefilm also announced Wednesday that all development programs will be regrouped under one main program. This means greenlight financing for English-language projects has been re-categorized from development to production.