The Producers Roundtable Ontario and PRO Atlantic Canada, a group of film, TV and digital media producers, are calling on Telefilm Canada to put a hold on the new evaluation criteria for its Canadian Feature Film Fund.

In a statement Monday, producer and PRO spokesperson Wyeth Clarkson said the group thinks the proposed bar for Telefilm funding is being reset too high.

“The success of Ontario’s – and Canada’s – film industry has always been based on the visions, innovations ad talents of our up-and-coming talent…people who are just getting into the business. It’s what has set us apart. We’re afraid Telefilm’s proposed funding criteria-changes will cut people out before they get a start…and the long-term impact this will have on the business,” said Clarkson.

This year, the CFFF’s production program was redesigned to include a project’s success score and market interest into the evaluation criteria for performance envelopes.

The success score tracks the commercial (box office and sales) and cultural (nominations and awards) success of each feature film in an applicant’s portfolio, while market interest comprises the arms length dollars used in financing a film’s production, from entities like domestic and/or international distributors or sales agents, broadcast licence fees and private financiers.

Telefilm executive director Carolle Brabant tells Playback the new guidelines will not have an impact on the diversity of Telefilm’s investment portfolio.

“We’ve always been wanting to have a portfolio that would represent now just the larger companies, but also emerging talent from all regions of Canada,” says Brabant. “We will continue to invest in projects coming from emerging talent and from more experienced producers.”

She adds that the changes to the guidelines came out of extensive industry consultations about what needed to change at Telefilm.

Two things were a need for less bureaucracy and more autonomy to producers, she says, adding that with more autonomy comes a need for a tool with which to measure industry success – namely, Telefilm’s Success Index, which measures commercial, cultural and industrial success of Telefilm-funded projects.

“We would not be doing our job if we were not taking into account the track record of companies that are applying to Telefilm. We feel that the Index is a more transparent tool to do it,” Brabant insists.

PRO issued a second statement Tuesday, after meeting with Telefilm, that it will urge the organization to put a six-month hold on implementing the new criteria at Telefilm’s Annual Public Meeting on Thursday.