You can’t call it a merger, or a marriage, and many details are still forthcoming, but the Canadian Television Fund and Telefilm Canada became a one-board, one-administration entity on March 1, according to CTF president Valerie Creighton.

The ‘partnership,’ as Creighton calls it, will see the CTF collect its usual, annual $100 million from the Department of Canadian Heritage, and $100 million from the private sector, which it will then divide among the broadcasters. Telefilm will make sure the funding criteria are met and the money gets where it needs go.

‘We’re the policy shop, they are the program delivery folks,’ says Creighton. ‘The CTF’s role will change from being the hands-on distributor of the funds, and we will be more focused on research, policy and communication. Telefilm is the [CTF’s] delivery arm.’

CTF will also consult with other organizations on big-picture policy and market questions.

‘We will have the ability to do that now because we won’t always be tied up with managing the program,’ says Creighton.

The partnership will be headed by a yet-to-be-named director, who, as a Telefilm employee, will work with the CTF senior management team and handle the day-to-day business at Telefilm. The director will be named by the end of the month, and report to Telefilm chief administrative officer Carolle Brabant, says Creighton.

Mary Henricksen, former CTF manager of English market analysis, will field applications from English Canada, while Roxane Girard, former director of investment and financing at SODEC, will handle the French market.

Layoffs have begun on both sides, though Creighton will not say how many.

The move makes good on a pledge made last summer by then-heritage minister Liza Frulla to bring the agencies together.

Applications are being taken at Telefilm regional offices, says Creighton, despite rumors about regional office closures and weaker funding support to small markets, which have concerned producers outside of Toronto and Montreal, where most of the major television funding decisions will be made. Creighton, who joined CTF in January after heading provincial funder SaskFilm, says no regional offices will be closing.

‘Applications will continue to be taken at the regional offices, and consultation with clients in terms of content evaluation, development and aboriginal envelopes will still be handled within the regions,’ she says.

Guy Mayson, president and CEO of the CFTPA, says there has been no disruption to producers during the transitional process, and that his group has been hoping to see a one-board, one-administration television funding entity for a long while.

He approves of the CTF’s direction, but will it be smooth sailing?

‘Well, don’t adjust your set,’ says Mayson. ‘We’ll see, but so far they have been setting an aggressive timeline for themselves and sticking to it. We’re supportive of the solution and… wish them luck going forward. Because we are represented on the board of the CTF, we’ll be watching very closely.’

www.canadiantelevisionfund.ca