CHUM Limited has unveiled a program aimed at boosting independent production in the Prairies. The new Prairie Bridge Finance Program now provides gap-financing loans to film and TV producers in Alberta and Manitoba, to the tune of $50,000 per project.

The program will pay out a total of $500,000 and is part of the $20-million package CHUM set up at the behest of the CRTC upon its acquisition of Craig Media in late 2004. It is administered by Gail Yakemchuk, formerly of the Shaw Television Broadcast Fund.

The loans are to be repaid within two years and are not available to international or interprovincial coproductions, or to projects with bank financing. Projects with CHUM broadcast deals get preference.

‘Access to term loans and operating funds during the production phase is a chronic problem for independent producers,’ says Diane Boehme, CHUM Television’s senior director of independent production, adding that the program was ‘designed based on suggestions made to us by the independent production community about how we could best assist smaller producers.’