Canada’s private funds are a major resource for producers as they try to navigate the complex rules of the national funding game. The funds are flexible and substantial enough to be able to trigger production on a range of priority programs – other than big-budget drama series – independent of support from the Canadian Television Fund. There are 20 or more funds, in large measure ‘children of the CRTC,’ that collectively contribute between $40 million and $50 million annually to the industry.

‘That is the role all the private funds play, in that they are alternatives to EIP and LFP. The private funds give producers another chance,’ says Andra Sheffer, executive director of the Independent Production Fund, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund [see story, this page] and the Cogeco Program Development Fund.

Gail Yakemchuk, executive director of the Shaw Television Broadcast Fund, says EIP and LFP support is not a mandatory requirement for the STBF. ‘The only requirement is that [the show] is licensed by a Canadian broadcaster,’ she says.

Yakemchuk, who is based in Calgary, says STBF decisions are ‘a balancing act’ to determine which projects can complete their financing, and decisions are in fact revised because of refusals by EIP and LFP.

‘We have three deadlines [per year] and we try to work in administrative sync with those other larger agencies. We make our own independent decisions. The question is whether [a show’s] financing is real, not where the financing is from.’

Meanwhile, funds backed by Rogers Communications will often support a project with no other major backers, giving the producer a shot at a completed budget. ‘And you’d be surprised, because oftentimes they can,’ says Robin Mirsky, executive director of the Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Rogers Documentary Fund and Rogers Telefund, an interim financing resource.

The private funds will be even more important next year when the Canadian Television Fund faces a $37.5-million reduction (this year’s $25 million cut plus the $12.5 million advanced from next year), combined with the cold fact there are no reserves.

‘There is a bit of desperation in the industry because more people are fighting for the same dollars,’ says Mirsky.

‘My theory,’ adds Sheffer, ‘is the private funds are playing a really critical role in the industry, but they are very quiet and low-profile in administration and very efficient in what they do. There is no hoopla, but we have over-subscription, too. We turn down 50% to 70% of the applications that come in.’

Independent Production Fund

The IPF supports dramatic series and will invest about $2.5 million in 13 projects in ’03. IPF selections were made in the last week of March, before this year’s EIP and LFP were announced.

‘It is a quandary,’ says Sheffer. ‘Yes, we think making our decisions first does have some impact on the next decisions in the chain. On the other hand, our decisions are certainly not as big [$300,000 or $400,000].’

Sheffer says major drama series cannot go ahead without EIP and LFP, but smaller youth series and other lower-budget drama can piece together many alternative sources. For example, a youth series could be financed with a mix of IPF, STBF and the CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund ($23.9 million over five years in a non-recoupable contribution), with the addition of a presale and small distribution advance.

EIP does consider additional financing sources, while LFP ‘does not look at other sources of confirmed funding except the broadcaster,’ says Sheffer.

She adds that the IPF board is ‘happy to make decisions first based on quality, and they think that can influence other decisions made down the line. They don’t want to be put in the position of only [supporting] projects that already got LFP and EIP money.’

IPF funds are sourced from returns from an initial $29-million capital endowment that has increased to $36 million.

The Cogeco Program Development Fund supports the development of drama series and TV movies. About 60 projects are supported annually, with funds ranging from $3,000 to $15,000, for a total of $500,000. There is also a corporate support program for feature film producers, namely grants to three companies a year at $35,000 each.

The Cogeco fund’s second major component is production financing for TV movies – seven or eight projects a year ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 in equity financing, for a total of $1.75 million.

Cogeco’s total allocation is nearly $2.5 million a year.

Shaw Television Broadcast Fund

The STBF, which supports children’s, family and youth programming, was created under CRTC regulations in 1998. Funding comes from Shaw Cablesystems, DTH service Star Choice Television Networks and EastLink Cable Systems, based in Nova Scotia. The Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative, launched in 1994, was formally wound down last August.

‘We really do believe kids television is an incredibly powerful medium,’ says Yakemchuk.

STBF has committed about $5.5 million in production equity to 22 projects to date this year. Investments are capped at 15% of the production budget.

A final round of decisions (’03/04) was determined in the last week of July. Cumulative funding requests, consisting of about a dozen applications, are more than $2 million, but the final-round resource is closer to $500,000. The total contribution this year is estimated at $6 million.

In the past three years, STBF has received 40 apps a year on average, with at least half receiving positive replies. Audience appeal is a key determinant in STBF selection, as is creating role models, adds Yakemchuk.

The Bell Fund and STBF are subject to reductions following the CRTC’s July 16 DTH decisions.

Three from Rogers

The Rogers Cable Network Fund makes equity investments of about $5 million a year, capped at 15% of the budget, up to $250,000.

More than 20 projects, representing a 40% approval rate, were funded (more than $3 million) this past spring, to be followed by another round this fall, with close to $1.6 million available.

‘We had a very good spring round and people needed us more than ever because of the CTF reduction,’ says Mirsky.

The fund supports first-run, one-year exclusive programming licensed by a Canadian specialty or pay-TV service. Cable and pay movies are eligible, theatrical films are not.

‘Priority programs get supported, but we also do lifestyle-type programming, which is really the bread and butter of the specialty channel marketplace,’ says Mirsky.

The Rogers Documentary Fund has an annual budget of $1 million. There is no administration charge by the fund, and the contributions take the form of a production grant.

The production must be presold for a national primetime window on the English side, or a regional primetime window in the French market.

Three projects – two English, one French – receive $100,000 in core financing each year.

The balance, $700,000, goes to the fund’s top-up financing program. This money, a grant capped at $35,000, is typically used to close the last 10% of a budget. ‘It is usually the hardest money to find, and means the producer is going to put up a deferral for a year. We also allow producers to replace their deferrals with [the top-up]. We actually believe producers should get paid,’ Mirsky says.

Mirsky says there are currently more than 50 English-track top-up applications, and 18 French.

Mirsky says the doc fund is ‘very competitive and often it takes a producer more than one deadline to actually get their money. The more times a project is seen by our committee, the better.’

Rogers Telefund

Rogers Telefund is an interim financing program. Projects that are fully funded on paper can access the fund for production cash flow while they wait for payment, during production or after delivery, from a broadcaster or distributor.

Rogers Telefund is used for a broad range of priority programs, other than news and sports, including lifestyle series and feature films.

The fund has a $23-million revolving resource, with no cap. ‘We’ve done $5-million deals and we’ve done $5,000 deals,’ says Mirsky.

The interest charge is the TD prime rate less 2% – typically three or four points lower than commercial banks. There is a negotiable legal fee but no setup fee.

The repayment is based on fully secured third-party commitments. ‘If the producer made a presale to CBC, our repayment will come from that CBC licence. We don’t take an equity position, so we don’t share in any revenue,’ says Mirsky.

Last year, the fund newly committed $13.5 million, and Mirsky says it will grow to $37 million over the next six years, a result of $14 million in benefits over seven years tied to Rogers’ acquisition of SportsNet.

Mirsky, who also serves on the CTF, Canadian Film Centre and Hot Docs! boards, says quality is the ‘first and foremost’ consideration in terms of the competitive (selective) cable network and doc funds.

‘We want to put our name on a project and so we want to make sure that we are going to be proud,’ Mirsky says. ‘We also believe in the marketplace. If a broadcaster has attached a licence fee to the project, then that broadcaster believes there’s an audience. We look at how much the broadcaster has put in and basically how much they want it.’

-www.ipf.ca

-www.stbf.ca

-www.rogers.com

-www.cwipfund.ca