First, the good news. The spring EIP decisions, announced May 6 by Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund, have breathed new life into many popular and high-profile shows that, due to lack of LFP funds, have had one foot in the grave since April. The Red Green Show, The Eleventh Hour and three MOWs for CTV are among the 70 shows that scored a total of $67 million.

Better still, CTF then doled out a remaining $8 million in LFP cash, which had been withheld to minimize the ‘disconnect’ between the two programs. The Eleventh Hour got another $3.2 million, The Newsroom and An American in Canada scored, and offers also went out to Political Animals, Edgemont and Blobheads, among others. Shows rejected by EIP were not eligible for second-round LFP cash.

‘The sun is shining a little brighter this week,’ says Dave Smith of S&S Productions, makers of Red Green and An American in Canada. Shooting on season 13 of Red Green has been underway since last month and now has enough cash to finish, says Smith. Funding is also complete for seven eps of American and Smith is in talks with CBC to turn out a few more.

Why more? Because, and this is the bad news, projects that did not land EIP or emergency LFP cash now appear to have both feet in the grave.

‘Not all the other shows CBC committed money to are going to happen,’ says Smith, ‘so they’re going to have some extra cash and some holes in the schedule. We’re hoping to help them out with both.’ CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Sean Cullen Show were among those shut out by CTF.

Exec producer Michael Donovan admits there’s ‘tremendous uncertainty’ about 22 Minutes. ‘Right now, there is no plan… the show is nowheresville,’ he says. Decisions about the new season will be made sometime this summer.

‘CTF rescued a lot of great shows,’ says Guy Mayson, exec VP of the CFTPA, ‘but in some ways the faces of the victims have just changed. Shows that thought they’d have funding… have fallen off the table and are scrambling to refinance.’

Shaftesbury Films head Christina Jennings hopes that retooling the budget will save North of Hope, scheduled to shoot for CTV late this year. The MOW got no EIP or LFP funding. ‘There are ways to make movies cheaper and still retain production value and marquee elements,’ she says. Jennings hopes to close the 20% funding gap with a combination of budget cuts, producer deferrals and alternate funding. ‘Shooting on high-definition could help a little bit too,’ she adds. ‘We should be able to do it.’

Jon Slan at Toronto’s Slanted Wheel is also chasing additional presales for Friend of the Family, another CTV MOW. ‘We’ll try to look for an American buyer, but that’s always an uphill battle,’ he says.

A surprise winner this spring was Showcase’s Paradise Falls, season two of which won EIP and LFP cash. The series had been in limbo for some time, having failed to land funding in 2002. Co-exec producer Ira Levy of Breakthrough Films & Television in Toronto credits the sweep to strong support from the broadcaster. ‘It was one of their top priorities and they gave us the licence fee we needed,’ he says, ‘but also when you do the analysis… Telefilm seemed to favor returning series.’

Many had predicted that shows attached to specialty channels would beat out those on conventional networks. Trailer Park Boys and Bliss, both on Showcase, and The Comedy Network’s Puppets Who Kill were among the few series to land both EIP and first-round LFP cash.

TV-makers continue to protest the federal budget cuts to CTF. Both ACTRA and the Writers Guild of Canada were in Ottawa early this month, calling for an overhaul of the convoluted application process and an immediate restoration of the $25-million cut from the fund in February. ACTRA stars Paul Gross, Peter Keleghan and Julie Stewart met with MPs on May 13, just days after WGC members began mailing unproduced scripts to the office of Finance Minster John Manley.

ACTRA and other industry reps will be back in Ottawa late this month, calling for funding and regulatory reform at the CRTC licence renewal hearings on May 26.

ACTRA president Stephen Waddell says the union is still ‘very concerned’ about the industry and its lack of public funds, despite the EIP and second-round LFP returns. ‘At best we’re treading water,’ he says, ‘but we’re still slowly going under.’

Confusion about funding is also destabilizing other areas of the TV industry. ‘Broadcasters can’t put together a schedule,’ says Steven DeNure of Toronto-based DECODE Entertainment, makers of Blobheads. ‘They have no idea what’s going to get funding.’