Vancouver: The drama for most Canadian drama producers is over: offers were handed out to 90 separate drama titles last week from the Canadian Television Fund’s Licence Fee program.

In all, 54 English titles and 36 French titles – destined for private broadcasters and the cbc – successfully navigated the new lfp guidelines to share $63 million. And like other production funds across the country, the lfp was oversubscribed.

The lfp is the final hurdle for drama producers, who learned two weeks earlier whether they had been successful in Telefilm’s Equity Investment Program sweepstakes.

‘The ctf has gone through an exhaustive process of retooling,’ says Toronto producer Stephen Ellis, who is a representative of the cftpa, which has two seats on the board of the ctf. ‘After last year’s first-come-first-served system, the goal this year was to craft guidelines to reduce the pressure. The ctf accomplished that. The difficulty is when you are oversubscribed and people who are licensed and are worthy don’t get funding.’

Ellis maintains that the projects with the most demonstrable market support also got lfp support.

About 43% of the successful lfp applicants are renewals such as Double Exposure, Pit Pony, Emily of New Moon, The Red Green Show and Wind at My Back.

Series renewals on the French side include Caserne 24, Diva, Histoires de Filles, Km/H, Le Retour, Les Machos, L’Ombre de l’Epervier, Une Gars, Une Fille and Sous le signe de Lion.

‘Using renewals as a focus of the filtering process makes sense,’ says Ellis, who is president of Ellis Vision (formerly Keg Productions). ‘It builds stronger production companies. It’s good for audiences. It’s good for a star system.’

While all but one of the French applicants were headquartered in Montreal, the English applicants were more disparate. About 37% of successful English applicants are in the Toronto area, while 26% are in the Vancouver area, 22% in the Maritimes (specifically Halifax) and 7% in Montreal. There is one project each for Calgary, Winnipeg and Igloolik, while Saskatchewan was overlooked entirely.

Garry Toth, executive director of the lfp, says his office is always concerned about the equitable allocation of funds and that this year he is pleased with the split. With funding decisions for documentaries, kids’ and international coproductions still to come, he says it is too early to assess the overall success of the lfp program.

‘It’s worked so far because of the hard effort of the industry,’ says Toth.

He maintains the lfp roster of drama applicants is a ‘good blend’ of projects with eip and lfp funding and those with solely lfp funding.

The lfp funding is expected to translate into 645 hours of Canadian television dramatic programming. Decisions regarding lfp support for documentaries, children’s and variety programming will be announced by end of May.

CTF by province

Following are the 90 successful drama titles to receive offers from the Canadian Television Fund’s Licence Fee Program, broken down by English- and French-language titles, and by province.

English-language

Ontario

* Butch Patterson: Private ii – Butch Patterson Inc.

* Ginger Snaps – Copper Heart Entertainment

* Harry’s Case – Alliance Atlantis

* History Bites ii – S&S Productions

* In Tha Mix – Back Alley Films

* Kevin Spencer ii – Kevin Spencer Inc.

* Murder at the Mendel/Deadly Appearances Shaftesbury Films

* Our Hero – Heroic Film Company

* PR – P.R Productions

* Possible Worlds – East Side Film

* Power Play ii – Major League Productions

* Riverdale ii – Epitome Pictures

* Supertown Challenge ii – S&S Productions

* The City ii – Sarrazin/Couture

* The Judas Kiss – Judas Kiss Productions

* The Red Green Show ix – Red Green Productions

* Traders v – AAC

* Virtual Mom – Catalyst Entertainment

* Wind at My Back v – Sullivan Entertainment

British Columbia

* A Feeling Called Glory- Cracked Pot Productions

* Cold Squad iii – Keatley MacLeod Productions

* DaVinci’s Inquest ii – Chris Haddock/Barna-Alper

* Double Exposure iii – Soapbox Productions

* Edgemont Road – Water Street Pictures

* Karaoke Queen – Wakefield Productions

* Marine Life – Crescent Entertainment

* Ms. Bear ii – Blue Bear Productions

* Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy ii – Milestone Productions

* Scorn – Face to Face Films

* Shiney’s Head – Cadence Entertainment

* Skullduggery – Voice of Treason Entertainment

* Slightly Bent tv – Slightly Bent Entertainment

* These Arms of Mine ii – Forefront Productions

* 106 Fire Hydrants – Big River Hydrants Productions

Nova Scotia

* Black Fly – Salter Street Films

* Bowlarama – Hit and Run Productions

* Emily of New Moon iv – Salter Street/Cinar

* Made In Canada ii – Casting Couch Productions

* Pipedreams – Salter Street

* Pit Pony ii – Cochran Entertainment

* Task Farce: Cavia – Big Motion Pictures

* The Bette Show ii – Fiddlesticks Productions

* This Hour Has 22 Minutes vii – Salter Street

Quebec

* Claire’s Hat – Lux Films

* Radio Active ii – Tele-Actions

* The Marilyn Bell Story – 32-Mile Productions

* Two Thousand and None – Galafilm

Newfoundland

* Clothesline Patch – Sanitary Productions

* Violet – Dark Flowers Productions

New Brunswick

* Horse Sense – 508903 N.B. Inc.

Manitoba

* Children of My Heart – Buffalo Gal Pictures

Alberta

* North of 60: Movie ii – Alberta Filmworks

Northwest Territories

* Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) – Igloolik Isuma Productions

French-language

Quebec

* 15 Fevrier 1839 – acpav

* 15 Seconds – Rozon Distribution

* 2 Freres – Productions Deux Freres

* Albertine, En Cinq Temps – Productions Sogestalt

* Caserne 24 ii – Sovimage

* Catherine ii – Avanti Cine Video

* C’est Arrive – Rozon

* Coroner ii – Productions Ostar

* C’t’a ton tour, Laura Cadieux (sequel)- Cinemaginaire

* Delirium – Productions Pixcom

* Diva iii – Sovimage

* Don Quichotte – Sogestalt

* Ent’Cadieux – JPL Productions

* Fortier – Aetios Productions

* Gypsies – Michel Gauthier Productions

* Haute Surveillance – SDA Productions

* Histoires de Filles ii – Match tv

* Km/H ii – Productions Vendome

* La Beaute de Pandore – Cite-Amerique Cinema Television

* La Vie Apres l’Amour – Studio Max Films

* La Vie, La Vie – Lux Films

* Le Retour iv – JPL Productions

* Les Machos vi – Productions Point de Mire

* Les Mecs Comiques – 9067-2775 Que.

* Les Muses Orphelines – Robert Favreau feature

* L’Ombre de l’Epervier ii – Verseau International

* Motel Helene – Pixcom

* Pin Pon le film – Films Vision 4

* Quadra – Bloom Films

* Radio Enfer v – Productions Tele-Action

* Radio ii – Avanti Cine Video

* Rue L’Esperance ii – JPL Productions

* Sous le Signe du Lion ii – SDA Productions

* Un Gars, Une Fille v – Avanti Cine Video

* Watatatow ix – Publivision

Ontario

* Histoire Max ii – Productions R. Charbonneau

With files from Leo Rice-Barker