Development

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) supports the development and pre-development of Canadian content mainly through its Development Program. This program is part of the CMF’s Convergent Stream; thus, projects funded through this program must include content to be developed for distribution on at least two platforms, one of which must be television and the other, digital media. Funding from this program is allocated through broadcaster envelopes while other development support is provided through first-come, first-served programs. Development funds have been earmarked within the Aboriginal and Francophone Minority programs as well.

DEVELOPMENT ENVELOPES

In 2014-2015, the CMF contributed $10.5M to 311 convergent development projects through development envelopes, approximately $0.2M less than 2012-2013. Development envelopes were fully spent for the second year in a row, and repayments of development advances were reused to assist additional projects (resulting in an over-expenditure of $312K from the original allocation of $10.2M). The average amount of funding committed per project was $34K, an increase from last year’s $26K. English-language projects received $7.8M, 73.9% of which was spent on Drama projects and 13.2% on Children’s & Youth. French-language projects received $2.7M, of which 62.1% was spent on Drama projects and 24.9% on Documentary projects.

Regional Development

English Regional Pre-development Program

The English Regional Pre-development program was established in response to stakeholders’ proposals to sustain the vitality of regional production by supporting producers in their preparation of documents to present to broadcasters at the early stages of development.  A total of 134 projects were funded at an average of $11K per project, on a first-come, first-served basis. The program budget was increased to $1.5M in 2014-2015 to satisfy demand for the program.  British Columbia received the largest portion of funding for the third year in a row at 31.2%. The balance of funding was distributed in varying levels from coast to coast to coast.

Quebec French Regional Development Program

A total of $299K in development funding was committed to 12 projects in Quebec outside of Montreal through the Quebec French Regional Development Program, on a first-come, first-served basis.