International Coproductions
Convergent
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) supports international coproductions through both its Convergent and Experimental streams. In 2014-2015, international treaty coproductions represented a small portion of CMF convergent funded projects (2.1% of all funding).
At a total of $6.9M, funding to international convergent coproductions decreased by 47.3% from 2013-2014, although the number of projects increased by two. The decrease in funding was linked to an increase in documentary coproductions, which typically have smaller CMF requests.
The majority of convergent coproductions were with the United Kingdom (9) and France (8), as has been the trend in recent years. New coproducing partners included the Czech Republic, Italy, and Switzerland. Ireland coproduced a big-budget drama for the fifth consecutive year, returning on Vikings III. Hungary and Germany returned to coproduction with 1 project each.
Funding to minority convergent coproductions increased $0.8M from 2013-2014, however, majority coproductions reached a 5-year low of $3.2M.
Experimental
There were four Experimental-funded international coproductions in 2014-2015, all benefitting from the pilot coproduction incentives. In previous years, there were either two or one coproductions per year.
International Digital Media Coproduction and Codevelopment Incentives : 2014-2015
Incentive | Stream | Activity | # of projects | CMF Funding $ K | Foreign Funder $K | Canadian Budgets $K |
Digital Media Codevelopment & Coproduction Incentive | ||||||
Convergent | Production | 2 | 134 | 726 | ||
Experimental | Development | 2 | 100 | 223 | ||
Production | 1 | 50 | 80 | |||
Total | 5 | 284 | N/A | 1,029 | ||
Canada-New Zealand Digital Media Fund | Experimental | Production | 3 | 618 | 582 | 979 |
Canada-Wallonia Digital Media Incentive for Multiplatform Projects | Experimental | Development | 2 | 70 | 72 | 120 |
Total | 10 | 972 | 654 | 2,128 |
Expanding from last year’s pilot coproduction incentive, three new incentives were implemented in 2014-2015 . The incentives targeted both Experimental and Convergent digital media projects. The new incentives were co-ventures with foreign funders, a result of a global outreach for coproduction partners on behalf of Canadian producers. The Canada-New Zealand Digital Media Fund partnered with NZ On Air on three Experimental coproduction projects. The Canada-Wallonia Digital Media Incentive for Multiplatform Projects partnered with Wallimage of Belgium in development of two Experimental projects. The foreign partners contributed a total of $654K to CMF-funded projects. The Digital Media Codevelopment & Coproduction Incentive, continuing from last year’s pilot incentive, funded five projects in both Convergent and Experimental streams, with coproducers from the United Kingdom, France, Colombia, and Denmark.