CTF Expands Production Incentive

TORONTO: The Canadian Television Fund has renewed its Production Incentive for 2009-2010 and has upped the funds available from C$5 million to C10 million.

CTF said that the goal of the Production Incentive, launched as a pilot program last year, is to encourage content creation in areas where output has significantly declined. “The pilot program was successful in generating an increase in production volume in Quebec in 2008-2009,” said Valerie Creighton, the president and CEO of the CTF. “In Atlantic Canada, the decline in production in recent years was lessened as a result of the incentive; however, there is still room for improvement, so the Production Incentive will be renewed for 2009-2010 in that area. Also, British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories saw a significant decline in the past year, and the CTF is working to reverse this through the Production Incentive.”

The C$10 million in funds will be disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis. C$1.9 million is allocated to English-language productions in Atlantic Canada and C$8.1 million is for English-language productions in British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The incentive will take the form of a licence fee top-up, consisting of 10 percent of a project’s eligible costs up to a maximum of C$1 million per project. Applications must be submitted by December 7, 2009.

CTF also announced the renewal of its Digital Media Program, with $10 million now available for 2009-2010, up from the previous C$2 million in financing. “The tremendous demand for the Digital Media Pilot Program demonstrates that there is a strong need for this type of funding and that the industry is transitioning quickly to leverage digital extensions of traditional television programming,” said Creighton. "The support provided by CTF funding is critical for producers as they complement their shows with webisodes, mobisodes, games, and other digital products.”