Heritage officials make final comments as ink dries on Telefilm multimedia report

The federal government is expected to a report in March that changes to Telefilm Canada’s multimedia fund, including "real support" for the country’s digital media producers. Ernst & Young was commissioned to report on the $30-million fund’s successes and failures as mandated by the Treasury Board when the cash was first allocated. The auditing firm has finished its final draft, and submitted it to Canadian Heritage and Telefilm for final comments. Guy Derepentigny, Telefilm’s director of policy, planning and research, says meetings were ongoing last week to shape a public report. The final draft of the document has been submitted by the auditors and he says the bulk of the work is now complete. "There are some parts of the report on which we want to comment, and it should be made available soon after by (Heritage). Nothing to be hidden, but we simply have to make sure that everyone’s happy with the report: the consultants, the department as well as Telefilm. Then, we work on implementing changes accordingly," Derepentigny told CNM. "It’s completed and it’s a matter of having the right words to say the right things." A source close to the process says there’s little in the report that’s surprising, and that the industry will likely welcome recommendations that the fund be changed to provide "real support" for the sector. The multimedia fund has come under fire for its loans-based approach, and industry leaders have been calling for an overhaul of its structure to accommodate equity-based funding as is found in the film and television industry. A high default rate on the $8.4-million lent to date should bolster the sector’s calls for change. As of the most recent annual report, $4.1-million of the disbursements have since been classified as "impaired" – a figure Telefilm officials concede is "significant" (CNM, Nov. 1/00). Sam Punnett, VP of research at the Multimediator Strategy Group, told CNM that he’s been involved in consultations on the report, but won’t wager a guess as to what it might contain. Real support, he says, could range across a variety of models, and it’s not clear that Telefilm would embrace the project-based equity model many in industry are demanding.

Heritage officials make final comments as ink dries on Telefilm multimedia report

News | 02/21/2001 5:00 am EST

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