New media fund budget caps unlikely to be raised without more cash: Telefilm

Telefilm Canada will adopt some broad principles from the recently completed report by David Ellis of Omnia Communications Inc. evaluating the Canada New Media Fund (CNM, June 13/03), but several controversial recommendations will likely be left off the table. Telefilm, now in the midst of working on a renewal strategy as the fund nears the end of its current resources, says it agrees the pot needs to be reserved for commercially oriented projects. But Earl Hong Tai, western regional director and new media sector head at Telefilm, says the agency won’t reduce its envelope for small independent producers and likely won’t raise budget caps without a major new injection of cash. The thrust of the Omnia report, apparently still unpublished for public consumption, is that the Canada New Media Fund (CNMF) must become more responsive to market demands, with an emphasis on projects with a high chance of creating significant audiences. Most industry sources have applauded the direction, but a suggestion in the report that larger companies might do a better job of attracting eyeballs has drawn the ire of high-profile producers nationwide. Says one, Collideascope Digital Entertainment president Stephen Comeau: "The dot com meltdown should have taught us a lot of things, and one of those is that scale and money don’t guarantee success. There are a lot of large companies that went crashing down in the dot com meltdown that had great capitalization, great scale, etc. I think the companies that fared better in the dot com meltdown were ones that kept lean, kept small, and kept changing with the industry. So I’d think in an emerging industry like new media, those same rules of scale don’t necessarily apply. As well, it’s a generally accepted fact that innovation lies with smaller companies…That innovation is critical to success." He adds that small- and medium-sized producers rely on the CNMF to create their new media projects. "The fund is leverage for independent producers so that they can better negotiate when they’re forming partnerships - particularly with larger organizations such as broadcasters and portals. The more that fund goes to independent producers, the better independent producers will be able to use that leverage to make deals that are good for everybody involved." But, Comeau says, he doesn’t disagree with a new focus on commercial and audience viability. "I personally firmly support Telefilm moving to an audience-oriented system. I think not only is it good for the Canadian taxpayer and public, so to speak, but I think producers ignore audience at their own peril." Telefilm officials appear to have listened and stress that 75% of the fund will continue to be reserved for small companies. Says Hong Tai, "All of our applicants have, in past, been SME. We’ve never had a large company apply for funding to the CNMF. And I think it’s pretty obvious that given very little money - the caps are low - the maximum benefit will be to SMEs. That’s really quite obvious." One area of industry consternation expressed at a June 3 meeting of the fund’s industry advisory body is the proposal that the fund might increase the cap for commercially viable projects, possibly as high as 80% of project budgets. Hong Tai concedes the measure would put a strain on the already underfunded pot and would mean fewer projects would win assistance. But, he says, such a measure might be reserved for the long term if and when the fund wins additional resources. "To have a $9 million per year fund as opposed to a $36 million a year fund that the David Ellis report recommends are two very different issues. We could go up to the higher cap if we had more money… "I think it was pretty loud and clear from the advisory group that I don’t know how we’re going to do that with a $9 million per year fund…It’s definitely something we’re looking at as part and parcel of a renewal strategy but with more money in the fund." In several other areas, the funding agency has torn pages out of the Ellis report to formulate a short-term strategy to improve the fund before its resources run dry. One measure outlined by Telefilm is a renewed emphasis on a cross-platform strategy. Hong Tai notes that Telefilm will be "platform indifferent" in choosing projects, saying, "digital content is digital content." For example, he notes, online projects won’t have an automatic advantage over offline initiatives, and he emphasizes that staff will embrace games for funding. Telefilm is also stressing that the guideline requirement for Canadian cultural content should be taken liberally. "This is consistent with our other sectors. This is consistent with feature films," Hong Tai says. "What we define as new media is that as long as it’s not identifiably foreign content, it’s owned and developed and created by Canadians in a Canadian-owned company, it is Canadian…We’re necessarily liberal in our interpretations. This isn’t anything different from what we’ve been doing in practice…I think the purpose of this point was really to clarify to the industry that that’s really what we’ve been doing. Of course, if you read the guidelines, the guidelines don’t actually say that." Another proposal on the table for discussion is a new audience-based test that could be applied to projects, though details have yet to be worked through. " some sort of a test where we can the number of visitors per dollar invested by Telefilm. It will be some kind of a benchmark," Hong Tai says. He notes that the measure would include better sales reporting for projects such as CD-ROMs and that Canadian Heritage is currently in preliminary discussions with companies in the business of web site metrics and measuring. The new media industry will also likely cheer news that Telefilm is actively seeking ways to spend money set aside for sectoral assistance to help the provincial associations and others create a new national lobby effort. He notes that many of those associations are underfunded, and find travel to Ottawa for lobby efforts expensive, something Telefilm might be able to help overcome. Hong Tai cites the Canadian Film and Television Production Association as an example of a strong national lobby that might be emulated, noting that Telefilm bodies such as its CNMF advisory body are sometimes helpful as a rare chance to bring industry leaders together. As discussed last winter, Telefilm continues to look for ways to simplify its application process, citing continued wasted effort by unsuccessful projects (CNM, Jan. 23/03). While the Ellis report has proven helpful as Telefilm staff re-jig the CNMF, Hong Tai says the agency is also waiting for the Canadian Culture Online Program report. That document was expected to be released in April but has now been delayed, likely until September for reasons unknown. Still, Hong Tai says he’s hoping to have a comprehensive strategy in place to renew an improved fund by the International New Media Festival in Brudenell PEI this October - though he won’t speculate on the odds of Cabinet and Canadian Heritage granting the program any more funds.

New media fund budget caps unlikely to be raised without more cash: Telefilm

News | 06/25/2003 4:00 am EDT

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