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 and through first-come, first-served programs. Development support has been earmarked within the Aboriginal and Francophone Minority Programs, as well.

 

DEVELOPMENT ENVELOPES

In 2016-2017, the CMF contributed $9.5M to 255 convergent development projects through development envelopes. The envelope allocations were underutilized for the first time in four years.  The average amount of funding committed per project was $37K, stable compared to last year. English-language projects received $6.8M, 72.9% of which was spent on Drama projects, 12.6% on Documentary, and 12.4% on Children’s & Youth. French-language projects received $2.7M, of which 68.3% was spent on Drama projects and 18.1% on Documentary projects.

 

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Quebec French Regional Development Program

A total of $290K in development funding was committed to 7 projects in Quebec outside of Montreal through the Quebec French Regional Development Program on a first-come, first-served basis.

Northern Incentive – Development

New for 2016-2017, the Northern Incentive for projects from the northern territories funded 6 development-stage projects with $200K. The funds were committed on a first-come, first-served basis.

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 100 projects were funded with $1.5M at a maximum of $15K per project, on a first-come, first-served basis.  British Columbia received the largest portion of funding for the fifth year in a row at 29.0%. The balance of funding was distributed in varying levels from coast to coast to coast.

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