OTTAWA – The federal government today announced an $49 million increase to the short-term compensation fund (STCF) for Canadian audiovisual productions which it set up in 2020 to help producers, actors, musicians and the like to get through the Covid crisis.
The additional funds will bring the STCF’s coverage capacity to $149 million until March 31, 2022. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault and Telefilm executive director Christa Dickenson made the announcement during the virtual Canadian Screen Awards yesterday.
The new money will “allow more productions to make use of the program to meet their shooting schedules, particularly in the sector’s busiest seasons of spring and summer. Telefilm Canada, which administers the program, will continue to compensate production companies whose filming is shut down or interrupted as a result of a confirmed Covid-19 diagnosis on the set or an outbreak among the production team,” explains the press release.
