TORONTO and MONTREAL – The Bell Fund is marking its 20th anniversary with the launch of the first of four pilot programs that will provide grants to Canadian media content makers.
The Bell Fund receives annual contributions of approximately $17 million from Bell TV as part of its broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) contributions to the industry. Since 1997, the Fund has invested over $200 million in 2,000 Canadian digital media projects and television programs, plus offered training, research, professional development and promotion for the Canadian media production industry.
Created in response to the CRTC's update of the Policy Framework for Certified Independent Production Funds, the four new pilot programs include a variety of formats and platforms in an effort to increase the variety of productions that are accessible to all Canadians. The Fund's first deadline will be November 13, 2017 for its Short-Form Digital Series for non-fiction programming, which will provide a grant up to $150,000 for original documentaries, lifestyle and factual programming that have a maximum length of 15 minutes per episode and a minimum of six episodes.
The next deadlines are February 1, 2018 for its Development Programs (Slate Development and Webdocs Development) and May 7, 2018 for the second deadline of the Short-Form Digital Series, fiction (comedy and drama). The Bell Fund said that it will continue to support TV series by committing a significant portion of its funding to the launch of a new program, also with the May 7 deadline, plus continue to run its professional development program.
"We want to invest in commercially successful content which will attract larger audiences everywhere, in Canada and around the world on broadcast and streaming platforms," said Bell Fund executive director Nancy Chapelle, in the news release.
The Bell Fund is incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, governed by an independent Board of Directors representing various sectors of the television and digital media industry.
