TORONTO — The Canada Media Fund (CMF) released Wednesday a series of flexibility measures to its program guidelines, processes and envelope manuals to provide funding applicants and broadcasters with some operational and policy relief during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After assessing the impact of the pandemic on our industry and consultation with creators, producers and broadcasters, we are now in a position to announce a series of tangible measures, which will give CMF stakeholders additional flexibility while production remains grounded,” said Valerie Creighton, CMF president and CEO, in the news release.
“We hope that by introducing these measures our industry will feel a little less worried about the short-term outlook for their projects and their companies. We will remain attentive and responsive to our stakeholders as the pandemic unfolds. The CMF continues to engage with the government and expects to provide further flexibility for the production community in the near future. Our immediate priority is the distribution of the emergency relief fund of $88.8 million announced by the Government of Canada,” Creighton added.
Designed to give eligible applicants and broadcasters additional latitude in accessing the CMF’s existing programs and navigating its policies and administrative practices, the flexibility measures apply to CMF projects funded before 2020-2021 which have not yet fully closed and to projects seeking funding in 2020-2021, says the release.
Divided into operational and policy flexibility measures, some of the measures for CMF applicants relate to funding payment schedules and production commencement dates, while flexibility measures for broadcasters include adjustments in the areas of development fees, envelope allocation commitments and deadlines, as well as revisions to the CMF’s maximum contributions.
To access the list of flexibility measures, please click here.
The CMF says the list of measures may be updated as the Covid-19 situation evolves. However, all other requirements will remain in force for each CMF program until further notice. CMF applicants should contact their analyst at the CMF’s program administrator with any questions.
