Telefilm to address communication issues around new media fund guidelines

Telefilm Canada officials say that they will rectify the problem of different evaluation criteria being communicated during the last Canada New Media Fund round. They say that internal measures will be taken to ensure that consistent comments about criteria are used across the country. Sources tell Canadian NEW MEDIA that they were upset that producers in some regions were given different explanations of what was expected to win funding given an intense level of competition for dollars. Sources in Atlantic Canada say they were told that projects that had a prototype associated with them were more likely to win assistance. In the meantime, there are indications that having a broadcast partner was being communicated as key to a successful funding application in British Columbia, though details are unconfirmed. Earl Hong Tai, new media sector head at Telefilm Canada, tells CNM that the problem was identified through an internal analysis of the last round. "Prototypes are not a required item for application. It’s not an eligibility requirement. In the application form it says if you have a prototype available, you submit it with your package…What tended to happen is that each office looks at the demand and looks at the competitiveness of the projects and they’ll choose the best projects based on our standard criteria. Each office has the same criteria for evaluation, and we evaluate using the same point process and the same criteria, so we’ve got a standardized evaluation process. "Now, what I think that complaint is talking about is that some offices might have assessed the projects that had come in, and then given producers advice that if you don’t have a prototype, given where your project is, given the competition that’s come in and so on and so forth, you likely won’t be competitive. That’s probably advice that was given by some offices and it may not have been the same advice given by other offices," he said. "When we did our post-mortem of our process this year, that was the first thing that we identified that we needed to talk about, and I think what we needed to do is realize that this is a communications issue. It’s not a uniformity issue. Because, we apply the same guideline point assessment, but it is a communication issue. What we need to do is we have to make our FAQs and our guidelines a lot clearer to actually specifically talk about prototypes and, to actually do a greater client outreach to explain our process and the forms." Acknowledging the issue surrounding communication about prototypes, Hong Tai says comments coming from British Columbia about inconsistent messaging are news to him. But, he notes, it is important to the agency that every producer receives the same guidelines as all the others, no matter which region they call home. "Guidelines have to be consistent, and people have to understand that guidelines are clear across the country…When we went into the two-step process, I think this is a whole new experience. We need to be able to be comfortable that each office is explaining the process clearly and consistently." He adds: "I don’t think it was a really big issue, but it was an issue that we identified. In fact, I think we were the first to identify that messaging point. That was the first thing we addressed that we needed to fix." Last year was the first in which a new two-step application process was used, with producers submitting expressions of interest in the hopes of being short-listed for an invitation to present a full bid. That process was partly the result of intense competition for new media funding dollars. Sources contacted in Ontario by CNM say neither message about a possible higher priority for prototypes or broadcaster involvement was communicated in that province. Producers say that the issue is upsetting because some may not have submitted projects without a prototype believing the exercise would be futile. In fact, some projects that were without a prototype ended up winning funding. In total, 304 applications were received, 82 of which were invited to submit full proposals for further consideration.

Telefilm to address communication issues around new media fund guidelines

Broadcast | January 20, 2005

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