Category Archives: Funding

Harold Greenberg Fund to carry on, for now

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In a news release, Bell Media confirms The Harold Greenberg Fund has begun a search for additional funding, with one year of life-support from Crave.

When Bell acquired Astral in 2013, the CRTC‘s Tangible Benefits Policy required it “to offer significant benefits to the communities they proposed to serve and to the Canadian broadcasting system” to the tune of nearly $250,000,000.

Randy Lennox, President of Bell Media says:

“The Harold Greenberg Fund came to us with a plan to continue its English-language program by seeking alternate funding following completion of the benefits, and we are happy to provide our support in their efforts to attract complementary financial partners.”

Suzette Couture, Co-Chair of The Harold Greenberg Fund says:

“Bell Media has long believed in our mandate to award much-needed funding to talented Canadian storytellers and I am extremely grateful for their ongoing support of Canadian voices as we transition to a new funding model.”

Following the success of the Porky’s franchise, Harold Greenberg, initially through The FUND (Foundation to Underwrite New Drama) and posthumously through The Harold Greenberg Fund, has invested approximately $85,000,000 in over 4,000 projects since 1986.

In many cases, this funding is critical to the development of Canada’s future filmmakers.

Jeremy Lutter, commenting to me on the value of The Harold Greenberg Fund to his career and his fears of a potential future without them, writes:

“Having been fortunate enough to go through one of their programs, the one thing that struck me about The Harold Greenberg Fund is their complete involvement in the film community. Going through the program Shorts to Features at HGF was a mentorship and I created a lot of lasting connections. You could tell those running the program had a love of storytelling and Canadian Cinema. I have been fortunate to travel to many film festivals around the world and hear from other filmmakers that Canada is a place of envy, where we support our emerging filmmakers. They all think their countries should have a system like this and throughout my time as a filmmaker I worry that I might be seeing the end of this system in Canada. I think emerging-producers really need help not only with their first step but with their second step as well. The Harold Greenberg Fund offered a variety of different programs to help strengthen Canadian storytelling in general. It’s going to be nearly impossible to replace such grants in Canada.”

Arnold Lim shares similar thanks and thoughts:

“Opportunities like the Harold Greenberg Fund’s Shorts to Features grant were one of the catalysts to help propel my filmmaking career. Living in Victoria, a smaller town not typically known for film film like Vancouver or Toronto, the opportunities are limited and the HGF’s work supporting filmmakers all across Canada gave us a financial opportunity to elevate our work, in addition to buoying mentorship opportunities through the knowledgable HGF team dedicated to cultivating opportunities for Canadian filmmakers. Having been so fortunate to benefit from both BravoFACT and HGF grants, I know the death of BravoFACT has left a huge hole for up-and-coming artists and losing the HGF would exacerbate that challenge even further. I can’t say enough how much their staff and their programming made a tangible effect on my filmmaking journey. Those opportunities were springboards to further opportunities and I can draw a direct line from my time with the HGF to eventually directing my feature film All-in Madonna and producing Web Series Best Friend Me through Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program. The thing we don’t realize is that not only do these programs support the director and producer whose names are on the grant, but as well the many artists whose names grace our lengthy end credits who also live in our smaller communities. Literally hundreds of artists also got the opportunity to work their chosen field and grow their resume and realize their potential alongside us. The full-circle benefit of these programs run far deeper than most people realize and are critical to artists across Canada. Many of us turned to the arts, specifically film and TV among many other artistic endeavours, during the pandemic and these grants are exactly the types of programming we need in Canada to further support the artists many of us turned to when we had no where else to turn.”

Note however, the French-language fund is wrapping up:

“Like many other funds supported by tangible benefits regulated by the CRTC, the French-language committee for Le Fonds Harold Greenberg has chosen to complete its mandate, and will wind down operations over the next six months. With considerable reserve funds, the program will focus exclusively on Fiction Feature Film Production. As of February 28, 2021, the French-language program will close and transfer any remaining funds to another certified independent production fund.”

My take: The CRTC’s Tangible Benefits Policy is no way to fund the development of a thriving mediascape in Canada. Consider that, if there were no mergers or acquisitions, there would be no funds earmarked at all. It is unsustainable as well, as the funds expire over time. Recall the demise of BravoFACT and the CIFVF previously. I sincerely hope The Harold Greenberg Fund can find a sustainable funding model in the next year, as it would be a shame to see it disappear as well.

Netflix Canada begs filmmakers to pitch them

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Tomorrow is the deadline! Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at 8:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. That’s 5:00 PM on the West Coast, folks.

What deadline? The deadline to submit your pitches to Netflix Canada.

“Netflix is proud to help bring Canadian stories to the world. We are continuing our search to discover amazing stories from both seasoned storytellers and undiscovered talent all over Canada. Diverse and underrepresented stories told authentically are important to us.”

They are looking for these projects:

  1. Nonfiction Series
  2. Original Animation
  3. Original Series
  4. Original Independent Film

They provide very clear instructions as to what and how to present. They’ll be back in touch in September to follow up with the creators of the projects that pique their fancy. Good luck!

My take: You will never get a better chance to put your project in front of decision makers at Netflix Canada. Health-wise, BC and Canada look pristine when compared to film production centres in the US. Kudos to Netflix for supporting Canadian voices, all the while ensuring product continues to be made, especially as the world binge watches the time away. Got a project? You’ve still got time to get it into shape and pitch it. Just do it.

Indie Films: 4 mistakes to avoid ‘Demystified’

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MovieMaker has released the second episode of Demystified:

In it, Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale continue taking meetings at AFM seeking distribution for their film Souvenirs.

They learn four mistakes that indie filmmakers do from Kristen Stanisz-Bedno of Vision Films:

“Making a passion project and expecting it to make millions; not thinking about your audience when you write the script, when you shoot the script; stills: don’t have you nephew come with his iPhone for twenty minutes on one day and expect to have gorgeous artwork; social media: start it early… [but] don’t use it all now.”

To sum up her advice: “Before you do anything, make sure you get a distributor.”

In a related post, Javier Reyna reveals just how much he’s recouped from SVOD distribution of his film Regionrat.

I won’t steal his thunder, so read his post. He concludes:

“What was my biggest mistake? I made a film for the DVD and BluRay market and Netflix, but by the time ‘Regionrat’ was done, SVOD was king and Netflix, which started this SVOD shit, had less interest in small indie films.”

My take: I think indie filmmakers need to realize their art will no longer be rewarded based on meritocracy, but increasingly only on popularity. Getting attention is your first goal.

How to sell your film ‘Demystified’

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Tim Molloy of MovieMaker alerts us to a new podcast/vlog all about selling your independent film called Demystified.

It’s produced by StudioFest, an annual competition to pair one writer with one director and $50,000 to make a feature film.

The first episode follows founders Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale to the American Film Market (AFM) and their meeting with Glass House Distribution about their first feature Souvenirs.

Here are the highlights, according to Tim:

  • 7:30: Do you need a sales agent to sell your film?
  • 8:20: How does a sale work? Is it revenue sharing?
  • 8:35: Do you need to finish your film before you approach a distributor?
  • 9:00:  How important is a trailer?
  • 10:00: What genres are most marketable? Can you sell a drama with an unknown cast?
  • 11:36: How much does it cost to hire Nicolas Cage?
  • 11:50: Should you reveal your budget?
  • 13:30: Should you count “in-kind” contributions toward your budget?
  • 16:20: What you can compromise on, and what you can’t.
  • 17:23: What’s the etiquette for meeting a distributor?
  • 18:20: How much money can a lower-budget movie with no stars expect to make?
  • 19:10: Can you just go straight to Netflix?

It’s a very entertaining and enlightening podcast.

You can enter this year’s StudioFest at FilmFreeway.

My take: Of course you need a sales agent. There’s no way you can connect with all the outlets for your film across the world. However, please realize you may never see anything beyond your advance. Expenses will always dilute revenue until there’s nothing left to split. See Hollywood accounting.

COVID-19 Support for Filmmakers

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Mitigation strategies to flatten the curve and thwart the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that the film industry has for the most part ground to a halt.

No work typically means no money, and that’s a problem.

Luckily, help is available.

Film Independent has published a list of over two dozen organizations that will help filmmakers who find themselves impacted.

Canada has a plethora of relief programs (over three dozen, and many more in each province) for filmmakers and almost everyone else who might find themselves impacted.

My take: I’ll say it again, let’s just have a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for everyone. Wouldn’t it be great if this was one of the legacies from The Great Pause?

Netflix floats bonuses for winning filmmakers

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Lucas Shaw writes for Bloomberg that Netflix Plans to Pay Bonuses to Filmmakers When Movies Succeed:

Netflix vs. Amazon Prime vs. Hulu Plus

“Netflix Inc. plans to pay filmmakers, actors and movie producers a bonus if their films are successful, a new incentive aimed at winning projects that might otherwise go to rival studios.”

This would be a departure for the currently-leading streamer:

“The bonuses are different than Hollywood’s traditional “back-end” arrangements, where filmmakers get a percentage of box-office money. Since Netflix’s films don’t get released widely at theaters — if they hit the big screen at all — there’s no hope for a big payoff there…. Netflix has never offered back-end deals. It covers the full cost of production and pays producers a premium on top of that, granting them a profit before the project is even released. These deals are a safer bet because the producer is guaranteed to make a significant amount of money, but they also cap the potential profit.”

For a great primer on the various business models, see Joe Flint‘s article The War for Talent in the Age of Netflix in the Wall Street Journal:

“For decades, the formula for producers to make big money in TV was for a show to stay on the air long enough to have 100 episodes or more — enough to sell reruns to other TV networks. The bulk of the profits for production studios and show creators have come from those “syndication” deals, not the initial fees to produce and air the show. The creators of “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “The Simpsons” made hundreds of millions of dollars this way, as stakeholders who were entitled to a cut of the profits…. Netflix did away with that model when it started wooing superstar producers to make content exclusively for the service, including “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes and “Glee” producer Ryan Murphy. Netflix paid nine-figure upfront fees to Ms. Rhimes and Mr. Murphy. Netflix doesn’t sell reruns of its shows to other platforms, so there weren’t any syndication profits to be had for the producers, and the producers wanted a bigger check to work for Netflix.”

With the streaming marketplace to get much busier in November, it seems as if Netflix has been forced to consider sweetening its deals with filmmakers.

My take: with number of streaming services to double very soon, feature and episodic producers have more choice of outlets than ever before. How will the various streamers differentiate themselves, thereby attracting different audiences? How much overlap will the market bear, meaning how many services will folks pay for?

The crowdfunding platform with best campaign success rate in the world

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Emily Best and her team at Seed&Spark are smiling.

After six years in business, they can claim a crowd funding success rate of 79% in 2018 and an average raising of nearly $15,000 per project.

(By comparison, Kickstarter’s rate was 37% and Indiegogo’s rate was 12%.)

But wait, there’s more!

In addition to being a purpose-built crowd funding platform for film and TV, Seed&Spark is also a distributor and streamer (web, Roku and AppleTV):

“We focus on bringing you wild and wonderful movies and shows from diverse independent filmmakers as well as programming playlists (collections of movies and shows) that you can’t find anywhere else. From festival film favorites to award-winning documentaries to blocks of short films, watching on Seed&Spark means you have many, many, many lens from which to see the world.”

By the way, here’s their origin story:

“In 2011, film producer Emily Best was working with an all-female team to make ‘Like the Water,’ a film they hoped would be at least a drop in the bucket toward more holistic representation of women on the big screen. Unsurprisingly, they hit every imaginable road block in putting the project together, and with just 60 days left before they were scheduled to start shooting, she needed to find $20,000 to finishing financing production. Taking inspiration from the wedding registry model, she and her team created a simple website that listed the items they needed to finish the film – camera, car rentals, grip and electric, coffee – and included a PayPal to accept donations. Over the next month they raised $23,000 in cash – and more than $200,000 in loans and gifts of locations, goods, and services. ‘Like the Water’ would go on to play more than 20 festivals around the world, and the lessons Best learned while crowdfunding – and then trying to get distribution for her film – became the foundation of Seed&Spark.”

My take: Impressive! And Canada friendly too. Worth checking out for your next project.

Greenlight Essentials harnesses big data for indies

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Okay. You got the money. But you want your script to be the best possible — so that it connects with your audience. Wait, who are they again, and what do they want to watch? A crystal ball would come in handy right now.

That’s the promise from Jack Zhang and his company Greenlight Essentials.

Jack has combined his two loves, math and movies, to bring big data to indie filmmakers. He’s been collecting data for the last seven years and the insights are amazing. Jack can tell you how your plot stacks up, who your audience is and where they live.

With this information, you can improve your script and spend your marketing budget with confidence.

After ingesting your script and comparing over 40,000 plot elements with over 3,700 films and millions of box office records, Jack’s AI will plot the likely performance of your film. Change an element here and there, and see what happens.

Next, he’ll give you the demographics of the audience that responds best to your movie: their ages, occupations, incomes, purchase patterns and social media profiles.

Jack can also tell you where your audience lives in the US and Canada.

I recently asked Jack if creatives get upset when his algorithm undervalues their ideas.

“We are just funnelling audiences’ tastes to creatives.  It does upset people sometimes for sure, but it is just showing creatives that audiences want something else, and showing them the ways they can better shape their content to fit the audiences’ tastes.”

My take: this really is a crystal ball. If you ever felt that coverage is inherently skimpy and too much is left to gut decisions, this is worth checking out. Imagine only spending your ad dollars in the cities and on the social media platforms where your audience hangs out. Savings galore!

Telefilm green lights 45 first features and web series

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Telefilm Canada has just released the list of 45 projects it will fund to the tune of up to $125,000 each.

Film schools and media co-ops across Canada nominated approximately 100 projects for Telefilm’s consideration.

Big ups to these projects from CineVic and the National Screen Institute with Victoria connections:

  • All-in Madonna (Arnold Lim, Ana de Lara, Susie Winters)
  • Esluna: The World Beyond (Denver Jackson, Daniel Hogg)
  • Q (Benjamin Musgrave, Dawn Bird, Dustin Griffin)

Arnold Lim says,

“Telefilm has proven to be a world leader in their support for filmmakers and this is just one more reason I am so proud to be Canadian. Thank you to the Talent to Watch program; we haven’t shot yet but I already feel l am a better filmmaker today than when we started this program — and it never would have been possible without Telefilm’s support.”

(For background on the Talent to Watch program, Telefilm’s upgrade of its Micro-budget program, see Barry Hertz‘s article in the Globe and Mail.)

My take: I’ve mentioned before that this is the best way for Canadian filmmakers to get their first features funded. Kudos to Telefilm for having the vision to nurture new storytellers and work on balancing the gender ratio in film at the same time. And congratulations to all the Victoria teams getting the nod this year!

CRTC wants to level the field

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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued a report called Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada.

The “digital-only, interactive” report makes fascinating reading, particularly the Market Insights pages and its charts.

The report concludes:

“To ensure a vibrant domestic market and be equitable to all players, it will be essential to develop better regulatory approaches that engage all audio and video services and for each to participate in the most appropriate ways in creating and promoting content by and for Canadians. Accordingly, if legislative change is to take place, it should clearly and explicitly make any video or audio services offered in Canada and/or drawing revenue from Canadians subject to the legislation and incorporate them into the broadcasting system.”

That sounds an awful lot like a Netflix tax to me.

Some telling quotes:

“Virtually all genres of content benefit from direct and indirect financial support. Absent this support, domestic production of virtually all genres of programming would not be sustainable at current levels.”

“The most direct concern is that, driven by the shift to online consumption, continued declines in traditional TV advertising and subscription revenues — the broadcaster revenues on which the bulk of current financing is based — will reduce the money available for production by Canadians. If creators and producers do not find alternative types of financing, less content will be made by Canadians and Canadians will see less of themselves, their culture and their values reflected.”

“A vibrant domestic market is not possible unless it engages all players in the system and ensures that each participates in the most appropriate and equitable ways. The current regulatory approach to audio and video content establishes benefits for traditional players, as well as related obligations. Neither these benefits nor these obligations are applied to the many online international services also operating in Canada and playing increasingly important roles in the broadcasting system.”

My take: the CRTC posits that this new system would be revenue-neutral and not cost Canadians more. The only way that’s going to happen is if cable TV and wireless providers lower their rates to balance the inevitable rise in Netflix rates. When pigs fly.