Jeremy Torrie
Well-known member
I can tell you that in all my dealings with Telefilm (since 1996) they would never turn down a commercial film because it was un-Canadian or too Hollywood. They want successes as much as anyone to justify their annual federal allocation.
Fact is with French-Language films Telefilm averages 5% recoupment on investment. Their annual budget is $100 Million a year and $28 Million is admin and corporate overhead. So in essence they have about $75 Million per year to fund all feature films produced in Canada.
In western Canada for example there's only $15 Million to spend on features...out of the maximum regional contribution of $1.5 Million per film (at 49% of the financial structure), most never, ever reach that. Instead it's more like $500-750,000. If you look at how the financial structures work, and you want to maximize your Telefilm investment at 49% of budget, then you really cannot have a budget of more than $2 Million. If your provincial tax credit is 25-30% and your federal tax credit (meaning 8/10 creative points such as CDN writer & director) gets another 6% then you're still at 80-85%...the gap comes in with a presale(s) that numerically works at a certain budget level. If you're very lucky to convince one or more broadcasters to pre-buy (because you need the papered commitment to interim finance at the bank) you get CDN TV/pay sales of 10%...and then there's some small gap that comes in which is typically some manner of deferral/re-investment on your fees.
So we kill ourselves for our art, our narratives, the stories that matter to us, cultivating the craft, and we try to figure out why this matters, or why anyone should bother to see our self-indulgent views of the human condition. Is that cultural? It's certainly not studio.
The question becomes: what if there was no Telefilm Canada? Where would we be as filmmakers? There's no financial incentive to take risk as an entrepreneur -thanks to the tax shelters of the 70's and 80's that were abused and subsequently outlawed. Do we use tax credits to service US productions with the hope that we do enough of them to fund our own films, which will then suffer in production value because there isn't sufficient money to produce a film that can compete internationally on the festival circuit -a typical path to garnering any sort of attention.
Getting back on track -it is absolutely essential we talk and exchange ideas including success and failures. Each year in places like Cannes or Park City or Austin or Toronto there are films that captures lightning in a bottle, gaining a life that hundreds if not thousands of filmmakers worldwide hope will happen with their little film.
Red is doing its part in a massive way to support us. They are the tools allowing us to achieve our visions...and those tools are getting better every day.
Fact is with French-Language films Telefilm averages 5% recoupment on investment. Their annual budget is $100 Million a year and $28 Million is admin and corporate overhead. So in essence they have about $75 Million per year to fund all feature films produced in Canada.
In western Canada for example there's only $15 Million to spend on features...out of the maximum regional contribution of $1.5 Million per film (at 49% of the financial structure), most never, ever reach that. Instead it's more like $500-750,000. If you look at how the financial structures work, and you want to maximize your Telefilm investment at 49% of budget, then you really cannot have a budget of more than $2 Million. If your provincial tax credit is 25-30% and your federal tax credit (meaning 8/10 creative points such as CDN writer & director) gets another 6% then you're still at 80-85%...the gap comes in with a presale(s) that numerically works at a certain budget level. If you're very lucky to convince one or more broadcasters to pre-buy (because you need the papered commitment to interim finance at the bank) you get CDN TV/pay sales of 10%...and then there's some small gap that comes in which is typically some manner of deferral/re-investment on your fees.
So we kill ourselves for our art, our narratives, the stories that matter to us, cultivating the craft, and we try to figure out why this matters, or why anyone should bother to see our self-indulgent views of the human condition. Is that cultural? It's certainly not studio.
The question becomes: what if there was no Telefilm Canada? Where would we be as filmmakers? There's no financial incentive to take risk as an entrepreneur -thanks to the tax shelters of the 70's and 80's that were abused and subsequently outlawed. Do we use tax credits to service US productions with the hope that we do enough of them to fund our own films, which will then suffer in production value because there isn't sufficient money to produce a film that can compete internationally on the festival circuit -a typical path to garnering any sort of attention.
Getting back on track -it is absolutely essential we talk and exchange ideas including success and failures. Each year in places like Cannes or Park City or Austin or Toronto there are films that captures lightning in a bottle, gaining a life that hundreds if not thousands of filmmakers worldwide hope will happen with their little film.
Red is doing its part in a massive way to support us. They are the tools allowing us to achieve our visions...and those tools are getting better every day.
