Word on the street is that Telefilm's Canada New Media Fund (CNMF) is drying up. I've heard from more that one funding applicant that analysts have been dragging their heels on project decisions that should have been made in the spring and that six-figure requests are being turned down in favor of low five-figure ones. On top of constant staff turnover, other 3rd party observations include analysts being unclear on their own stages of funding (production vs. development vs. marketing) and being unable to explain their rules around budgeting.
Sounds like the fund is being run in a manner that would never have been tolerated in the private sector, with a deadly combination of bureaucracy and lack of accountability. When I queried my contact at Telefilm about the Fund's future, I was told that the Department of Canadian Heritage (Telefilm's funder) had nothing to announce publically at this time.
Anybody out there know what's up at Telefilm? Applicants - what has your experience with Telefilm been like in 2008?
Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Parliament through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montréal, Telefilm... [more]
Rob Lewis
Rob is the President of Techvibes Media Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Techvibes.com.
His diverse background includes stints in International Trade Finance, Web Development, and Enterprise Software and he is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Simon Fraser University.
When not blogging on...[more]
