Australia and Canada to co-fund interactive digital incentive
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 - Today at the Power to the Pixel conference in London, the Canada Media Fund and the Australian Government through Screen Australia announced a near CAD$800,000* incentive specifically for digital interactive works.
“With 50 film and television co-productions between Canada and Australia, it’s a natural fit to build on this relationship and create an incentive for interactive digital media coproduction,” says Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “We’ve had the pleasure of meeting with Australian officials at the Screen Producers Association of Australia Conference, Prime Time in Ottawa, MIPTV and TIFF in order to better understand our respective markets and devise a plan to offer producers on both sides of the ocean an opportunity to create stellar content for all audiences to enjoy. On behalf of the Canada Media Fund, I want to thank Graeme Mason, CEO at Screen Australia and his team for this opportunity to work together and foster a relationship that supports creative talents in both countries.”
“The Canada-Australia Interactive Digital Media Incentive is designed to not only encourage creatives from each country to work together, but to facilitate the production of truly innovative and original narrative pieces,” says Screen Australia’s Investment Manager Mike Cowap. “We want creatives to be experimental. This Incentive is their chance to push the boundaries of how a story can be told in an interactive way, whether it is in an app, online, virtual reality or any other mind-blowing idea they can come up with. The hardest thing may be working with the time zone difference!”
The total maximum contribution for each funded project will be CAD$300,000. The contribution of each country to each project will be determined on a case by case basis and funding will take the form of a non-repayable contribution.
In order to facilitate creatives from both countries working together, the Canada Media Fund has setup a Find a Producer portal for both Canadian and Australia creatives to register online.
All applications must comply with the guidelines for the Incentive which will be available on both the Canada Media Fund and Screen Australia websites from October 30, 2015. Submissions will open on November 1, 2015 via both websites and close on January 22, 2016.
Projects will be evaluated and chosen by a selection committee composed of representatives from both funding organisations. Recipients will be announced in late February 2016.
*Fund is comprised of AUD$400,000 and CAD$400,000 which will fluctuate based on exchange rates.
About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit www.cmf-fmc.ca.
About Screen Australia
The Australian Government invests in the local film, television and multi-platform (digital) industry through the agency Screen Australia. Support is provided by direct investment in the development and production stages of selected works that have significant Australian content and talent, in addition to support of marketing, festival attendance and career development. Screen Australia also conducts industry research and manages The Producer Offset tax incentive which encourages the production of local works. For more information see http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au, http://australiaonscreen.com (festival), http://thescreenblog.com (editorial).
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Media Contact:
Pierre Campeau
Communications Manager
Canada Media Fund
pcampeau@cmf-fmc.ca
+1 416 554 2768
Scott Dawkins
Publicist
Screen Australia
scott.dawkins@screenaustralia.gov.au
+61 403 937 074
PRODUCER ENQUIRIES
Canadian queries to caroline.chopra@telefilm.ca
Australian queries to mike.cowap@screenaustralia.gov.au
