International Coproductions
Convergent
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) supports international coproductions through both its Convergent and Experimental streams. In 2015-2016, international treaty coproductions represented a small portion of CMF convergent funded projects (5.0% of all funding).
At a total of $15.7M, funding to international convergent coproductions increased by 127.5% from 2014-2015, although the number of projects has not changed. The increase in funding was tied to five big-budget co-productions funded in 2015-2016.
The majority of convergent coproductions were with the United Kingdom (9) and France (9), as has been the trend in recent years. Coproducing countries were reduced to a core group of traditional partners. Ireland coproduced a big-budget drama for the sixth consecutive year, returning on Vikings IV. Hungary, Australia and Brazil returned to coproduction with 1 project each.
Funding to minority convergent coproductions increased $4.8M from 2014-2015 and surpassed funding to majority coproductions for the second year. Majority coproductions increased $4.0M in funding from 2014-2015.
Experimental
There were 8 Experimental-funded international coproductions in 2015-2016, all benefitting from the international coproduction incentives. The number of Experimental coproductions doubled from last year.
International Coproduction and Codevelopment Incentives : 2015-2016
Incentive | Stream | Activity | # of projects | CMF Funding $K | Foreign Funder $K | Canadian Budgets $K |
Canada-Australia Interactive Digital Media Incentive | Experimental | Production | 3 | 349 | 364 | 465 |
Canada-Italy Codevelopment Incentive | Convergent | Development | 6 | 100 | 100 | 210 |
Canada-New Zealand Digital Media Fund | Experimental | Production | 3 | 566 | 546 | 743 |
SP Cine Codevelopment Incentive | Convergent | Development | 3 | 92 | 50 | 147 |
Experimental | Development | 2 | 8 | 42 | 37 | |
Canada-Wallonia Digital Media Incentive for Multiplatform Projects | Experimental | Production | 2 | 430 | 428 | 775 |
Total | 19 | 1,545 | 1,530 | 2,377 |
Expanding from last year’s two coproduction incentives, three new incentives were implemented in 2015-2016, partnering with Australia, Italy, and Brazil. The incentives targeted both Experimental and Convergent projects, in production and development stages. All five incentives were co-ventures with foreign funders, a result of a global outreach for coproduction partners on behalf of Canadian producers. The foreign partners contributed a total of $1.5M to CMF-funded projects, more than double last year’s amount.