Mentor Works Founder and President, Bernadeen McLeod, recently had the opportunity to attend a presentation by the Canada Media Fund (CMF)’s Director of Program Management, Nathalie Clermont at an event hosted by Interactive Ontario. Nathalie took the opportunity to speak of the program’s ongoing objectives and its success to date while informing the audience on how their projects may be eligible for funding through the Canada Media Fund’s upcoming release.
About the Canada Media Fund and Its Purpose
The Canada Media Fund was created as a collaborative effort from Canada’s cable and satellite distributors and the Government of Canada. The Canada Media Fund is a not-for-profit organization and distributes funding to innovative digital media content and software projects. Since 2010, the Canada Media Fund has allocated $1.01 Billion in funding to 1,702 projects through the Convergent and Experimental Streams of funding.
CMF’s Experimental Stream Encourages Development of Leading-Edge Interactive Digital Media Content& Software Applications
CMF’s Experimental Stream supports the development, production and promotion of innovative, interactive content intended for use in the Canadian media industry, or for public use by Canadians. According to Nathalie, as of November 24th, 2014 CMF had supported 252 projects through $95 million in funding through the Experimental Stream.
The Canada Media Fund Experimental Stream: Funding Details
- Amount: Up to 75% of project costs as repayable funding or advances to a maximum of $400K-$1 million per project and intake period. Funding is dependent on the stage of the project: Development (75%/$400K), Production (75%/$1M), Marketing & Promotion (75%/$400K).
- Timeline: The Canada Media Fund launches twice per year in the Spring and Fall.
- Eligibility: For profit companies with projects developed in Canada (a min. of 75%). Eligible projects must have a letter of intent from a market channel partner committing to take the project to market. Eligible applicants will have innovative, interactive projects in Web 2.0 or higher, software apps, mobile apps, and video games.
Canada Media Fund Experimental Stream: Project Evaluation Criteria
According to CMF, applications will be judged differently according to the stage of the project requiring funding.
- CMF Funding for Development
For the development stage, innovativeness will be the key factor to being awarded funding with a 65% weighting. - CMF Funding for Production
While innovativeness will also play a role in deciding the success of funding applications focused on production (40%), the business plan will receive 30% weighting while team and studio and distribution strategy will make up the remaining 30%. - CMF Funding for Marketing
Applications considered for marketing support will give greater consideration to the distribution strategy portion of the application as opposed to the business plan.
Learn More about How to Qualify for CMF’s Experimental Stream
Find out if your firm qualifies for Canada Media Fund’s Experimental Stream. Learn more about the program through Mentor Works’ free online resources:
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