CFAs: Documentary + Factual Development Fund (Canada)

The Documentary + Factual Development Fund is intended to encourage the development of motion picture projects in both documentary and factual series formats.

The Fund’s key objective is to support individual projects during early-stage development, before they have been greenlit by the market, growing opportunities for BC-based projects, filmmakers and producers. The fund will also support diverse voices that are historically systemically excluded and critical to a vibrant and equitable industry.

Early-stage investigative development funding will be provided to develop documentary or factual projects that have strong potential to secure production support and connect with audiences.

Funding Information

• Overall Funding Envelope Available: Up to $200,000 will be committed in this Round 5 funding cycle.
• Funding Per Project: Up to $15,000 per project.

Deliverables

• Funds are to be used for early-stage development (e.g. research, treatments, pitch documents, proof of concept, demos, trailers etc.) that will enable applicants to successfully pitch the project to the market.

Eligible Projects

• Eligible projects may include B.C.-owned and/or controlled:
  • Documentaries and hybrid-documentaries for television broadcast, streaming, or for theatrical release;
  • Documentary or factual television series, pilots and mini-series;
  • Documentary short films and web series.
• Eligible projects that receive funding must be produced in British Columbia–although it is not a requirement that the subject matter is B.C.-based, nor that the project is shot in B.C.

Eligible Costs

• Funding will go towards early-stage development, for example:
  • Research;
  • Treatment development;
  • Pitch document development;
  • Proof of concept/trailers.

Eligibility Criteria

• Companies applying must:
  • Be a production company incorporated in British Columbia or Canada with its head office in British Columbia.
  • Companies must have a proven track record in production and should have produced a minimum of 2 completed B.C. owned and controlled film or television productions.
  • The primary owner / majority common voting shareholder(s) of the applicant company must meet be a B.C. resident – either a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident – who has resided in British Columbia for at least 200 of the 365 days prior to the application and have filed income tax returns in B.C. for the taxation year prior to the application.
  • 100% of the copyright of the project must be owned, controlled, or optioned by the applicant (except for inter-provincial or international treaty co-productions).
  • Companies must be in good standing with Creative BC.

Evaluation Criteria

• The review and analysis of each application considers:
  • Program eligibility;
  • Elements of creative evaluation;
  • Viability and market potential. In examining a submission, they consider both the proposed project and the applicant’s experience.
• The matrix of criteria used to evaluate a project also includes:
  • Potential to secure production support;
  • Potential to reach and connect with the project’s intended audience;
  • Creative merit of proposed project;
  • Feasibility of budget;
  • Feasibility around the pathway to audience.

For more information, visit Creative BC.