The Canadian Television Fund has awarded $99.2 million to further domestic TV production, putting cash into 36 new and returning English-language dramas, handing out 66% of the total dollars requested by broadcasters earlier this year, down slightly from last year’s 75%.
CTV has had five out of its six shows approved, and can now move forward on Alice, I Think and a new run of Corner Gas, among others but received nothing for its new drama Whistler, leaving Canada’s largest network without a Canadian-made one-hour drama for 2005/06. Whistler was meant to replace The Eleventh Hour, which was cancelled earlier this year. Season two of Instant Star is also not on the list because it is not classed as a traditional drama, but will move forward with monies from CTV’s Broadcaster Performance envelope, according to producer Stephen Stohn. Stohn’s Epitome Pictures also produces Degrassi: The Next Generation, which did receive CTF funding and is already in production on its fifth season. The net also got funding for MOWs Doomstown and Last Exit.
Global scored two out of three submissions, with Falcon Beach renewed for 13 eps and Regenesis II also in for 13.
CBC had put in for 27 shows, 18 of which came away with cheques. Executive director of network programming Slawko Klymkiw is ‘very pleased’ with the CTF results and can now push ahead with the new series Da Vinci’s City Hall and season three of This is Wonderland. In addition, CBC received funding for Chris Haddock’s MOW/pilot Intelligence, the Canada/South Africa coproduction Jozi H, an eight-part mini about the October Crisis, and the two-parters Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis and Dragon Boys. The broadcaster will also make the Paul Pope MOW Hey Day, six hours of Hotel Metropolitan and six half-hours of Hatching, Matching and Dispatching. The CBC also received funding for its fifteenth and final season of The Red Green Show, a thirteenth run of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, 10 eps of The Tournament, seven additional eps of What It’s Like Being Alone and two pilots – Rabbittown and This Space for Rent.
Showcase scored on seven out of 11, including eight eps of the new series Moose TV, season six of Trailer Park Boys, 10 more eps of Naked Josh and a third season of Moccasin Flats, shot in partnership with APTN. The racy Show Me Yours did not show up on the list. Showcase also failed to get funds for series The Munro Stories. The proposed six-episode Munro series, meant to complement the lauded Shields Stories and Atwood Stories, has been rejected for a second consecutive year, but ‘We’re pretty happy,’ says John Gill, SVP of dramatic programming at Showcase parent Alliance Atlantis. ‘Anytime you submit 11 series and you get seven of them [funded], I think you’ve got to be pretty pleased.’
Three of CHUM’s five shows scored at CTF, receiving funding for its second season of Godiva’s and season three of The Collector.
The Comedy Network fared well, receiving CTF cash for the continuation of Odd Job Jack and a fourth season of Puppets Who Kill.
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