Growing the pie

Other factors have contributed to the decline of documentary production volume, including consolidation in the broadcast market, which has reduced the number of buyers, and the proliferation of reality and lifestyle programming, which has usurped the place of documentary content. [...] This situation presents an opportunity for the documentary sector to engage Canadian funding organizations and other stakeholders in a conversation about how to address these obstacles and incentives for the future vitality of the industry. [...] SC OPE The scope of the research, as defined by DOC, was to accomplish the following: • Identify and define various means of alternative financing available to documentary producers • Highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches • Investigate other jurisdictions and sectors to seek out additional funding alternatives • Map options aimed at supporting the sustainability and success [...] This figure represents just over 9% of the full production spend.21 Though there are many aligned broadcasters globally, the deals are complex, and again, a Canadian licence is still required to trigger the balance of funding from the Canadian funding system. [...] CANADA MEDIA FUND The mandate of the Canada Media Fund (CMF) is to support “the sustainable production of successful, convergent television and digital media content that is accessible to Canadians through multiple platforms.”22 As detailed on their website at the time of writing, its contribution of $372M to Canadian television and digital media in 2012/13 makes it the single largest source of me