For immediate release

August 6, 2015 – A funding program to support the development of new digital drama series (webseries) has been approved by the Board of Directors of the Cogeco Fund. The Development and Packaging Mentorship Program is designed to fill the funding gap in the digital production industry in Canada by encouraging producers of web drama series to be “pitch ready” in order to attract distribution, platforms, talent and production financing. This pilot project will replace the Cogeco Fund’s existing television Development, Pre-development and Corporate Feature Film Development funding programs in 2015/16. “The Cogeco Fund has an opportunity to be a leader in assisting the production industry to evolve and adapt in order to create content for new platforms and audiences” stated Yves Mayrand, Chair of the Cogeco Fund. “Successful productions are based on solid development of creative, business and marketing materials – and understanding the target audience. This financial support will help producers to invest the time to make this possible and to test their content.” »

This new Program encourages partnerships and guidance from experienced web series creators, writers, producers, marketers and social media professionals. Eligible applicants must be a team of at least one writer and one independent producer who must select a mentor with the skills and experience that will enhance the team’s creative or business knowledge. All projects must be dramatic, scripted digital series intended for the web. The Cogeco Fund will fund up to 100% of the development costs to a maximum of $10,000. The application deadline is October 1, 2015. All applications are evaluated by the Cogeco Fund’s evaluators and the Selection Committee named by the Board of Directors. Development funding is generated by a $7.5M endowment allocated by Cogeco Cable in 1992 for the development of drama.

Detailed guidelines and applicant and project availability are available at: http://www.cogecofund.ca/funding-programs/development/

The Cogeco Fund will also continue to invest in the production of television drama including television series, MOW and miniseries. The Fund receives annual contributions from Cogeco Cable Inc. of approximately $3M. The Cogeco Fund has invested a total of nearly $50M in the development and production of drama for television over the past 23 years.

The Cogeco Fund is administered by the Independent Production Fund.