News
August 10, 2022
August 10 FilmOntario Updates
2022 Provincial Budget Re-IntroducedMPPs returned to the Legislature on Monday with the election of MPP Ted Arnott (Wellington – Halton Hills) as Speaker of the House.
Yesterday the Lieutenant-Governor delivered the Speech from the Throne, which was followed by the re-introduction of the 2022 Provincial Budget Bill. As a reminder, the Budget introduced before the election included the following items for our industry:
- regulatory amendments that will extend the OFTTC and OPSTC to online productions; for the OFTTC this will be subject to additional eligibility requirements including a spending threshold of $250,000 and an agreement to be shown online;
- a commitment to examine ways to untether OCASE from the OFTTC/OPSTC in order to eliminate some complexities in the current process; and
- a commitment to review the regional bonus in the OFTTC and the eligibility of location fees in the OPSTC, in order to encourage more production across the province.
It is our understanding that the regulatory amendments will be introduced this fall, and that the consultation process for the other items will also begin around the same time. We will continue to work with our government partners to provide input and feedback on these consultations, and keep all our members informed as the work progresses.
Cabinet Appeal - CBC Licence Renewal
FilmOntario has provided a letter of support to the CMPA’s Cabinet appeal regarding the CBC’s licence renewal by the CRTC. The CMPA has asked that the decision be set aside and returned to the Commission for reconsideration.
Our concerns with this decision centre around the replacement of exhibition requirements with expenditure requirements that are spread across both licensed and unlicensed services, and that it removes the requirements around independent production. The decision also removes the requirement for the CBC to air Canadian feature films, and does not address any of the issues related to a lack of programming in the children’s and youth categories.
Ontario is home to most of the country’s English-language independent producers, and the CBC, as the public broadcaster, plays a crucial role in licensing original Canadian content. We are concerned that if the CBC moves from working with independent producers to in-house production, this will have a ripple effect throughout the industry and lead to less work for all of those who are employed by independent producers. You can read FilmOntario’s letter of support here.
Job Opportunities at Ontario Creates
Ontario Creates has asked us to communicate to members about some current job openings in their Tax Credits department. The competitions are open to all applicants with relevant/transferable experience, but they particularly want to ensure that this message reaches potential candidates in racialized and LGBTQ2S+ communities as well as people with disabilities. The postings will be open until Friday, August 12th and the links to apply are below.
Tax Credit Manager: Managers will oversee the delivery of tax credit programs that support the growth of Ontario’s film and television, interactive digital media and book sectors. This includes leading the development and implementation of systems, policies and procedures; analyzing options and making recommendations to improve business processes and outcomes; providing advice and expertise to decision makers on tax credit legislation, program delivery, risk mitigation, issues management and strategic planning; and managing a team of Business Officers in the review and certification process for tax credit applications. https://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/Preview.aspx?Language=English&JobID=183416
Tax Credit Business Officer: There are four Business Officer positions open (three permanent and one contract). Business Officers conduct the primary review and evaluation of tax credit applications to determine eligibility for five credit programs across the film and television, interactive digital media, and publishing industries. This includes performing financial analysis, reviewing cost reports and legal agreements, and evaluating applications against the legislated and regulatory requirements; communicating with applicants on issues and additional information required to assess their applications; and making recommendations on whether an application qualifies for certification. https://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/Preview.aspx?Language=English&JobID=183691
Ontario Creates is committed to further diversifying their workforce and is keen to reach a broad cross-section of program and industry professionals with these job opportunities.
Being Seen: Children’s Screen Content Creators Workshops
The Black Screen Office in collaboration with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the Shaw Rocket Fund is pleased to present a series of FREE virtual workshops on ‘Being Seen: Directives for Creating Authentic and Inclusive Content’. These workshops are targeted to children’s screen content creators to help them create children’s and youth content that is more authentic and inclusive of Black, People of Colour, 2SLGBTQIA+ and People with Disabilities.
In each workshop there will be a discussion of the Directives and then children’s content creators will engage with participants on ways to implement the Directives. Creators may take one or all of the workshops. The first workshop deals with general themes applicable to all underrepresented communities while the subsequent workshops delve deeper into issues of stereotypes and tokenism within specific communities.
You can view a full schedule and register for the workshops here.
Important Dates
August 29 – Deadline for the Ontario Creates IDM Fund: Production and Concept Definition. This Fund provides IDM content creators with funding for high quality, original interactive digital media content projects that make a positive contribution to the Ontario economy. The Concept Definition program provides early-stage development support, and the Production program provides support for the creation of a market-ready content project that will be released to end users. Several information sessions will be held in July and early August; registration is required.
September 28 – Save the date for FilmOntario day at Queen’s Park. Sign-up details to follow.
November 30 – Applications for the Ontario Creates Film Fund – Development will be accepted on a continuous basis until this date. This program is intended to support development activities that lead to the increase of domestic feature film production in Ontario, for all stages of development activities.
Reminders for Members
Don’t forget to send Cynthia a copy of your logo or photo that represents your company to be featured in our member directory on the website.
News to Share?
If there are any updates or announcements you would like to share with your fellow FilmOntario members, please don’t hesitate to let me know at clynch@filmontario.ca and I will include them in the next member update.
Cabinet Appeal - CBC Licence Renewal
FilmOntario has provided a letter of support to the CMPA’s Cabinet appeal regarding the CBC’s licence renewal by the CRTC. The CMPA has asked that the decision be set aside and returned to the Commission for reconsideration.
Our concerns with this decision centre around the replacement of exhibition requirements with expenditure requirements that are spread across both licensed and unlicensed services, and that it removes the requirements around independent production. The decision also removes the requirement for the CBC to air Canadian feature films, and does not address any of the issues related to a lack of programming in the children’s and youth categories.
Ontario is home to most of the country’s English-language independent producers, and the CBC, as the public broadcaster, plays a crucial role in licensing original Canadian content. We are concerned that if the CBC moves from working with independent producers to in-house production, this will have a ripple effect throughout the industry and lead to less work for all of those who are employed by independent producers. You can read FilmOntario’s letter of support here.
Job Opportunities at Ontario Creates
Ontario Creates has asked us to communicate to members about some current job openings in their Tax Credits department. The competitions are open to all applicants with relevant/transferable experience, but they particularly want to ensure that this message reaches potential candidates in racialized and LGBTQ2S+ communities as well as people with disabilities. The postings will be open until Friday, August 12th and the links to apply are below.
Tax Credit Manager: Managers will oversee the delivery of tax credit programs that support the growth of Ontario’s film and television, interactive digital media and book sectors. This includes leading the development and implementation of systems, policies and procedures; analyzing options and making recommendations to improve business processes and outcomes; providing advice and expertise to decision makers on tax credit legislation, program delivery, risk mitigation, issues management and strategic planning; and managing a team of Business Officers in the review and certification process for tax credit applications. https://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/Preview.aspx?Language=English&JobID=183416
Tax Credit Business Officer: There are four Business Officer positions open (three permanent and one contract). Business Officers conduct the primary review and evaluation of tax credit applications to determine eligibility for five credit programs across the film and television, interactive digital media, and publishing industries. This includes performing financial analysis, reviewing cost reports and legal agreements, and evaluating applications against the legislated and regulatory requirements; communicating with applicants on issues and additional information required to assess their applications; and making recommendations on whether an application qualifies for certification. https://www.gojobs.gov.on.ca/Preview.aspx?Language=English&JobID=183691
Ontario Creates is committed to further diversifying their workforce and is keen to reach a broad cross-section of program and industry professionals with these job opportunities.
Being Seen: Children’s Screen Content Creators Workshops
The Black Screen Office in collaboration with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the Shaw Rocket Fund is pleased to present a series of FREE virtual workshops on ‘Being Seen: Directives for Creating Authentic and Inclusive Content’. These workshops are targeted to children’s screen content creators to help them create children’s and youth content that is more authentic and inclusive of Black, People of Colour, 2SLGBTQIA+ and People with Disabilities.
In each workshop there will be a discussion of the Directives and then children’s content creators will engage with participants on ways to implement the Directives. Creators may take one or all of the workshops. The first workshop deals with general themes applicable to all underrepresented communities while the subsequent workshops delve deeper into issues of stereotypes and tokenism within specific communities.
You can view a full schedule and register for the workshops here.
Important Dates
August 29 – Deadline for the Ontario Creates IDM Fund: Production and Concept Definition. This Fund provides IDM content creators with funding for high quality, original interactive digital media content projects that make a positive contribution to the Ontario economy. The Concept Definition program provides early-stage development support, and the Production program provides support for the creation of a market-ready content project that will be released to end users. Several information sessions will be held in July and early August; registration is required.
September 28 – Save the date for FilmOntario day at Queen’s Park. Sign-up details to follow.
November 30 – Applications for the Ontario Creates Film Fund – Development will be accepted on a continuous basis until this date. This program is intended to support development activities that lead to the increase of domestic feature film production in Ontario, for all stages of development activities.
Reminders for Members
Don’t forget to send Cynthia a copy of your logo or photo that represents your company to be featured in our member directory on the website.
News to Share?
If there are any updates or announcements you would like to share with your fellow FilmOntario members, please don’t hesitate to let me know at clynch@filmontario.ca and I will include them in the next member update.