Feds offer $50-million fund to film, TV productions struggling to get insurance

The federal government says it will offer access to a $50-million fund to film and television productions struggling to find insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault says the fund is meant to be a temporary and shortterm measure that will be managed through Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Fund.

Guilbeault says the fund will offer a maximum compensation of $1.5 million in the case of a temporary interruption and $3 million in the case of a complete shutdown of production.

“It would have to be a production owned and controlled by Canadians regarding Canadian production,” Guilbeault said Friday in a conference call with reporters.

“The company would have to have a COVID security plan. It would have to be an independent production company, so not affiliated with a broadcaster.”

He says more information on the implementation of the fund, including its terms and conditions, will be released by Telefilm Canada in the coming weeks.

The announcement comes after the Canadian Media Producers Association and the Association quebecoise de la production mediatique pushed for a fund, where producers would pay premiums to access COVID19 coverage and the government would offer a $100-million backstop if money generated though the sale of the policies was insufficient to cover the claims made.

The organizations said last week they have identified 214 camera-ready film and TV projects, 19,560 jobs and $1 billion in production volume that have stalled because insurers aren’t offering COVID-19 coverage.