Talent To Watch Program
The Talent to Watch Program – Funding of First Feature Films from Emerging Filmmakers (the “Program”) aims to support a diverse array of emerging filmmakers^1. The intended outcome of this Program is to discover and develop the next generation of Canadian filmmakers, and to allow them to establish their voice and sensibility through a first feature. The Talent to Watch Program has three streams: Industry Partner Stream: For projects that are recommended by a Designated Industry Partner. Festival Selection Stream: For emerging filmmakers who have directed a short film that was selected at a recognized film festival. Filmmaker Apply-Direct Stream: All Key Members of the Creative Team must be: Indigenous; Black; People of Colour; Women; Gender-diverse individuals; 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals; Persons with disabilities; and/or Members of an Official Language Minority Community
Grant Deadline
2025-04-30
Funding Amount
Deadline not available The maximum contribution amount is set at $250,000 for fiction feature films and $150,000 for documentaries.
Type of Grant
Grant
Sectors
Film
Demographics
Black, Women, LGBTQ2+, Indigenous, Visible minority, Person with Disabilities
Incorporation
For Profit
Perks
Region Restriction
This grant is restricted to whole of Canada
Keywords
funding, canada, program, Film project, encourage film, Ensure Talent, french project, english project
Age Restriction
This grant is age restricted from 18 to 100
Eligibility and Requirements
2. Eligibility Criteria Applicable to the Key Members of the Creative Team
2.1. General Eligibility Criteria for all Streams
The Producers, Directors and Screenwriters are considered as the key members of the creative team.
To be eligible, all the key members of the creative team must:
a) be Canadian citizens, within the definition of the Citizenship Act, or permanent residents within the definition of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (unless the project is an audiovisual treaty coproduction);
b) be emerging talent, i.e.:
- they must have previously produced, directed and/or written at least a:
▪ short film (a film of 30 minutes or less);
▪ web production;
▪ television content;
▪ commercials;
▪ music videos;
Or equivalent experience in the screen-based industry.
AND
- they must not have previously held the same key position on a feature film^3.
Note 1: Producers who have previously produced one feature film that has received funding under this Program are also considered as emerging talent. This Program was called the “Micro-Budget Production Program” before.
Note 2: Telefilm will show flexibility in the eligibility evaluation of key creatives who have previously produced, written or directed a feature film project of micro-budget scope4 funded outside of this Program and that had a limited release.
2.2. Additional Eligibility Criteria - Festival Selection Stream
Directors of projects submitted to Telefilm must have directed a short film that was selected at one of the recognized film festivals listed in Appendix A in the two (2) calendar years prior to the application to Telefilm.
2.3. Additional Eligibility Criteria - Filmmaker Apply-Direct Stream^5
All key members of the creative team (Producers, Directors and Screenwriters) must be:
• Indigenous;
• Black;
• People of Colour;
• Women;
• Gender-diverse individuals;
• 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals;
• Persons with disabilities; and/or
• Members of an Official Language Minority Community.
3. Eligibility Criteria Applicable to Applicants
Applications may be submitted by companies or individuals on behalf of a company to be incorporated in the future.
If a team wishes to submit an application to Telefilm but has yet to incorporate a company, a duly authorized member of the key creative team may submit an application on behalf of the company to be incorporated. If a project is selected by Telefilm for funding, the financing agreement will be signed with the company.
3.1. When the application is submitted by an individual on behalf of a company to be incorporated in the future
The individual must:
a) be a key member of the creative team of the project;
b) meet all the eligibility criteria set in section 2.1;
c) be authorized by the rightsholders of the project to apply to Telefilm.
Further, once incorporated, the company must meet all the eligibility criteria set in section 3.1.2 below.
3.2. When the application is submitted by a company already incorporated
In order to submit an application, the applicant must meet the following eligibility criteria:
a) operate as a film production company;
b) own 100% of the rights of the project (unless the project is an audiovisual treaty coproduction);
c) be under Canadian control as determined under sections 26 to 28 of the Investment Canada Act;
d) be entirely owned and controlled by one or more members of key creative team of the project.
4. Eligibility Criteria Applicable to Projects
4.1. General Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible, a project must:
a) be primarily produced in English, French, an Indigenous language or, for artistic imperatives, in another language6 .
b) be intended to be fictional, or documentary audiovisual projects.
c) be a feature length film of 75 minutes or more.
d) with respect to Canadian content certification, upon completion be either:
o certified by the Canadian Audio-visual Certification Office (CAVCO) as a “Canadian film or video production” with a minimum of 8 out of 10 points under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada); or
o recognized as a treaty coproduction by the Minister of Canadian Heritage (refer to Telefilm’s guidelines on Audiovisual Coproductions).
e) have a total budget ranging between $150,000 and $500,000^7 .
f) conform to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) Code of Ethics and to all other programming standards endorsed by the CAB or the CRTC, and not contain any element that is an offence under the Criminal Code, is libellous or in any other way unlawful.
4.2. Additional Eligibility Criteria - Industry Partner Stream
Projects submitted under the Industry Partner Stream must be recommended to Telefilm by a Designated Partner.
• Main component: the partner must confirm that the director of the recommended project is a recent alumni^8 from one of the Designated Partner’s production programs, an active member^9 of the Designated Partner’s film cooperative or, in the case of a film festival partner, has participated in an incubator offered by that festival.
o Note that partners can recommend producers and writers who are not recent alumni or active members of their institution, film cooperative or incubator initiative but, in all cases, producers and writers must be emerging talent as defined above.
• Indigenous component: the key members of the creative team of the project must be Indigenous10 .
• OLMC component: in addition to the criteria applicable to the Main component, the key members of the creative team must:
- Self-identify as Anglophones residing in Quebec, if the project is primarily produced in English, and is produced, written, and directed in Quebec;
- Self-identify as Francophones residing outside of Quebec, if the project is primarily produced in French, and is produced, written, and directed outside of Quebec.
Note: The partner must be able to demonstrate to Telefilm that it has the resources and the capacity to carry out the evaluation of the recommended project in the language in which they are submitted.
4.3. Ineligible Project Types
The following non-exhaustive list provides examples of the types of projects that are not eligible:
• projects done on contract for, or produced by, a government agency;
• projects produced primarily for industrial, corporate or institutional purposes;
• advertising;
• projects using film as a tool to record or document existing artworks such as a stage play;
• conventional forms of television entertainment, such as pilots, movies-of-the-week, and news reports;
• student films.
4.4. Limitation on the Number of Applications for the Same Project
A project may only be submitted to the Program once, unless it receives an invitation to re-apply^11 .
4.5. Audiovisual Treaty Coproductions
Please note that projects that are recognized as audiovisual treaty coproductions are eligible to apply to this Program but are not guaranteed funding. The determination of eligibility of applicants and projects will be adapted to reflect the conditions set out in the applicable treaty(ies) while meeting the spirit and intent of these guidelines.
Grant Application website
https://telefilm.ca/en/programmes/talent-to-watch-program
Contact
Phone: 438-806-4865
Toll free: 1-800-567-0890
Email: coordination@telefilm.ca