Source : Globe & Mail

For years, Telefilm Canada has handed out hundreds of millions of dollars to help filmmakers and television producers tell Canadian stories. Wednesday, in response to the rapidly changing entertainment industry, the Crown agency will launch a new project to support the creation of video games.

Although Telefilm's initial investment of $2-million will be small relative to its annual budget of almost $400-million, the move reflects the growing economic and cultural importance of gaming and the shift in the way Canadians are consuming their entertainment.

"Over the next three years there's going to be in this agency, and in the industry, an increasing priority to projects that are not [singular purpose]," said Wayne Clarkson, executive director of Telefilm. "Yes, we will continue to support feature films that have, as their principle purpose, exhibition in cinemas. But that is slowly going to decline."

Pointing to news from Microsoft Corp. this week that the software giant will begin selling television and movie downloads directly to its Xbox 360 video game console, Mr. Clarkson said traditional forms of entertainment are merging with new technologies and his agency is beginning to think about shifting its dollars accordingly.

"We're increasingly going to see projects that are not film exclusive or TV exclusive," he said in a phone interview from Montreal. "It won't be, ‘I have an idea for a film and how can I adapt it for the cellphone.' It's really going to be original works of entertainment, created by Canadians, that will imagine that new form of entertainment that serves [multiple] platforms. That's a fact that will increasingly be evident in the programs we're designing in Telefilm and the dollars that we will be allocating."

Today, Telefilm will announce funding of up to $2-million for independent game developers, to be awarded through a competition that will draw upon partnerships with major players in the industry.

The Great Canadian Video Game Competition will take submissions for new game ideas and offer 10 winners up to $50,000 each to develop their concepts further. Four of these plans will then receive up to $250,000 each to develop prototypes, with one winner ultimately collecting up to $500,000.

The awards are contingent on the developers attaining a certain level of private financing for their concepts in advance. The winners will be chosen by a jury that includes senior staff at three of the biggest software game companies: Electronic Arts Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment and Radical Entertainment Inc.

Winners at each stage of the contest will receive assistance developing their concepts from mentors in the industry, such as Clint Hocking, the creative director at Ubisoft behind the hit Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series.

"These guys know what the most common mistakes are," Ubisoft spokesman Cédric Orvoine said. "They will be assisting on both the business side and creative side."

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP forecasts that worldwide revenue from the game industry will rise to $54.6-billion (U.S.) in 2009 from $25.4-billion in 2004. As the business expands, it is becoming more expensive to create blockbuster titles and for small players to enter the market.

Telefilm has funded projects in the industry before on an individual basis. For example, it helped finance Pax Warrior, a decision-based simulation game based on Roméo Dallaire's UN mission in Rwanda and produced by 23 YYZee Inc., a studio in Toronto.

But the agency's latest project is a more strategic move into the game industry for Telefilm that could turn into something bigger, Mr. Clarkson said.

"This is a mammoth industry estimated at more than $20-billion, and there's a place for Canadian ideas, Canadian stories, Canadian talent in that firmament. What we want to do is set off a spark for Canadian talent with Canadian ideas."

© Globe and Mail