Development program — General stream

• Application form in Dialogue
• Required documents for the selected stream
• Declaration Regarding the Producer’s Previous Experience
• Declaration of Canadian Status and Corporate Information
• Most recent creative material

Who is eligible?

• Canadian feature film production companies

Eligible expenses

• Budget breakdown preparation.
• Corporate overhead (up to 20% of direct costs).
• Production of demos.
• Design and graphic bible creation.
• Director fees (if different from the screenwriter or for packaging phase).
• Fringe benefits related to project personnel.
• Legal fees.
• Option fees for acquiring rights to literary works (unless paid to the producer).
• Preproduction casting and scouting.
• Producer fees (up to 20% of direct costs).
• Research costs linked to the project.
• Screenwriter fees as per agreement.
• Scriptwriting workshops and storyboarding.
• Story consultant or script editor fees (independent from the producer, including sensitivity and EDI consulting).
• Travel and related costs for preproduction scouting, financing, or final packaging of the film.
• Expenses for non-Canadian script editors and consultants (if no copyright ownership results).
• Costs for obtaining an option on non-Canadian literary work or original idea.

• Creative elements of the project.
• Track record of the key creative personnel.
• Cultural impact and audience potential.
• The Organization’s Performance Score includes a Festival Score component based on awards and selections received in the past six years (2020 to 2025) at designated festivals.

• Applications must be submitted through Dialogue.

• Applications are reviewed after submission and assessed according to the program guidelines.
• For the Prequalified Stream, eligible companies are notified of their eligibility and the maximum amount of funding they are eligible for via Dialogue on July 11, 2025.
• For selective streams, projects are reviewed through a selective process using advisory committees.
• Applicants may be asked to provide missing documents within five business days if the file is incomplete.

• Applicants can only submit one application per year to a single stream, and the choice of stream is final after submission.
• Each applicant must ensure all related parties are acting independently when more than one application is considered from a corporate group.
• Projects previously unsuccessful twice in this program cannot be resubmitted; each project can receive a maximum of four rounds of development funding.
• Compliance with guidelines does not guarantee funding, as all decisions are at Telefilm's full discretion and subject to available funds.