Broadcast Funding. A career unto iteslf.

I went to broadcast school. The closest thing they taught us to business was how to sell a grid of radio commercials against ratings that seems sketchy at best.  There was no course for dealing with getting funding from the government, dealing with the CRTC, making your case for a creative sale.  All of that was never even approached. 

I went to a community college for radio broadcasting and I have no real problems with the course, the teachers, the rate I paid to be there for three years... None of that is the issue.  The real issue in my mind is the fact that we let our government create such a big process about getting funding that there is no room for new and innovative thought in broadcast because by the time you get through the tax forms, the applications, the demo reels, the budgeting, and the tailor-fitting to that specific fund the creative spark is entirely dampened. 

There are great accounting firms and funding experts that you can hire to help you navigate the best funding for your project, but they are expensive and are an up-front cost to producers that come directly out of pocket. Imagine: We let our government make getting funding for innovative funding so difficult that you have to hire someone to find it. This is a job! Finding money hidden in different interest funds that are tucked into nooks at the provincial and federal level.  It is a career.  I wish these people who find finds for a living the best.  There is a need for them and they do good work, but it is wildly impossible for my brain to reconcile why we let this happen.  Did we not all watch Beachcombers!? Danger Bay?!  Do we make anything long-term that doesn't take place on or near the water? At or near a native reserve? In a law firm or a police station?  Come on.  We can do better with our money.

I know there has to be a process and a system for handing out government cash for production, but let's rise 30,000 fee above what we have done to the system and take a look overall.  I bet we would be better off making shows that are innovative today...not in 18 months when the market is watching on American TV. 

Let the broadcasters commit to funding that lets them invest in programming that we want to watch. Don't allocate every dime to rigid funds that make producers compromise their dreams away.  

I appreciate that you took the time to read what amounts to a rant.