SaskTel Max Equity Fund Guidelines

The Creative Saskatchewan SaskTel Max Equity Fund provides financial support to eligible Saskatchewan-based independent producers of audiovisual productions. Creative Saskatchewan may invest in eligible projects that demonstrate significant economic, cultural and employment benefit to the Saskatchewan industry, and a high potential of recoupment and profit in the application.

Please note: By submitting an application for this grant, you confirm that you have read the Creative Saskatchewan Investment Fund General Program Guidelines (CS-IFG). If awarded a grant, you will be obligated by all criteria in the CS-IFG as well as criteria specific to this grant as described herein. If there is a conflict between the CS-IFG and this document, the criteria in this document will prevail.

The Guidelines were approved on April 1, 2023 for the 2023-24 Fiscal Year. Any amendments made after the fact will be posted here:

No changes to date.

Eligible Applicants

Applicants must comply with the general eligibility requirements of Creative Saskatchewan and meet the following criteria:

Applicants must be Saskatchewan residents as defined in The Creative Saskatchewan Regulations;
Applicants must have experience as producers of film, video or digital delivery productions and must demonstrate their company possesses the necessary expertise to complete the proposed production and associated marketing;
Applicants must be the owner or co-owner of the project, control copyright and receive, subject to commitments to third-party investors, talent and deferring parties, a share of revenues from sales of the project;
The production company cannot hold a broadcasting license issued by the CRTC or deal at non-arm’s length with a corporation that holds a license;
Applicants must receive sole or, in the case of co-production, shared and equal stature producer credits on the project. Credits such as associate producer, co-producer and line producer do not satisfy the requirement; and
The production company must be incorporated or registered pursuant to an Act to conduct business in Saskatchewan.

Eligible Projects

Applicants must demonstrate at the time of application that a minimum of 50% of all third-party production financing is contracted (Creative Saskatchewan Feature Film and Television Production Grant and Federal and other Provincial Tax Credits can be included in this calculation), and all necessary insurance and performance bonds are in place;
The project must be made available in a meaningful way to target Canadian audiences within 2 years of completion on any platform including a Canadian broadcaster or subscription video on demand (as demonstrated by a written commitment to air the completed project);
Productions receiving funding must achieve six points out of ten (6/10) for Canadian content certification;
A treaty co-production certified by the CRTC;
Be closed captioned and have descriptive video;
Applications may be submitted at any stage of the production or post production, but must be submitted prior to the completion of the project;
Fund contributions can be used for the following project categories:
- Long-form documentary
- Informal education / recreation and leisure
- Drama and comedy
- Music and dance
- Music video programs
- General entertainment and human interest
Fund contributions will not be used to fund projects in the news, reporting and actualities, and sports categories;
New Media Content, such as video games, apps, customized web content etc., must be related to supporting an audiovisual production.

Funding

The Fund is a competitive fund that may provide equity investment in support of eligible productions to a maximum of 20% of the approved cash budget.

Assessment

The amount of Creative Saskatchewan investment, if any, within allowable caps will be determined during the competitive process by the strength of the application against the following criteria:

Demonstrated probability of recoupment and profit potential.
Economic benefit to the province of Saskatchewan.
Cultural benefit to the province of Saskatchewan.
Job creation potential within Saskatchewan, including training and career laddering opportunities for the freelance/self-employed community.
Feasibility of the production budget.
Production financing including support from the marketplace and leveraging of funds from the private sector and from outside Saskatchewan.
Experience of the producer, director and key creative team.
The quality and originality of the creative.

Deadlines & Notification

This is a juried program with one intake per year for applications. Please refer to the specific program page for application dates.
Applicants can expect to be notified of their results once the assessment process has concluded. It is anticipated that notifications will begin four to six weeks following the application deadline.

Recognition of Funders

Recipients of the Creative SaskTel Max Equity Fund must include the following credit prominently on all copies of the project and all promotional material: “Production made possible through the Creative Saskatchewan SaskTel Max Equity Fund Program” (followed by the Creative Saskatchewan and SaskTel logos).
The Creative Saskatchewan logo and guidelines for acknowledgement can be found here.

Confidentiality of Information

Please refer to the CS-IFG for details of Creative Saskatchewan’s Confidentiality Policy. If you are not awarded funds, all information in and about your application is held in confidence. If you are awarded funds, your name, a description of your project, and the amount of funding will be made publicly available.