The Independent Production Fund has two offices, one in Toronto and one in Montréal.

Andra Sheffer, Executive Director (Toronto Office)
Andra Sheffer is the Executive Director of three private funds supporting the Canadian television and new media industries: the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund which invests in Canadian television programs and their associated new media projects; the Independent Production Fund which invests in dramatic television series; and, the COGECO Program Development Fund for the development of dramatic series and MOW’s and the production of MOW’s. From 1979-89 she was the founding Executive Director of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. She lectures at Ryerson University on the business of television and is the editor of New Media, New Business: The Producer’s Guide(2001) and Create a Winning Proposal – The Handbook for New Media Producers (1999) as well as the co-editor of MAKING IT: the Business of Film and Television Production in Canada (1986 &1995). Previously she served as the Managing Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, and with the federal government as a Certification Officer setting up the original CAVCO office (and Canadian content “point” system), and at the Film Festivals Bureau promoting Canadian films internationally. She is a member of the President’s Advisory Council for the New Media Design Program at Sheridan College, the President’s Advisory Council for Public Affairs and Management at Carleton University, and the Banff Foundation’s NextMedia International New Media Festival Advisory Board.

Claire Dion, Associate Director (Montréal Office)
From 1980 to 1987 Claire Dion held positions at the Institut québécois du cinéma, the SGCQ and SOGIC, now SODEC, as script advisor and Director of Developement and Production. Since 1987 she has served as editor of a healthcare business periodical; she was responsible for teaching a scriptwriting course for television at the Université du Québec; she acted as associate producer for the development of director Robert Favreau’s feature film L’Ange Noir and script editor of the first series Super Sans Plomb. In 1991, she set up the Quebec office for the Maclean Hunter Television Fund, now the Independent Production Fund, which administers the COGECO Program Development Fund and the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund. She acted as consultant for Shaw Cablesystems in Quebec for SCPI and the SBF from 1997 to 1999 and for the CanWest Promotion of Programming Fund in 2003. Claire Dion received her B.A. in television studies from Concordia University and a Master Degree in Cinéma from USC (University of Souther California). She was chair of CLSC Côte-des-Neiges for 10 years. She is a member of the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television, Femmes du cinéma de la télévision et des nouveaux médias de Montréal and vice-president of the Fondation Marijo.

Charles Zamaria, Financial Director (Toronto Office)
Charles Zamaria is Financial Director for the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, Independent Production Fund, and COGECO Program Development Fund. He has assisted in developing and creating national professional standards for the emerging new media production industry.Concurrently, Professor Zamaria is a full-time tenured faculty member in the School of Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University, where he specializes in teaching business aspects of producing in various media industry. He has worked for CTV, YTV, CBC, Telefilm Canada and Cambium Productions in various production and management capacities. He has credits on dozens of award-winning independent film and television productions. He is the author of numerous, publications, served as Director for trade missions (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada) and conducted research analysis and studies internationally.In addition, he serves as Project Director and Principal Co-Investigator on the Canadian Internet Project – an extensive research undertaking which analyzes Internet usage and non-usage patterns in Canada in international perspective.He is a member of: AoIR (Association of Internet Researchers), NMBIA, IMAT, DGC, CFTPA, ACCT, CIPA, UFVA, BEA, BEAC and DOC He sits as a member of CFTPA’s New Media Advisory Committee, Federal/Interprovincial Tax Credit Committee.

 

Toronto Office
Carly McGowan, Program Manager
Ella Myers, Project Coordinator

Montréal Office

Laurence Beaudoin-Masse, Project Coordinator and Community Manager
Joanne Duguay, Project Coordinator