This 3-day workshop provides you with in-depth and practical information on production financing and accounting.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Our Intermediate Production Accounting and Tax Credits Workshop delves deeper into the role of the Production Accountant and the staff of a typical production accounting department.
In this workshop series, you will participate in interactive discussions and exercises covering the methods and procedures used by a media production accounting department.
You will also learn about business structures, budgets, cash flows, controlling costs through cost reports, the workflow of the accounting department, applying for and estimating the refundable tax credits, and the eligibility requirements and application processing for funding agencies such as the Canada Media Fund.
Dates for 2021 TBA
Dates from 2020:
All sessions will be held on Saturdays from 10 AM to 3 PM (approx) via Zoom. Because the learning is cumulative, commitment to all three sessions is highly recommended..
Sign up online by 11:59 PM, TBA. Questions? Email Laurie Januska, Director of Programming.
The WIFT Toronto Intermediate Production Accounting and Tax Credits workshop series is recommended for those who have moderate/working knowledge of production accounting and/or financing. People who have taken the Production Accounting and Tax Credits and/or the Business Affairs and Finance module in our Media Business Essentials intensive will find this workshop builds on those modules.
This workshop is open to ALL; WIFT Toronto members and non-members.
Please note that this workshop is not affiliated with any training required to upgrade your accounting department category in the Directors Guild of Canada.
WIFT Toronto Members: $350 (+ HST)
Non-Members: $475 (+ HST)
Two (2) bursaries are available to cover the registration fees for two individuals. These bursaries are made possible through the Foundation for Women In Film & Television – Toronto.
Bursaries—open to WIFT Toronto members and non-members—are made available through the Foundation for WIFT Toronto for the purposes of providing financial assistance as well as opportunities for advancement to underrepresented groups.
To be eligible for a bursary, you must identify as a woman, female, trans, genderqueer or nonbinary media professional. Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, those living with a disablity or that identify as a visual minority are encouraged to apply. Please self-identify in your Letter of Intent. Applicants should clearly demonstrate why they wish to be considered for a bursary in their Letter of Intent.
Bursaries cannot be used for any other purpose.
The bursary application deadline is TBA at 11:59 PM, ET.
All sessions in this workshop will be led by Lisa Broadfoot and Lori McIndoe, CPA, CGA
Lisa Broadfoot (Vice President, Business Affairs & Production Financing - Boat Rocker Media)
Lisa Broadfoot has worked in the Canadian film and television industry for over 20 years; she has been an Executive Producer in commercial production, a producer and production manager for documentary feature films and television, and a business affairs and production finance professional in documentary, live-action scripted drama, factual, and animated productions.
Lisa joined Boat Rocker Media in 2017 from DHX Media (now Wildbrain) where she had been Director of Production Finance and Operations. At Boat Rocker she oversees production financing for its slate of kids and family and animated productions. She works closely with Boat Rocker’s animation studio, Jam Filled Entertainment, negotiating production service contracts with clients such as Nickelodeon, Spin Master, Mattel, and Netflix, and with Boat Rocker’s Kids & Family division, putting together financing packages, maximizing Canadian financing opportunities, and advising on eligibility requirements and regulatory affairs for Boat Rocker properties like Kingdom Force, The Next Step, and Remy and Boo.
Lisa is an active member of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and the Computer Animation Studios of Ontario (CASO) and currently sits on the CMPA’s Regulatory and Kids and Animation Committees. She has a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English Literature from McGill University.
Lori McIndoe, CPA, CGA (SVP Finance & Studio Operations - Jam Filled Entertainment)
An experienced professional accountant, Lori McIndoe has spent her entire career working in finance and operations in the Canadian film and television industry.
Hired by Breakthrough Entertainment as a self-taught part-time bookkeeper in the early 2000s, she held various accounting and finance roles with the company and earned her Certified General Accountant designation in 2008 (now a Chartered Professional Accountant), before moving on from the company as Director of Finance in 2018.
Lori joined Jam Filled Entertainment (under the Boat Rocker umbrella) in 2018 as VP Finance, Animation Services, overseeing the finance and accounting function for its studios in both Toronto and Ottawa. In 2019, she played a key role in the opening of Jam Filled’s third animation studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while also adding the remit of Studio Operations to her position.
She has worked extensively in accounting across corporate, development, production, distribution and digital media, on both Canadian content projects and productions services work. Lori also holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree from Queen’s University in Mathematics and Physics.
This day will begin with a review of the business structures typically found in the screen-based industry, with a concentration on the structure and workflow of the Accounting Department. Using a real life document as the basis for the workshop’s Case Study, elements of the budget, stages of production and cost reporting will be the focus of the day through discussion and exercises.
Using the case study built in Day 1, this day will dig deeper into the various types of funding involved in production. Topics for a fuller discussion include: which genres are eligible for various forms of funding, key elements of the Ontario and Federal Tax Credits, completing Ontario and Federal tax credit calculations, and navigating a completing the Ontario and Federal Labour Schedules.
This day brings all the elements learned in the previous two days together into a final production package. By the end of the program participants will be able to: complete a cash flow for a production. Develop a final production package for audit. Understand the financial statement treatment of a final production and be able to complete a CAVCO application.
This program is presented in partnership with Ontario Creates and the City of Toronto