Andra Sheffer is the Executive Director of three private Funds supporting the Canadian new media, television and film industries: the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund which invests in Canadian television programs and their associated interactive digital projects; the Independent Production Fund which invests in dramatic series created for any platform; and, the COGECO Program Development Fund for the development of dramatic series, MOW’s and feature film companies as well as the production of MOW’s and series. From 1979-89 she was the founding Executive Director of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and produced the annual Genie and Gemini/Prix Gémeaux Awards. She lectures on the business and financing of television and new media 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.
