Eligible kids content producers and distributors in Canada will soon be able to tap into the Rocket Distributor Program, a new one-year initiative from Shaw Rocket Fund that’s designed to provide projects with a financial leg-up.

The org has set up this US$2.1-million (CAD$3-million) program specifically as a response to the Canada Media Fund investment that was announced earlier this month as part of its 2025/2026 budget plan. 

To recap, the regional funding body increased its CMF Distributor Program budget to US$19.2 million (CAD$26.8 million) for this fiscal year, allocating US$14.9 million for English-language productions and US$4.3 million for French-language productions. Building on its commitment to support more kids content, the CMF carved out a sizable 40% of this budget for children’s and youth content, amounting to roughly US$7.6 million (CAD$10.7 million). 

The Rocket Fund’s new program is designed to facilitate access to this funding by contributing a portion of the distribution advance (from an eligible Canadian distributor, as defined in these guidelines) that’s required to qualify, also known as the eligible triggering commitment threshold.

The Rocket Distributor Program has earmarked up to US$179,000 (CAD$250,000) that can go  towards a distribution advance—and this contribution can cover up to 50% for projects with an advance already secured from the producer’s own distribution arm, or a much higher 75% for projects with an advance from a third party. This is intended to incentivize distributors to take on more projects that come from outside of their organizations.

Rocket Fund has split up its US$2.1-million budget between English- and French-language content at roughly the same ratio as CMF (77.5%/22.5%). And it’s planning to release a full set of guidelines on May 26, kicking off a first phase that will consist of consultations to review kids projects from the slates of eligible Canadian distributors. Projects that meet eligibility criteria will move on to phase two, which will be more of a traditional application process through the org’s web portal, with the Rocket Fund Board of Directors ultimately choosing the projects that will receive funding.

This final selection is expected to be made by August 15—and Rocket Fund will consider factors such as recoupment potential, audience impact and the strength of the attached creatives on a project. “We thank the CMF for prioritizing the [children and youth] audience in their 2025/2026 guidelines, and we look forward to continuing our role of empowering producers and distributors in bringing their visions to the screen,” noted Rocket Fund president and CEO Agnes Augustin.

More information about the Rocket Distributor Program can be found on this webpage.

Image courtesy of Jason Hafso/Unsplash