Basically, it's a development. At the NFB we have two production entities, the French program and the English program. Under each production unit we have producers. Those producers are full-time employees of the NFB, and they develop projects that are in line with our strategic plan, our strategic approach of programming in documentaries and animation. The decision is made for each project at the level of the executive producers, and ultimately the director general of each project. That's the normal production state.
Sometimes, when we decide to go...and the projects I mentioned—Shanghai, VANOC, those projects.... When there is national importance the commissioner gives some direction and input, and it's a collaborative approach of all the divisions at the NFB. For example, in production, the English and French program can co-produce. Distribution is involved. That's the process when we all team up to decide to go ahead on some project.
An example is 1812. We are currently doing that interactive project. That's something that was not in the regular mill, but when we saw the opportunity, when we saw the importance of it for the government and the country, it was part of our mandate and we decided to do something special for it.
Shanghai was exactly like that. It was not in our standard production process, but when we were invited by Canadian Heritage and the Cirque du Soleil to partner there, it was an opportunity we could not put aside and we decided to do something special.
But globally, our programming is directed by that strategic plan that was established four years ago.