Themes of this year’s Symposium Trade Forum include such flavors-of-the-year as the info highway, business according to nafta, the pros and cons of taking your company public, and the wave of new Canadian specialty channels.

At the top of the notables list are keynote speakers Jeffrey Berg, chief of International Creative Management, Showtime ceo Tony Cox, and Heritage Canada Minister Michel Dupuy.

For the sixth year running, the Symposium is being produced by Debbie Nightingale. Friday’s producer is Joanne Smale.

The industry trade forum runs Sept. 9-11 and is headquartered in the Venice Suite on the second floor of the Sutton Place Grande Hotel le Meridien.

Friday

Symposium ’94 begins on Friday, Sept. 9 with ‘They Shoot, They Score,’ a day-long seminar devoted to the logistics of pairing the music and movie industries. This three-session seminar examines how composers, lawyers, filmmakers and technicians make beautiful music together.

Expatriot composer Howard Shore (Philadelphia, M. Butterfly), kicks things off with a keynote address that leads into such issues as creation, new technologies, copyright and royalties.

The morning session, ‘The Language of Music: The Creative Process,’ features, among others, composers Yves Laferriere (Jesus of Montreal) and George Blondheim (Whale Music), and director Bruce Pittman (Where the Spirit Lives).

In the afternoon, ‘The Business of Film Music’ corners the legal workings of the business with a panel that includes lawyer Heather Mitchell, cmrra president David Rasskin, and Paul Hoffert, president of the Guild of Canadian Composers.

For those interested in the marketing of movie music, the final session of the day is ‘Marketing Those Melodies.’ Featured are Pat Lucas, executive vice-president of EMI Music Publishing Canada, and Paul Faberman, vice-president of music business affairs for Universal Pictures.

Saturday

Saturday, Sept. 10 is dedicated to new media issues. Jeffrey Berg, head of the huge talent agency icm, starts the day rolling with a keynote address on icm’s plans to go interactive.

The information highway session will focus on issues affecting content providers. Michael Newman from mmi (a division of Stentor) will address the areas of concern from a telco point of view. Also scheduled to speak is Parke Davis of the Information Highway Advisory Council. Cable reps had yet to be confirmed at press time.

‘ROM Wasn’t Built in a Day’ features John Weldemann (who produced the effects for Johnny Mnemonic) of Propaganda Code, John Lowry of Discis, and Mary Anne Norris of Sony Imagesoft, among others, who will discuss the development of new technologies – from conception through to application.

For those not yet hooked on the infobahn, the Canada-Mexico forum on distribution issues and coproduction potential has Peter Katadotis, interim head of Telefilm Canada, sitting in with a panel of Mexican and Canadian producers.

Another alternative to the info hype-way is ‘The Next Generation,’ an anecdotal forum on hot, new filmmakers, which this year features five bright lights, including Mina Shum (Double Happiness) and Darnell Martin (I Like it Like That).

At the end of the day is ‘Star Power: Make It So,’ an actra-sponsored workshop on whether Canada is able to develop a star system.

Sunday

Sunday, Sept. 11 starts off with a double keynote wallop: Heritage Minister Michel Dupuy followed by Tony Cox.

‘Testing 1-2-3’ explores the world of test-marketing and how it applies to the Canadian film industry. Panelists include Andy Myers of Norstar Distribution, Kevin Tierny of Les Productions la Fete and Joel Roodman of Miramax Films. Symposium producer Nightingale is hoping for a good row at this session.

‘The Public Eye,’ a seminar on the business of taking a film production company public, features some of the key figures at Canada’s public film companies: Michael MacMillan of Atlantis Communications, Micheline Charest of Cinar Group, Jon Slan of Paragon Entertainment, and others.

‘Meet the Channel Panel’ offers a look at the new slate of Canadian specialty channels approved by the crtc in July. Channel chiefs will be there and producers are invited to pitch.

‘Money Talks, Culture Walks’ is a tromp through the land of gatt and its impacts on the film industry.

‘Beyond the Box Office’ addresses issues of merchandising and other ways to increase revenues with panelists Jay Roth of Nelvana, Norman Perry of The Brockum Group and Peter Williamson of Breakthrough Films.

Topping it off for the wired or weary, pass-holders are invited to a cocktail function late Sunday.