Exhibitors and distributors have their own problems, not the least of which are piracy, competing home technologies and – in this country at least – the reported impending sell-off of a certain 84-location theater chain.

But when the 600-or-so delegates arrive in Halifax this month for ShowCanada 2005, they will have more on their minds than just hidden camcorders and the future of Famous Players. They will also, says organizer Adina Lebo, be looking to puzzle out creative-end problems with writers and producers.

The trade show and convention, set for April 27-30 at three hotels in the Nova Scotia capital, is putting particular focus this year on how to reverse the failings of English-language films, in hope that the business and creative sides of the industry (‘the two solitudes,’ Lebo quips) can learn from each other and from the success of French-Canadian films.

‘Producers have to see the world that the business side lives in, and the business side needs information about the films,’ says Lebo, who is also executive director of the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada. ‘They have to grow using and accepting who each other are.

‘People who have film product, or who are pitching film product, can do it in an atmosphere where they can get feedback, because exhibitors are the closest people to the audience,’ she says. ‘That perspective is very necessary for people who are looking to have films on screen.’

Not a bad idea, says Hussain Amarshi. The president of distributor Mongrel Media has been known to work closely with creatives during the development of certain projects – with good results, he says.

‘There’s not that antagonistic kind of relationship – it’s a collaborative relationship,’ he says. ‘We know one or two things about how to market a film, and they know one or two things about how to make a film, and as long as we’re on the same page we can make things happen.’

And yet, ‘what you learn is that you cannot tell anything until a film hits an audience. You can have a great idea and see it develop, and you can feel excited, and it comes out and there are no takers. And then there are certain projects that you feel mixed about and they find an audience.’

Meanwhile, exhibitors need good product and workable business plans, says Pat Marshall, VP of communication and investor relations for Cineplex-Galaxy.

‘If filmmakers look at their films and put them together [with] a business plan, including a marketing plan, that would help tremendously,’ she says. ‘[They must] understand who their target audience is and create a market campaign in support of that.’

Since 2003, the convention has looked to include creatives in its otherwise business-y huddle, and this year has added producer-aimed booths, including funding agencies such as SODEC and Alberta Film, to its trade floor. Filmmakers can pitch stories while exhibitors load up on wholesale popcorn, says Lebo.

ShowCan will also host a 90-minute talk on April 29 (‘It Starts With Great Stories…’) that will look at the strength of genre films in Quebec.

‘The reality of what’s happened [in Quebec] is that they’ve widened the genres,’ says Lebo, expanding beyond art house pictures that, on average, pull in only 3% of the movie-going public. ‘They still do films d’auteur, but they also do comedies, science fiction, romantic comedies, period pieces, thrillers – and that’s where you get a buy-in from the audience.’

Among the panelists are Famous Players exec Michael Kennedy, Michael Mosca of Equinoxe Films and Mike Clattenburg, the creator of Trailer Park Boys and director-to-be of its coming feature film version.

The panel runs alongside a speech by Peter Sealey, a former distribution head for Columbia TriStar, who will talk about the many factors – generational models, new technologies, failing financial models, piracy – at play in current moviemaking and selling.

But, as always, the centerpiece of ShowCan will be consultant Howard Lichtman’s bottom-line speech about the box office, comparing the Canuck take (down 4% in ’04) to that of previous years and to that of the U.S.

Lichtman is tight-lipped about his hour-long talk, also set for April 29, but offers a few teasers, suggesting that he has rethought the differences between the Canadian and U.S. markets.

‘One of the themes this year is ‘Vive la difference, or not” he says. ‘Films perform differently in Canada than they do in the United States and it’s important for the industry to understand that… You can’t look at the North American box office in the news and feel they reflect the Canadian situation… They’re often dramatically different.

‘The same applies to the video world,’ he adds. ‘Just because a film, when it goes to video, performs at a certain level in the United States, don’t expect it to perform at a formula 8% or 10% in Canada.’

Lichtman will also look at the increasing competition movies face from DVDs, video on demand (not large now, but growing, he says) and videogames, which continue to outpace the revenue of theatrical releases.

‘Finally,’ he says, ‘we have to look at demographics. Canada has a dramatically different demographic profile than the American demographic profile and our trending in that regard in the future will be even more different.’

-www.showcanada.ca