The fourth annual Television Animation Conference, the two-day offshoot of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (Sept. 19-20), will attract about 250 industry execs looking for the next step in producing stellar content for all screens sizes, from mobile to HD.

Even though last year’s panels tackled many of the creative and financial issues facing North American toon production, most of the discussions evolved into workshops on how to succeed in the nonlinear environments. This year, delegates will discuss these topics in a couple of dedicated panels, including The Online Advantage: Beyond Promotion.

Decode Entertainment’s Diana Arruda, Adam Shaheen from Cuppa Coffee Animation, Jason Krogh from Zinc Roe Design and Tribal Nova’s Pierre Le Lann will explore how online content complements and integrates animated TV programming.

‘We want to look at creating properties that co-exist with their online component, and online components that have the same caliber of rich content as broadcast,’ says Azarin Sohrabkhani, TAC’s producer.

Creativity in cross platforms will also be explored in Cookie Jar’s Magi-Nation case study presentation. The Kids’ WB! series found its roots as a trading card game, and evolved into a multi-player online destination.

‘More and more, we find ourselves crossing mediums from the TV screen to the PC screen to handheld screens and back again,’ says Pamela Slavin, Cookie Jar’s VP of production. Slavin hopes sharing the details of this property will encourage those with similar visions to approach Cookie Jar.

Fuel Industries is also hoping to attract new talents with multi-platform aspirations. As one of the new stream of online companies attending the conference, the Ottawa-based entertainment company is looking to discuss early-stage projects and share innovative ideas that shift entertainment beyond just the TV screen.

‘The old way is to create a show and make a website telling people about the show, but that’s totally obsolete,’ says CEO Mike Burns. ‘Programmers are no longer facing competition from a few dozen channels – they’re facing competition from millions of channels of content online.’

Chris Robinson, artistic director at OIAF, says he’s seen an uptick in the number of online companies vying for a space on the animator recruitment floor at the public festival.

Toronto’s Hatch Studios and Fresh TV will be out in force alongside Denmark’s Beanstock TV. These companies will join prodcos such as Disney, Nelvana and Nerd Corps in looking to attract young Canadian animation talent.

Nerd Corps president Ken Faier says two Montreal-based students pitched a property called League of Super Evil a few years ago at OIAF. Nerd Corps optioned the property, moved the new grads across the country to work with CEO Ace Fipke in Vancouver, and two years later, the series is heading into production for a 2008 delivery date on YTV.

Oscar-winning National Film Board producer Marcy Page says the seminars are a good platform to boost TV sales of the NFB’s short films, and expand coproduction partnerships.

‘Also, [TAC seminars are a good venue] to generally pressure Canadian broadcasters to show more short auteur animation – a pet project of mine,’ says Page, who coproduced recent Academy Award-winning shorts Ryan (2004) and The Danish Poet (2006).

The nuts and bolts of animation will also have a home at the conference. Although TAC put the kibosh on roundtable discussions on topics such as MIPTV primers and funding ops with Telefilm Canada, nascent creators can take part in Production Clinic, which offers all-day first-hand advice.

Sohrabkhani says the clinic allows newcomers to get inside knowledge on merchandising and licensing programs, treaties and entertainment law, among other topics.

New this year, TAC will spotlight international partnering in a panel called the Co-Production Round Up, exploring multinational deals. Philippine-based Frank Saperstein from Blueprint Entertainment, Tim Brooke-Hunt from ABC Australia and the U.K.’s Nathan Waddington from Jetix will evaluate incentives of creating copro deals with each territory.

Maintaining the Canadian business model will also be studied in Regulating You: Ensuring a Demand for Canadian Content. The speakers will include Kevin Gillis at Breakthrough Animation and Corus Entertainment’s Scott Dyer, who are charged with keeping national animation on the global market.

More international copro deals can also mean increased conflicts between creators and producers. So the panel The Secret of My Success: The Key to a Good Creator-Producer Relationship will feature moderator Linda Simensky from PBS, along with copro experts to discuss the balancing act between artistic and business needs.