For up-and-coming producers involved in Canada’s many academic film and TV programs, the concept of hands-on experience can be fairly straightforward: develop a script, raise some nominal funds, recruit talent and get the cameras rolling – and try to do it all within an allotted budget.

But in what has become an increasingly global arena, there are many critical elements to the producer’s job that no schooled practical experience can address, such as how to hold your own at a hectic and cutthroat international market.

Since 2001, the Winnipeg-based National Screen Institute – Canada has been trying to bridge that gap through its Global Marketing program, which selects producers twice a year and sends them to either MIPTV or MIPCOM in Cannes, France. The producers must already have project credits behind them.

‘The program itself is attracting higher-caliber producers,’ says program manager Mickey Rogers, a Vancouver-based producer whose credits include Madison, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes and The Magician’s House. ‘I think that really makes a difference going to the markets, because then they have a track record as well as something to offer international producers.’

Among the requirements for acceptance to Global Marketing, a producer must have produced at least one 30-minute nationally televised program and have attended one international market. Producers also need to have a minimum of three internationally marketable projects at various stages of development, with a broadcaster attached to at least one.

In late January, NSI announced that six producers had been selected to attend MIPTV, April 11-18. They are: Catherine Bainbridge of Rezolution Pictures in Outremont, QC, Ric Beairsto of Laughing Mountain Communications in Vancouver, Jason Charters of Riddle Films in Toronto, Maureen Judge of Makin’ Movies in Toronto, Edward Peill of Tell Tale Productions in Halifax and Anand Ramayye of Kahani Entertainment in Saskatoon.

Training begins with one-on-one ‘coaching sessions,’ with Rogers flying to each participant’s city. Next, participants fly to Toronto for an intensive four-day training session, which for the latest round will take place later this month. Over the four days, participants prepare to set up meetings with international broadcasters and distributors, study the fundamentals of coproduction deals, and work on pitching skills.

The program culminates with participants booking a full slate of meetings at MIP and working the market floor to get deals in place for their various projects.

Rogers also speaks with each program member weekly on the phone in the lead-up to the market, meets with her students during the market to help evolve strategies, and follows up for several weeks afterwards.

‘It gives you the opportunity to go to the markets and gives you some training under your belt,’ says Rogers. ‘I think those who go there without training get a bit lost… [a market is] a very overwhelming place.’

It’s also an eye-opener for even the most seasoned industry veterans. Actor/producer Tonya Lee Williams is a multi-Emmy nominee who has been on the U.S. soap opera The Young and The Restless since 1990. She went to MIPCOM 2004 as a Global Marketing participant and was immediately struck by the commercial atmosphere.

‘You really understand that people here are just buying hours,’ she says. ‘It’s good to be reminded how cold and cut and dried this business can be.’

Still, Williams says, the opportunity to sit down with a broadcaster or a potential coproduction partner face-to-face is the kind of interaction for which there is no substitute. It’s a real gauge of whether you will get along as partners, she says: ‘You’re going to be married to this person for the next three to five years… do you really want to do business with this person?’

While NSI provides students with all the support they need, once on the market floor they must rely on their own instincts, says Toronto producer Allan Novak, another 2004 participant. For his part, Novak preferred not to even mention NSI when trying to set up meetings. ‘It’s in the background. You don’t want to call somebody up and say, ‘Hey, I’m a student,” he says.

The support students receive does not just come in the form of practical advice. Each 2005 participant, for example, will be reimbursed 100% of the registration fee and 50% of travel and accommodation expenses up to $1,500.

The Global Television Network, through the CanWest Foundation, and Telefilm Canada, through its Industrial Professional Development Fund, sponsor the program. The Royal Bank of Canada, B.C. Film, Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation and Ontario Media Development Corporation provide additional support. (This is the last year of Global’s program obligations.)

-www.nsi-canada.ca