Montreal: The heart of the Banff Television Festival is its up-front market for content and financing, the comparatively easy access to all orders of international commissioning editors and a general business and social environment aimed at fostering national and international coproduction.

The official opening ceremonies for the festival’s 22nd edition, June 10-15, take place Monday, June 11 with the scheduled participation of Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, Telefim Canada chairman Laurier LaPierre, CTV president and COO Trina McQueen and Banff Television Foundation president and CEO Pat Ferns.

International coproduction continues to evolve. Ferns says dramatic coproductions may be becoming more difficult as domestic programming strengthens its hold on primetime schedules. ‘But I think in factual programming, children’s and in formats the world is becoming more and more international, and Banff has played its part in all of that.

‘Most of the big markets – MIP-TV, MIPCOM, NATPE – are in the business of selling finished goods,’ he says. ‘It’s about volume because that is the efficient way to sell product around the world. Each of them has dimensions of trying to be an up-front market for financing new projects. But I think the advantage of Banff is that we are focused on that and that this is a marketplace of ideas. You can find partners here, whether it’s creative partners or financing partners. And frankly, the big bucks are in people financing new projects rather than in the post-production selling of international product.’

Banff – a time and a place

Ferns says Banff’s new branding proposition, or mantra, is ‘Innovation, Excellence and Opportunity, and I think pitching represents the opportunity side of that. We’re trying to live up to the innovation [claim] by creating new formats to get new players out in the field.’

Banff’s relative isolation and active social calendar gives the festival its democratic and accessible business character.

As for the festival’s dates and location, Ferns says, ‘We are at the right time of the year, and while some people might say, ‘Are you in the right place hidden away in the mountains?’ I think we’re absolutely in the right place because the quality of isolation means people actually do see each other and they talk. If we were in a big city half the executives would be in their own offices and not in the marketplace.’

Banff features both wide-open and by-appointment-only venues.

‘People want some small quality experiences and what we’ve got now with our Decision-Maker Breakfast and Lunches and Master Class series is a chance for people to be in a small group hearing from great people, because when they go away that’s what they’ll remember. The line-up of Masters (24 classes) including six strands – directing, new media, documentary, writing, producing and children’s – means if you are in any of those specialty areas you are getting to hear from some pretty spectacular people,’ says Ferns.

‘The International Jury of Peers [June 12] is always a great session where we have our student juries from around the world arguing with the international jury [this year headed by Quebec actor/director Micheline Lanctot].’

Ferns says the Cyber Lunch strand is meant to provide a timely and realistic look at new media developments and viable business models. The evolving role of the leading U.S. industry and market is the subject of four Understanding America plenary sessions on Two in a Room: drama/fiction, documentary and children’s programming.

With its charged social and business mix, pacing becomes an issue at Banff.

‘If you go to the [Gullane] Barbecue on the Thursday evening, which I suppose is one of the more alcoholic events in the history of creation, and you’re pitching the next morning, then you’ve got to decide, ‘Are you serious about this business or not?’ ‘ advises Ferns.

New social events this year include the NHK-inspired Banff Hi-Tech Auction, with Sony robotic dogs, DVD players and laptop computers up for grabs, followed by the entirely enjoyable Karaoke Night, all on the evening of June 12. Proceeds from the auction go to local schools.

‘On Wednesday [June 13], we’re trying to get everybody downtown, so we’ve got a BBC-hosted reception at the Aurora Night Club, then go have dinner somewhere downtown followed by the Canadian Television Fund Dance Party at The Paddock. It’s going to be a gas,’ he promises.

Out for new tricks

Ferns is always on the lookout for good ideas.

In addition to visits to the major and near-major marts, this year’s travels included Perth and Adelaide in Australia (science and docs), the Third World Summit on Children’s Media in Thesalonika, Greece, and the documentary forum in Israel. Add Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Montreux, Switzerland, the recently wrapped World Education Market in Vancouver and cable television and sports media confabs in Toronto, and it’s clear the man rarely, if ever, stops.

‘In each of these I’m kind of developing new tricks,’ says Ferns. ‘Where there are platforms that’s where I’ll be because basically our market is people who attend conferences. And that’s where we spend our marketing dollars. We want to make sure we’re giving back to the independent production community. That’s where I came from and I think a lot of this work of trying to give opportunity to new players is about a time in my career when I can give something back.’

World’s ‘richest’ pitch

Big news this year is the introduction of the CTV Canadian Documart. The draw is $100,000 in development funding, including first-place prize money of $50,000. Festival organizers are calling it ‘The Richest Pitch in the World.’ The new pitch format was developed with the permission of the Australian Documart, says Ferns

‘It’ll put a selection of [30 to 40] commissioning editors on stage, the pitchers in the heart of the audience and they’ll have their 10 minutes in the limelight. They’re looking for popular mainstream documentaries and the committee has picked seven finalists.’

The venue for the CTV initiative is just right.

Ferns points out some 200 commissioning editors will be present at this year’s event, including more than 100 factual commissioning editors.

And while CTV is putting up the generous prize money for the broader benefit of the industry, the broadcast licences are clearly up for grabs.

Three ‘high-end’ projects will be pitched in each of the two-part (drama/entertainment and children’s) 17th annual International Market Simulation, followed by a New Players Pitch where 16 finalists were selected from 200 submissions. ‘What they get is three minutes and they pitch ideas, bang bang bang, eight in a row. We’re putting them into a public space so a wide range of kooky ideas go forward to commissioning editors,’ says Ferns.

Jacques Bensimon, executive VP of the Banff Television Foundation, says the New Players Pitch is meant to enhance the role of young blood and new players at the festival, specifically in the competitive pitch sessions.

The New Players Pitch takes place immediately after the International Market Simulation in the Van Horne Ballroom, with no break.

Bensimon and Ferns are co-moderating this year’s Market Simulation, geared to more senior players.

‘They [new players] become visible in the major league with everybody else and I think that’s important. And it’s important as well for the commissioning editors to be able to spot where future filmmakers and producers and the energy is coming from,’ says Bensimon, appointed in late April to the post of Government Film Commissioner and Chairman of the National Film Board.

Ferns says there is more than $150,000 in pitch prize money this year.

‘And of course we still have our CyberPitch [$10,000 from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund], our NHK/Discovery Digital Prize [US$15,000 for best HDTV pitch] and Two in a Room, which will feature Travel Channel in the States and Life Network in Canada,’ adds Ferns.

The impressive $50,000 Global Television Grand Prize is awarded to ‘best of show’ in the Rockie Awards competition, while Telefilm is offering awards totaling an equally impressive $60,000 – $20,000 to ‘best independent Canadian production’ in both the English- and French-language categories, and two $10,000 Telefilm/Aboriginal Peoples Television Networks awards for best Aboriginal program, in French and in English.

Science, history forums

In its rebranding exercise, the Banff Television Foundation seeks to expand its service to the international content-creation community. The Foundation’s program of staging international events, of which the Banff Television Festival is the biggest, has been expanded to include a three-year deal to manage The World Congress of Science Producers and The World Congress of History Producers.

The Foundation is also in the business of education and professional training, namely the Alliance Atlantis Banff Television Executive Program. With three complete editions, and 85 graduates, the professional program has emerged as a Canadian success, and Ferns says the program is now being internationalized.

The World Congress of Science Producers/Science2001, presented in association with host broadcaster Discovery, will be held in Washington, D.C. Oct. 25-28. The World Congress of History Producers, the event’s inaugural edition, organized in association with host broadcaster WGBH Boston, will be held in Boston, Oct. 19-22.

‘What we’ve created is a steering committee and an advisory committee so the community of historians, history and biography producers feel they own the event and have an impact. We feel our expertise is in putting on events and making sure editorially [the industry] controls how things are run,’ says Ferns.

As for the Alliance Atlantis-sponsored Executive Program, Banff has added a partnership agreement with the Banff Centre for Management, a recognized world-class provider of leadership training.

‘Beneficial to Canadians’

An estimated 2,000 delegates are registered at this year’s festival, Canadians clearly in the majority, a little less than 75%. ‘The thing is every time we add more international [delegates] three more Canadians show up,’ says Ferns. ‘We’ve created this festival as an international event, but we want it to be really beneficial to Canadians. And it is now a must-attend event for the key Canadian players.’

Canada is an established leader in international audiovisual coproduction.

Telefilm, the federal funding agency for film, TV and new media headed by executive director Francois Macerola, certified 106 film and TV coproductions representing total budgets of more than $800 million in calendar 2000. The agency’s European office will use the festival to announce new Immersions in Europe initiatives for 2001 and 2002, with details forthcoming during the drama and documentary segments of the International Market Simulation.

Banff Foundation organizers and support staff have worked hard to create a must-attend event sensitive to both the needs of the industry and ongoing support from sponsors. The Foundation has raised more than $3 million in cash this year, and over $500,000 in ‘kind donations.’ The balance of the annual $5-million Banff Television Foundation budget is raised through delegate fees, program entries and related sponsorships and advertising. *

-www.banff2001.com

-www.science2001.com

-www.history2001.com

-www.executive2001.com