While tv markets such as natpe and mipcom have gained increasing relevance as the international commerce of television has grown, the Banff television festival has held steadfast to its mandate as an event for program makers, not sellers.

Priding itself on being a marketplace of ideas, not product, the festival has focused on an international program competition, creative exchange through conferences and workshops, while fostering an environment for the commisioning and financing of new projects.

Although the festival is still resisting becoming a conventional market, Banff has seen the writing on the wall and is adapting to the changing realities of tv program financing.

Most of Canada’s production companies are vertically integrated with their own internatinal sales arms and, as government funding shrinks, the role of distribution advances and world presales in the financing of new projects has become an imperative. Furthermore, as the second largest exporter of tv programming after the U.S., Canadian distribcos are very much a national sucess story.

In response, Banff is branching into the acquisition and distribution end of the business with a new initiative, Canadian Showcase: Selling The World.

‘We are not changing the focus of the festival, we are opening up another dimension to the festival,’ says Banff Television Festival ceo Pat Ferns. ‘We are still an event for program makers, but with the increasing importance of consolidated production/distribution companies and the importance of distribution advances, we felt we needed to do more for Canadian distributors at Banff.

Canadian Showcase

With the Department of Canadian Heritage/Team Canada and Brunico Communications (publisher of Playback) as sponsors, the Canadian Showcase offers Canadian exporters a booth to display their wares to international acquisitions reps. The space will also serve as a place for reps from the integrated production/distribution companies to meet to do business. The 20 available booths are all the same size, free of charge, and allocated randomly by lottery.

Canadian companies participating include Alliance Atlantis Communications, Cambium Releasing, Canamedia Productions, Catalyst Distribution, Cinar Corporation, Critical Mass Releasing, Ellis Enterprises, Exploration Distribution, Filmoption International, Great North International, Minds Eye International, Rhombus Media, Salter Street Films International, CBC International Sales, and TVA International

The second element of the showcase follows in the footsteps of the Banff Market Simulation format, offering Canadian distributors 15 minutes in the spotlight to sell new projects or catalogue programming to selected international acquisitions executives.

The exercise is meant to give participants and audiences the opportunity to find out what type of programming is in demand in different territories, what acquisitions execs are willing to pay, and how producers need to reformat programming for the world market.

‘It is a way to build another element into our conference program that will show an increasingly important side of the business,’ says Ferns. ‘It is meant to be informative and entertaining. The combination of showcasing Canadian distributors and using them as a platform to see how you sell to the world should be of interest to all delegates, be they international or Canadian.

‘This is a first step,’ adds Ferns. If the new initiative proves successful, it could be expanded in future years, such as bringing in international distributors to sell their catalogues to Canadian acquisitions execs.

Boosting Banff’s

international profile

In addition to the commissioning editors and programming executives already registered to attend Banff, the festival is bringing in around 20 foreign acquisitions executives to take part in Selling The World. Sessions are being divided up into genres – kids’, drama, comedy/entertainment and kids’/educational programming.

Among the buyers lined up are Eric Luskin of aps in the u.s.; Ann Julienne of La Cinquieme in France; June Dromgoole of Channel 4 in the u.k.; J. Carlos Altamirano, head of programming for Chile’s tvn; Jon Helmrich, senior vp international development of E! Entertainment; and Jan-Erik Wieselberg of svt in Sweden.

The international acquisitions and sales element should also serve to bolster the Banff’s international profile and foreign delegate attendance.

Ferns admits there is pressure to increase the international presence at Banff.

‘The festival has become a must-attend event in Canada, and although it is increasingly becoming this internationally, there is more work to be done,’ admits Ferns.

In 1998, registration grew 15%, reaching a record high of 1,750 delegates, as compared to 1,500 in 1997. This year, the festival is anticipating between 1,800 and 2,000 delegates. Over the past few years, non-Canadian participation has remained stable, roughly 25% of overall attendance.

Greater participation from Asia is being noted this year, with delegations from Singapore and China planning to attend. An increasing number of Australian program makers and buyers are also making the trek to Banff.

While submissions for the 1998 Rockie Awards competition rose 37% in 1998 to 989 entries from 40 countries, this year showed a slight decrease; a total of 952 programs were submitted from 38 countries.

To heighten the festival’s international profile, Ferns continued a worldwide tour this year, promoting Banff to the international community. Stops included Virginia’s Arts in a New Matrix, mipcom, natpe, Wildscreen in Britain, Sharing Stories in Edinburgh, the World Congress of Science Producers in Boston, the Small Screen big picture conference in Perth, Australia, as well as events in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Sydney and Auckland, New Zealand.

‘We have to ensure we have a profile right around the world, all year round,’ says Ferns.

However, the festival has a difficult balancing act in play. Ferns says if attendance spills over the 2,000 mark, preserving the intimate atmosphere of Banff will become difficult. ‘Right now all the events are open to all delegates, not just vips,’ he explains. ‘This is the festival where the neophyte indie producer should be able to rub shoulders with the chairman of the bbc or Stephen Bochco.’

Master Classes expanded

Last year, the festival introduced a series of Masters Classes – workshops where small groups of delegates can discuss creative issues with leading writers, directors and producers from around the world. This year the festival has expanded the initiative from eight to 16 classes, with the aid of new sponsor the National Screen Institute – Canada, which is hosting the director and producer classes; Telefilm Canada, sponsor of the new media sessions; The Harold Greenberg Fund and the Ontario Film Development Corporation, underwriters of the writers classes; and Japan’s nhk, which is sponsoring a workshop on hdtv and offering a purse of us$10,000 to the best hdtv proposal submitted by workshop participants.

A who’s who of international talent has been assembled to lead the Master Classes, including French arts film director Bruno Monsaingeon; Italy’s Alberto Negrin, who directed the international miniseries Guardians of Heaven, starring Peter Weller; u.k. documentary filmmaker Lucky Blakstad, whose projects include Weekenders and Naked; Jennifer Fox, nyu filmmaking instructor and director of the pbs doc series An American Love Story; and, Tom Fontana, whose tv credits include St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on The Streets and Oz.

Other ‘Masters’ include Nick Fraser, documentary producer and commissioning editor of the bbc’s Storyville series; Fernando Ghia, producer of the 1986 Golden Palm winner The Mission; Laurence Rees, writer/director/producer of the 1998 Rockie Award winner The Nazis – A Warning from History and editor of the bbc history series Timewatch; Aaron Sorkin, Sports Night writer; Britain’s Andrew Davies, whose screenplays include Moll Flanders and Pride and Prejudice; and Canadians Steve Smith (The Red Green Show) and Suzette Couture (The City).

Spotlight on China, Italy

and the U.S.

With this year’s conference focus on the television industry in China and Italy and changes in American tv, festival organizers are also bringing in leading broadcasters from these three important markets.

The spotlight on China, the world’s largest tv market, is being organized with the Shanghai TV Festival and will include an opportunity to meet key executives from Shanghai Television, Shanghai Broadcasting Network, and Shanghai Cable Television.

The New Face of Italian Television will feature public service network rai and commercial network Mediaset, with Mediaset director of coproductions Giuseppe Proietti among the participants.

A look at the u.s. television industry’s market demands for fiction, comedy and kids’ programming will be led by tbs vp of original programming Jim Head, a&e director of drama and performing arts Kris Slava; pbs exec vp of programming services Kathy Quattrone, Showtime’s Jerry Offsay, and History Channel vp production Bill Harris.

Other participants include Disney senior vp of original programming Gary Marsh, Discovery Channel senior vp of children’s programming Marjorie Kaplan, and Children’s Television Workshop vp creative development Julian Scott. Delegates from Warner Bros., upn, USA Networks, and Comedy Central will also take part.

‘The Europeans who come to Banff see Canada as a way of looking down into the United States,’ says Ferns, ‘and our own producers are also keeping tabs on changes in the American industry.’

The conference slate also includes a discussion with broadcasters who air programs outside the mainstream. Guests include Channel 4’s Lawrence, Femke Wolting of VPRO Exploding Cinema in the Netherlands, Christoph Jorg of La Sept Arte, and Chris Mohr of Video Nation, bbc.

Also on tap is a discussion of the science fiction genre with HyperBole Studios’ Greg Roach and Channel 4’s Dromgoole, and a comparison of the European and North American approach to serial drama, moderated by TV5 general manager Johanne Brunet.

A panel on television’s role in showcasing local and national culture will be led by Mary Kostakidis of sbs, Australia, Geraint Talfan Davies of bbc, Wales, and Jenny Ranson of Open Broadcast Network, Bosnia.

An entire day devoted to the future of educational television will focus on the need to involve new sources of funding and a renewed commitment to quality content.

The initiative involves such international organizations as BBC Education, La Cinquieme, tlc, wgbh Boston, and the Association Internationale des Televisions d’Education et Decouverte.

A children’s summit will include bbc’s Jonathan Drori, aited president and president of La Cinquieme Jerome Clement, tlc vp programming Steve Cheskin, and Tom Koch, director of WGBH Educational Foundation.

As winner of the 1999 Global Outstanding Achievement award, a strong contingent from Arte is expected. The broadcaster is being honored for its cutting-edge showcase of films, documentary, performing and visual arts programming, and programs relating to literature, arts, history, society and politics.

Through its cable partnerships, Arte is broadcast throughout Europe and Australia. Of the 3,500 programs it airs each year, over 200 different languages and dialects are featured.

Focus on new media

Another key effort for the 20th rendition of the Banff festival is to bring the new media component front and center. In previous years, the new media program appeared more as a sideshow to the main event.

‘It seems crazy when you talk about convergence [to] have new media and tv programming conferences in separate buildings,’ says Ferns.

Telefilm has taken on the sponsorship of the new media conference sessions and Master Classes. A counterpart to the Two In A Room session has been launched with Cyberpitch, a competition where producers can submit projects and compete for development money from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund (see story, p. 20).

International new media gurus being brought to the festival include Jim Banister, executive vp of Warner Bros. Online; HyperBole Studio’s Roach, creator of The X-Files game for Fox Interactive; Media Play International president Ferhan Cook (France); and, Aleen Stein, manager of licensing and new business development for Scholastic New Media.

Community spirited

The festival is also making its first inroads into the Banff community this year, with a number of events open to the public and delegates alike, and situated at various sites around the town. Among the programs are a town hall meeting on TV Culture and Identity, a world premiere screening of the Royal National Theatre production of Oklahoma, and a breakfast on Sulphur Mountain in collaboration with the Mountain Film Festival.

Looking ahead, Ferns says to expect some announcements at Banff on future initiatives planned for the festival as it moves into its 21st year. ‘We are exploring new opportunities, new businesses we should be getting into. . . there may be things said at the festival.’