The Rogers Industry Centre Symposium ’98: Reality Bites Back/Indie Rules will kick off Sept. 14 with two days focusing on the independents behind film, television and new media.

Among the highlights are a keynote address from Alliance Communications chairman and ceo Robert Lantos and a potentially volatile lineup of broadcast executives discussing the Canadian Television Policy Review in anticipation of the Sept. 23 crtc hearing.

Day one commences at an inhuman 8:30 a.m. with breakfast and a keynote address from the outgoing Lantos. The venue for the opener is The Four Seasons Hotel, where moderator Brian D. Johnson, senior entertainment writer and film critic for Maclean’s magazine, will lay some questions on the table for the Canadian film veteran.

With a full stomach and some caffeine in the bloodstream, producers can make their way to the Hotel Inter-Continental (where all panel discussions will take place) for the Making It Means Marketing It panel on distribution from 10:00 to 11:30.

Playback reporter Andy Hoffman will moderate the troops, consisting of Odeon Films’ Bryan Gliserman, Cineplex Odeon Corporation’s Michael Kennedy, Charlotte Mickie of Alliance Independent Films and Behaviour Distribution’s Andy Myers.

From 11:30 to 1:00, Avid Technology presents Digital Filmmaking: A Reality. On hand to discus the new digital domain will be Avid’s Jeffrey Krebs, Ronald Sanders of Dark Horse Moving Pictures and Tad Seaborn of Casablanca Sound & Pictures.

Producers interested in reality-based filmmaking can join moderator Mary Ellen Armstrong, editor of Brunico Communications’ RealScreen Magazine, for Explosion In Documentary from 2:00 to 3:30.

Sitting on the panel are filmmakers Rana Joy Glickman (God said ‘Ha!’), Ron Havilio (Fragments Jerusalem), Patrick Leblanc (The Filmmaker of the Amazon), Nettie Wild (A Place Called Chiapas) and Peter Lynch (The Herd).

To finish off the day’s events at the Inter-Continental, Behaviour presents Hot Shots from 4:00 to 5:30 with moderator Elliot Grove. Making up the panel is director Jerry Ciccoritti (Boy Meets Girl), Stephen Bradley (Sweety Barrett), Rachel Perkins (Radiance) and Rose Troche (Bedrooms and Hallways).

Meanwhile at the Royal Ontario Museum (where all the main sessions will take place), When You Can’t Wait For A Sugar Daddy, a session on creative financing, will take place from 1:00 to 3:30. Sydney Levine of Film Finders will moderate.

Making up the panel are D. Jeffrey Andrick from Comerica Bank in California, Gabriela Bacher from Primary Pictures and Clint Culpepper of Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures Group. Others joining in on the discussion include Neil Friedman of Menemsha Entertainment, Daniel Lyon of Motion International and Joana Vicente of Open City.

Following from 3:30 to 5:00, producers have a chance to Focus on Europe: A View Through the Long Lens with Deborah Drisdell of Telefilm Canada. Joining in on the discussion will be Steve Clark-Hall of Skyline Films, Rainer Kolmel of Kinowelt Medien and from Siobhan O’Donoghue from Media Desk, Ireland.

Day 2

Day two gets underway at 8:30 a.m. at the rom (where all sessions will take place) with keynote speaker Richard Lagravenese, who has just written and directed his first feature Living Out Loud. Lagravenese began his career as a writer and penned the screenplays for such features as The Fisher King, Unstrung Heroes and The Bridges of Madison County.

Producers can stay put at the museum for a Case Study of Don McKellar’s feature Last Night, beginning at 10:30. On hand to discuss the film will be Niv Fichman and Daniel Iron from Rhombus Media, Sheena Macdonald from Rhombus Media International, Odeon Films’ Gliserman, Caroline Benjo from France’s Haut et Court and McKellar himself.

To get the afternoon going, the Independent Production Fund sponsors The Sneak Preview: Hopes and Schemes for the Future of Canadian Television from 1:30 to 3:30.

Heading up the panel is Audrey Cole from the Canadian Film Centre (television) and joining her are Slawko Klymkiw from the cbc, Kevin Shea of Global Television Network and Prime tv, Michael MacMillan, president and ceo of the new Alliance Atlantis Communications, Beverley Oda of Baton Broadcasting, Linda Schuyler, president of Epitome Pictures, and ChumCity’s Jay Switzer.

Laurier LaPierre of Telefilm Canada, Richard Strusberg of the Canadian Cable Television Association and Michael Wernick of the Department of Canadian Heritage along with moderator Barri Cohen from Point of View Magazine deliver the goods on funding with a down-home style at 3:30 with Between The Lines: Telefilm Canada/Canada Television and Cable Production Fund Town Hall Meeting.

Back at the Inter-Continental is Producer: Job Description at 10:00 with co-moderators Alexandra Raffe of the Ontario Film Development Corporations and Roger Frappier of Max Films. Joining them will be Christine Vachon of Killer Films.

PS Production Services presents The Write Stuff: Finding and Developing Great Scripts at 11:15 with Ted Hope of Good Machine, Julie Baines of Dan Films and Camelia Frieberg of Palpable Productions.

Beginning at 1:30 is Getting Set: Pitching Checklist, sponsored by Sullivan Entertainment and featuring Rachael Horovitz from Fine Line Features, Nik Powell of Scala Productions and Maud Nadler of First Look Pictures/Overseas Film Group.

From 2:45 to 3:45 is Packaging: More Than Just Paper and a Pretty Ribbon, sponsored by Axium Entertainment Canada and featuring Philip Alberstat of Baker & McKenzie, Chris Andrews of International Creative Management and John Sloss from Sloss Law.

Wrapping up the day is The End of The Rainbow: Reality of the Marketplace for Indies from 4:00 to 5:00 sponsored by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, with Alliance’s Mickie, Marcus Hu of Strand and Jim Stark of Icicle Films.