The two-day Montreal International Game Summit kicks off November 8, and is emphasizing the convergence between film and gaming.

MIGS initially catered to the Montreal game industry, but content coordinator Jason Della Rocca says audiences have been growing over the years, and not just in size.

“What happens is that some TV and film folks pop by, or people in film production like writers or animators who think they have relevant skills, or government people who want to see what the environment is like,” he tells Playback Daily. “So we have a rich mix of sectors and disciplines and industries.”

Della Rocca, who is also founder of Montreal-based consultancy Perimeter Partners, is working with companies in or around the game industry and has been affiliated with MIGS since its inception. He notes that half the audience is now comprised of folks outside Quebec: from western Canada, north-eastern U.S. (Boston, New York), and Europe.

“If you have CMF funding for a TV show and you were looking to get the interactive component and you want to see where there are deals to be made, it’s a great opportunity,” he adds.

As a result of the evolving audiences, there was a request to add convergence sessions to this year’s schedule, which Della Rocca says was also reflected in part by a panel he moderated at this past TIFF called Get in the Game: The Worlds of Films and Gaming Collide.

“That’s a trend we’re seeing industry-wide,” he says, “where all these other sectors are coming to games, seeing the potential in games, want to invest and collaborate more. We’re seeing a higher degree of collaboration between films and games, so it just seemed natural to include more sessions that would speak directly to that.”

Marie-Claude Bernard from MIGS organizer Alliance Numerique says this is the first year the advisory board included a member of the Quebec Film and Television Council (Christian Beauchênes) to cater to the convergent-hungry crowd.

“The line is getting grayer and grayer,” she tells Playback Daily. “Everyone is more open to the idea of convergence, so we really decided to put a bigger focus on that this year. That focus will increase over the years as we expect more film and TV people to attend.”

Bernard expects 1,500 attendees to this year’s seventh edition of MIGS, which will also host a recruitment activity with HR reps and design competitions.

MIGS runs until November 9.