For a TV head from The Hunger Games producer Lionsgate, Kevin Beggs had a predictable message to Canadian TV producers gathered at the Banff World Media Festival on Monday.

Get hungry.

Not kill-or-be-killed hungry, like Katniss Everdeen.

More get passionate about developing and producing TV hits to reach fans, wherever they are in an increasingly expanding streaming and subscription pay universe.

“For American producers, it’s truly sink or swim. You either sell something and it gets produced, or you don’t eat,” Beggs told a session hosted by veteran U.S. newsman Dan Rather. 

For Canadian producers, he added, the challenge is becoming a hungry bear in search of viewers when your business model depends heavily on public subsidies.

“Canada has a unique subsidy system to keep great artists and producers working in a market that is overshadowed sometimes by by a competitive nature of the U.S.,” Beggs said, describing a Canadian TV industry he knows well having worked for a media giant domiciled in Canada and being a frequent visitor here.

But generous subsidies for Canadian producers is a double-edged sword.

“There’s a continuation and sustenance of development and activity. It keeps everyone going,” Beggs said.

But that industry backdrop rarely results in huge TV hits, “and it’s a hits-driven business,” he added.

Beggs’ advice to Canadian producers, then, became creating a diverse portfolio of work, work that “keeps the lights on” to ensure the viability of a producer.

At the same time, the Lionsgate TV boss recommended producers continue the search for the next hit multi-platform series, one that puts a company on the map.

As for what makes a reputation-sealing series today, the consensus among Canadian media execs gathered in Banff is it’s less about viewer numbers than reaching passionate fans.

“Instead of being audience driven, it’s fan base-driven,” Jocelyn Hamilton, VP programming and original productions at Corus Entertainment, said of Corus Kids’ programming strategy.

“We’re doing live events now, we’re doing event-based programming and we’re doing things on the air that that are shorter, all in an attempt to build fan bases for those individual brands and the bigger brands,” she added, speaking on a panel titled “Revealing Broadcaster Insights: The Future of TV in Canada.”

Rogers Media’s David Purdy, VP and GM at Rogers Cable, said passionate fan followings have become the stuff on which negotiations begin and eventual deals from big TV players get done these days.

“The economic leverage that gets created when you have a hit like [Game of Thrones or AMC’s The Walking Dead] is tremendous. The worst negotiation I had in the past 24 months was with AMC. Enormous pressure was brought to bear on me and my organization for the success of that one show,” Purdy said.

“What you’re looking for shows that become tribal in nature,” he continued.

Shows like Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, or Sons of Anarchy secure momentum and economic leverage for broadcasters that air them.

“I think everyone is recognizing that and that’s why people are putting $7 million an episode into Game of Thrones – because HBO knows, regardless of platform, it will have tremendous leverage in negotiations,” he argued.

Spotting the next big thing in TV and an expanding digital universe remains a challenge, of course.

For Lionsgate’s Beggs, persistence in pitching and following up with broadcasters is key to ultimate success.

“Tenacity really wins the day. If you hang around the basket long enough, you may just score,” he told Banff delegates.

That means not giving up in the face of a no.

“We will not take a pass. Many of our hits have started elsewhere, developed, didn’t go forward, and then became successes,” Beggs said.

And Beggs recommended getting into business with passionate creators.

“There are so many innovators in our business, so many luminaries. Tyler Perry is now a huge media mogul and titan – he believed in his story and he was going to get it out there,” he argued.

With files from Katie Bailey