Art and commerce merge at the 22nd annual Film and Television Forum, Sept. 26-29, with new streamlined days, each of the four with a specific focus.

Wednesday, Sept. 26 is Doc Day, Thursday is Film Day, Friday is TV Day and Saturday is New Filmmakers’ Day, with sessions starting a 9 a.m. each morning. The common theme is the convergence of art and commerce.

‘I have tried to connect the issue of creative to the business,’ says forum creative director Helen du Toit.

‘I have brought in inspiring people who can show that ‘creative’ is ultimately what has to drive the industry,’ adds du Toit, whose title has changed from programming director to creative director this year.

‘[The forum] can’t just be about business,’ she says. ‘The way this community will grow the most is if we can develop great projects and own a piece of them.’

This year’s forum expects over 1,600 delegates – or approximately the same number that attended last year.

Du Toit says her goal this year is to build on last year’s successes, most notably the introduction of ‘speed-dating’ sessions, where emerging filmmakers get 10 minutes to pitch projects to local producers, senior execs and broadcasters. Speed-dating sessions are on TV Day, Sept. 28.

This year’s speed-dating participants include high rollers Michael Ghent, production executive, original programming at CanWest MediaWorks; Gary Marcuse, programming exec at CBC; Shel Piercy, president of Infinity Filmed Entertainment; Jayme Pfahl, president of Crescent Entertainment; and Gabriela Schonbach, VP at Omni Film Productions.

Another successful TV initiative from the 2006 forum was exploring opportunities to coventure with U.S. partners.

‘We brought in American guests so that people could start looking at partnering with Americans and owning more of their own projects,’ says du Toit. ‘This year we are building on this with a coventuring with the U.S. session,’ she continues. ‘We have representatives from Fox, MTV, Lifetime TV and others coming in,’ for the opening panel on TV Day.

Participants on this panel will include: Howie Caspe, development executive, The N; Joey Plager, VP original programming, Lifetime TV; Jeff Schenck, president, Regent Studios; and Brett Weitz, VP development, Fox 21.

Other TV Day highlights include master classes with CSI director/exec producer Richard Lewis; a comedy writing session with The Office head writer Paul Lieberstein; and a TV drama writing workshop with Lawrence Kaplow from House.

Doc Day (Sept. 26) features Britain’s hottest TV producer and format king Robert Thirkell (Jamie’s School Dinners) as well as recognized doc editors Dan Swietlik (Sicko) and Geoffrey Richman (Murderball).

A viral marketing and do-it-yourself distribution panel will be headlined by low-budget American indie director/producer Arin Crumley (Four-Eyed Monster) and Brave New Films cofounder Jim Gillian.

A panel of commissioning editors from the Sundance Institute, NHK Japan and ARTE will discuss long-form docs, and a group of producers who actively produce with China will offer an overview of working with the Chinese market.

Film Day (Sept. 28) features a creative seminar with producers Ron Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine) and Mary Jane Skalski (Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus), and a casting workshop with American casting director Kerry Barden (Good Will Hunting, Boys Don’t Cry).

The ever-popular New Filmmakers’ Day (Sept. 29) includes classes on writing and directing, as well as a seminar on production design with Alex McDowell (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).