BANFF – Back in the day we had a plethora of annual Canadian industry events and mass huddles.
There was the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual confab, and the BDU and cable lads with their CCTA round-up, among others.
Now when it comes to annual gatherings of we media types and our attendant bureaucrats, there's the International Institute of Communications highbrow event in Ottawa in the fall, the yearly CMPA yearly full court press in Ottawa in the winter, and a smattering of smaller events, but only Banff features the people, technology, and global programming so quickly changing the landscape of Canadian screen media.
This week The Banff World Media Festival celebrates its 35th anniversary.
In many Asian communities, that 35th milestone is honoured with gifts of jade symbolizing wisdom and imagination. And what could be more perfect than that for Canadian media leaders and influencers in 2014?
Yes, more cautious times have seen this year’s event downplayed by the CRTC brass who used to have a featured Q & A breakfast panel (but with the everything-under-the-sun-is-under-review TV hearing coming in September, perhaps that’s not surprising). Clipped budgets may mean that where we once saw attendance averaging 2,000 or more, this week may only top out at roughly 1,500 (50% Canadians) professionals and executives from some 30-plus countries.
But with the NextMEDIA digital sessions imbedded into the core schedule it remains an impressive four-day event.
This year's nominees for the 26 prestigious Rockie Awards celebrating excellence in TV and digital content were selected by over 250 independent industry executives from more than 40 counties. Plus, it's vital to recognize that what's at stake in this country is a $14 billion industry currently going through the equivalent of The Industrial Revolution with new engines like market leader Netflix leading the way.
Moreover, thank goodness we have those 55 international co-production treaties to tout here at Banff, because, in case you haven't noticed, the future is worldwide. Having said that – just by way of example – we're making less movies for less money; and we still can't seem to rally full cross sector co-operation with anything approaching a "Studio Canada" approach.
Yet even here in Alberta, it's widely appreciated that the domestic arts and culture sector accounts for more than 3% of this oil-soaked province's GDP (pf about $312 billion).
That's serious cash.
Next… The Honourable Shelly Glover has (rare) Banff words, international brainiacs talk the future, Canadian mavens reflect on what technology has done to their content, and a nifty panel explores TV consumers and choice — hey, guess what, we really don't want pick and pay!
Bill Roberts is covering the Banff World Media Festival for Cartt.ca.
