Source: Canadian Press

TORONTO — Breaking into the U.S. market will be a key focus of this year's Banff World Television Festival as Canadian producers, writers, broadcasters and agents converge at the massive networking forum with their international counterparts, say those set to attend the fest's 30th gathering.

Recent cross-border successes like "Flashpoint," "The Listener," and upcoming series "Copper" and "The Bridge" - all Canadian-created dramas that have homes on major U.S. networks - have swung the door wide open for Canucks hoping to tap into the massive U.S. audience, says Peter Vamos, the executive director of the festival.

"This is a great year, and a lot of Americans we've talked to have expressed that they want to come up to Banff this year and they want to meet with Canadian producers," Vamos says of the four-day fest, kicking off Sunday.

"These things go in cycles and right now it's really hot to find a Canadian show and get it on air down in the States. They're actually looking at Banff as a source of that kind of programming. This is exactly what we do and it's not just out of the U.S. - we've got broadcasters coming from around the world and then we have producers coming from around the world."

Most of the festival's attendees come from Canada, but about 20 per cent are from the United States and about 10 per cent come from elsewhere, he says.

The festival is made up of three parts - an awards gala, which recognizes stellar productions from around the world; a conference, made up of panel discussions and workshops about writing, creating and pitching; and the constant networking that goes on, in which casual lunches can blossom into multimillion-dollar relationships.

It's impossible to put a dollar figure on the deals that spring from Banff, says Vamos, noting that such agreements generally don't come to fruition until well after the festival.

At last year's fest, the producers of CBC's "Little Mosque on the Prairie" announced they'd inked a deal to get a U.S. version of the show on the Fox network.

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and executives from CBS, HBO, and Disney's ABC kids' networks are among those slated to attend this year's event.

Tom Zappala of ABC Cable Networks Group says he'll meet with a variety of Canadian content producers in search of a creative match for ABC Family and SOAPnet, noting he's had "tremendous" experiences working with such Toronto-based companies as Insight Productions and Cuppa Coffee Animation. He says interest in Canuck content has increased among U.S. networks.

"Part of the reason is economic - the financial model for a Canadian co-production is very attractive and Canadian producers are eager to collaborate on creative to facilitate a US sale," Zappala, senior vice president, program acquisitions and scheduling, said Thursday by email.

"Last year, there may have been a bit more interest due to the writers strike, but generally speaking I believe the US networks are taking a global perspective on programming."

Other behind-the-scenes bigwigs bound for Banff include executive producer/director Jack Bender of "Lost," writer/executive producer Rene Balcer of "Law & Order," and writer/executive Ron Moore of "Battlestar Galactica." Canadian performers include veteran Victor Garber, TV and film star Paul Gross and comic Mark McKinney.

Toronto's Shaftesbury Films, whose sci-fi series "The Listener" airs on CTV in Canada, NBC in the United States and worldwide on Fox International, will be among the production companies mingling in the mountains.

"(The Banff festival is) getting a sort of a reputation, which I think is great, for co-production," says CEO Christina Jennings, also behind the Citytv series, "Murdoch Mysteries."

"In my case I'm meeting with a couple of U.S. broadcasters, a couple of our international partners (regarding) new projects or projects that are underway."

She notes that a meeting in Banff three years ago with Noel Hedges, the head of drama at Granada International, led to a production and distribution deal for "Murdoch Mysteries."

"We stayed very, very close. He's now doing 'Bloodletting,' based on the Vincent Lam book that goes to camera in a month," she says.

"Someone got to Noel and said, 'Would you like to have lunch at Banff?' And that was how it began."

Although such international alliances are now well-established in lifestyles and children's programming, the recent activity surrounding Canadian drama is relatively new. Jennings said the TV industry is simply looking for new ways to cope with less.

"Broadcasters around the world are realizing that they can't produce everything on their own; they can't fully finance all the shows, they need to partner on some of the shows," she says.

"I think there was a time when people used to say, 'Oh, Americans don't want to watch about anybody other than themselves,' so Canada would step in and play some generic city. And I think that's changed."

Norm Bolen, president of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, says Canadian creators are also taking a more populist approach to the shows they create.

"Canadians tend to make shows that I would describe as intelligent, and that hasn't always been a benefit in the marketplace - sometimes the more intelligent shows are less successful," notes Bolen, whose organization represents roughly 400 production companies.

Toronto-based exports like CTV's "Flashpoint" appear to be "a little more commercial," he says.

"They're made more for a broader market, but they don't shy away from being Canadian," says Bolen, a former executive with Alliance Atlantis Communications and the CBC.

Bolen predicted the U.S. interest will lead to more sales overseas.

"This will be the secondary result of this wave of American pickups. Because what happens in America tends to drive what happens in Europe as well, and to some extent, in Britain and Asia. You will see these shows getting more traction everywhere."

The Banff World Television Festival runs June 7 to 10.

© Canadian Press