As home to one of North America’s largest film and TV service production sectors, B.C. is too often regarded as a “beautiful backlot” for Hollywood, according to Brian Hamilton.
“There is a major section of the film and television industry that is entrepreneurs, businesses with head offices in B.C., who are creating and owning the content, and exporting the content around the world,” he said
Hamilton, a partner and executive produce at Vancouver-based Omnifilm Entertainment, is among the 200-300 delegates expected to descend upon the fifth annual Merging Media Conference at the Vancity Theatre on Seymour Street.
The November 13-14 event marks the first time Canada has hosted a marketplace devoted entirely to digital content, according to organizers.
Omnifilm has produced shows including CBC’s Arctic Air and Defying Gravity, which aired on BBC, CTV and ABC.
Hamilton will be at Merging Media to serve as a panellist and take the opportunity to sell certain rights to his company’s library of different TV shows to buyers from all over the world.
Rogers (TSX:RCI) and Shaw (TSX:SJR.B) launched their own joint venture, the streaming video service Shomi, on November 4. Meanwhile, Bell (TSX:BCE) announced last month its new Project Latte video service would stream much of HBO’s back catalogue.
“These streaming services that are multiplying…have a tremendous appetite for content,” Hamilton said.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Canada to become one of the premier providers of entertainment content to viewers around the world.”
He said the advent of all these streaming services has shifted consumers’ viewing habits, which has in turn changed the business landscape.
“As content providers who used to focus on exclusively television and film markets, we are now turning our focus also to buyers such as Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, Netflix and many others,” he said.
The conference is also featuring TED Talks-style presentations from speakers in the industry as well seminars allowing content creators to test out new digital services offered by buyers like SundanceTV.
Liz Shorten, vice-president at Canadian Media Production Association’s (CMPA)
B.C. chapter, said these new additions to Merging Media have been driven by the industry’s desire to catch up to the new digital landscape.
The CMPA is one of the event’s co-presenters and Shorten said members often reiterate how challenging it is to build relationships with traditional and digital content buyers who are generally based in the U.S., Europe and Central Canada.
“To have a marketplace here in Vancouver is unique,” she said.
“The marketplace is not only an opportunity for participants to sit down one-on-one and pitch shows to those buyers that are coming into town, but also hear from the buyers what they’re looking for.”
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