Montreal: The heart of the Banff Television Festival is its up-front market for content and financing, the comparatively easy access to all orders of international commissioning editors and a general business and social environment aimed at fostering national and international coproduction.

The official opening ceremonies for the festival's 22nd edition, June 10-15, take place Monday, June 11 with the scheduled participation of Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, Telefim Canada chairman Laurier LaPierre, CTV president and COO Trina McQueen and Banff Television Foundation president and CEO Pat Ferns.

International coproduction continues to evolve. Ferns says dramatic coproductions may be becoming more difficult as domestic programming strengthens its hold on primetime schedules. "But I think in factual programming, children's and in formats the world is becoming more and more international, and Banff has played its part in all of that.

"Most of the big markets - MIP-TV, MIPCOM, NATPE - are in the business of selling finished goods," he says. "It's about volume because that is the efficient way to sell product around the world. Each of them has dimensions of trying to be an up-front market for financing new projects. But I think the advantage of Banff is that we are focused on that and that this is a marketplace of ideas. You can find partners here, whether it's creative partners or financing partners. And frankly, the big bucks are in people financing new projects rather than in the post-production selling of international product."

Banff - a time and a place

Ferns says Banff's new branding proposition, or mantra, is "Innovation, Excellence and Opportunity, and I think pitching represents the opportunity side of that. We're trying to live up to the innovation [claim] by creating new formats to get new players out in the field."

Banff's relative isolation and active social calendar gives the festival its democratic and accessible business character.

As for the festival's dates and location, Ferns says, "We are at the right time of the year, and while some people might say, 'Are you in the right place hidden away in the mountains?' I think we're absolutely in the right place because the quality of isolation means people actually do see each other and they talk. If we were in a big city half the executives would be in their own offices and not in the marketplace."

Banff features both wide-open and by-appointment-only venues.

"People want some small quality experiences and what we've got now with our Decision-Maker Breakfast and Lunches and Master Class series is a chance for people to be in a small group hearing from great people, because when they go away that's what they'll remember. The line-up of Masters (24 classes) including six strands - directing, new media, documentary, writing, producing and children's - means if you are in any of those specialty areas you are getting to hear from some pretty spectacular people," says Ferns.

"The International Jury of Peers [June 12] is always a great session where we have our student juries from around the world arguing with the international jury [this year headed by Quebec actor/director Micheline Lanctot]."

Ferns says the Cyber Lunch strand is meant to provide a timely and realistic look at new media developments and viable business models. The evolving role of the leading U.S. industry and market is the subject of four Understanding America plenary sessions on Two in a Room: drama/fiction, documentary and children's programming.

With its charged social and business mix, pacing becomes an issue at Banff.

"If you go to the [Gullane] Barbecue on the Thursday evening, which I suppose is one of the more alcoholic events in the history of creation, and you're pitching the next morning, then you've got to decide, 'Are you serious about this business or not?' " advises Ferns.

New social events this year include the NHK-inspired Banff Hi-Tech Auction, with Sony robotic dogs, DVD players and laptop computers up for grabs, followed by the entirely enjoyable Karaoke Night, all on the evening of June 12. Proceeds from the auction go to local schools.

"On Wednesday [June 13], we're trying to get everybody downtown, so we've got a BBC-hosted reception at the Aurora Night Club, then go have dinner somewhere downtown followed by the Canadian Television Fund Dance Party at The Paddock. It's going to be a gas," he promises.

Out for new tricks

Ferns is always on the lookout for good ideas.

In addition to visits to the major and near-major marts, this year's travels included Perth and Adelaide in Australia (science and docs), the Third World Summit on Children's Media in Thesalonika, Greece, and the documentary forum in Israel. Add Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Montreux, Switzerland, the recently wrapped World Education Market in Vancouver and cable television and sports media confabs in Toronto, and it's clear the man rarely, if ever, stops.

"In each of these I'm kind of developing new tricks," says Ferns. "Where there are platforms that's where I'll be because basically our market is people who attend conferences. And that's where we spend our marketing dollars. We want to make sure we're giving back to the independent production community. That's where I came from and I think a lot of this work of trying to give opportunity to new players is about a time in my career when I can give something back."

World's 'richest' pitch

Big news this year is the introduction of the CTV Canadian Documart. The draw is $100,000 in development funding, including first-place prize money of $50,000. Festival organizers are calling it "The Richest Pitch in the World." The new pitch format was developed with the permission of the Australian Documart, says Ferns