[1]The Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association [2] (SMPIA) is excited to announce that we will be shining a spotlight on Saskatchewan interactive and traditional media partnerships at the Banff World Media Festival [3] June 10-13th, 2012. Thanks to a Culture on Go: Market Access Grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board [4], SMPIA will lead an industry delegation of Saskatchewan cross-media professionals to showcase their works as well as meet with creators and investors as part of the official Banff Festival program.
The goal of this delegation is to highlight Saskatchewan cross-platform media products at the Banff World Media Festival (BWMF) in order to gain investment and exposure for Saskatchewan talent. SMPIA wants to show off the brightest and best cross-media projects and companies from Saskatchewan to industry experts from around the world.
Members of the delegation will be determined through a pitch competition to be held at SMPIA’s Multi-PlatFORUM 2012 on March 27-28th in Regina. Two projects, each comprised of a team made up of one Film/TV company representative and one Interactive company representative, will be selected by a jury of cross-media professionals from across Canada to be part of the official delegation. Each presentation will receive immediate feedback from the jury and official delegation members will be announced on March 28th at the event.
Members of the official delegation will join SMPIA to present their projects as examples of innovative cross-media as part of a panel at the Banff World Media Festival. They will also participate in receptions and meetings arranged for the delegation at the event.
Don’t miss this chance to present your latest cross-media project to this high profile jury and potentially represent our province in Banff.
Eligibility And Guidelines:
- All applicants must be at least 19 years of age and residents of Saskatchewan.
- Applicants must each hold a valid SMPIA membership. You can sign up online [5].
- For the purposes of this initiative, a cross platform project is defined as one that tells a story to an audience using more than one form of media, with at least one of them being interactive. The full story can be told on many platforms including gaming, mobile application, social media, web series, as well as film and television.
- While SMPIA recognizes that many companies are creating multi-disciplinary positions within their companies, this project is intended to support the partnering of traditional media companies with interactive companies on projects with common characters, themes and stories, similar to those eligible for CMF and Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund applications. As such, applications must include representatives from separate traditional and interactive media companies as defined on the application form.
- Projects submitted can be in any stage of development/production/distribution, but to be eligible, as of March 27th projects must be at a stage where there is some visual material to display during the pitch.
- The pitch competition to select the official delegation teams will take place at SMPIA’s Multi—PlatFORUM March 27-28th in Regina. Applicants must be available to attend the event. Registration at the event is not required to participate in the pitch, but if pitchers wish to attend the other activities at Multi-PlatFORUM, they will need to register for the conference. Teams will be notified of their acceptance into the pitching competition at Multi-PlatFORUM by February 24, 2012.
- Companies may apply to pitch more than one project, but each project must submit a separate application package. A maximum of one project per company will be selected for the final official delegation.
- Each team will be given 5 minutes to present their project at the pitch event. Pitches should include a description of the project’s story, how it will manifest across multiple mediums, how it will engage audience and the business model attached to the project.
- Projects will be evaluated on:
o innovative storytelling/use of platforms
o market potential /success to date
o quality of presentation
o project/company readiness for participation in the BWMF - Members of the official delegation will be required to present their projects as examples of innovative cross-media as part of a panel at the Banff World Media Festival. They will also be required to participate in receptions and meetings arranged for the delegation at the event and submit a brief report to SMPIA regarding business done at the festival by June 22, 2012.
- For delegation members, SMPIA will arrange and cover costs for:
o festival registration
o flight and shuttle transportation to Banff
o hotel accommodation at SMPIA selected hotel for the duration of the festival
o All other costs will be the responsibility of the delegates. - Participation in this delegation is valued at $5000/team but will be offered free of cost thanks to the support of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. As SMPIA is committing to present companies as part of the official Banff program, it is essential that applicants commit to attending and participating in the festival events. In the event a selected delegate must cancel, any penalties or fees incurred by SMPIA will be charged to the delegate.
- To apply for the pitch competition and official SMPIA delegation to Banff, submit an application form with company bios to nova-at-smpia.sk.ca by February 17th, 2012.