DMAA President Appointed to Alberta Film Advisory Committee

Armed with a renewed mandate to guide Alberta's $165 million film and television industry by helping create a framework for sustainable growth - and realizing the value of new technologies - the Alberta Film Advisory Council (AFAC) has appointed Digital Media Association of Alberta (DMAA) president Ken Bautista to the council for a term of three years.The AFAC has been in existence since 2004, and advises the government on the priorities of Alberta's film and television industry, supporting and assisting Alberta Film in the implementation of these priorities, and recommending performance measures for the overall operation of Alberta Film.Damian Petti, industry co-chair of the AFAC and President of Local 212 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), sees new media as playing a pivotal role in the future of the screen-based entertainment industry."We want to embrace growth areas and new areas and see the role of new media and its voice at the table as an important one," he says. "We're happy with their presence at the table. We want to build all aspects of the industry...we see Ken there as being vital to the process."Bautista, meanwhile, is enthused to be sitting down with his peers in Alberta's film and television sector. "(This is the) first time that new media has been part of this and invited to the table. We can help with what digital media means to film, television, mobile and entertainment industries," he says.But while he's new on the block, Bautista is not just an onlooker."Ken is playing a key advisory role. He sits both on the industry development sub-committee, consulting on plan, as well as the industry financing sub-committee," says Petti.Bautista certainly brings a wealth of new media experience to the council. He is the co-founder of Edmonton's award-winning Hotrocket Studios, a company specializing in multi-platform interactive production. As DMAA president, he had led the development of the association's long-term strategic plan and has also served on other industry advisory boards and groups including nextMEDIA, Alberta ICT Council, Canadian Interactive Alliance, Banff New Media Institute, and the New Media Trade Team Working Group for Canadian Heritage.Bautista's arrival at the AFAC underscores the fact that with the emergence of digital technology and its role in today's productions, the industry has gone beyond traditional roles of film and television."Separation between new media and film and TV is becoming a little more blurred. New media is not new anymore, but rather a critical piece of the ‘creative screen-based industries' that includes mobile, film, et cetera, and devices that you can push content to," he says."It's a signal that the market is changing and that consumers, the next generation audiences, are consuming content different ways and are expecting the medium to be appropriate for the experience and delivered by a method of their choice. The industry will have to shift - meaning to projects designed for a multi-screen world."New media has often taken a different path from film and television, sometimes putting them at odds with each other in the quest for resources. "Their interests are somewhat competing," admits Petti. "But both seem to see the overall value to the industry as a whole. This (collaboration) can possibly overcome this challenge. It will also better connect all the players incentives for people to take more risks"Bautista's presence doesn't necessarily mean that new media producers will get more access to film and TV products; rather, it's designed to help attract bigger and better projects to Alberta when clients see the various industries are talking to each other."As a creative producer, you can have all these different channels to get the story your story out there. As a game designer, for example, you can figure out how you can sell your stories based on multiple media, mixing linear and non-linear ," explains Bautista. Beyond the borders of Wild Rose Country, Bautista believes that empowering creative screen industries can also help the industry compete more effectively in international markets as well as have an effect on funding models here at home. "It's an opportunity to improve our provinces competitive position for production incentives," he says, a sentiment Petti agrees with."It's no secret that Alberta could have been doing lot better when it comes to incentives," Petti says.Bautista notes that to date, new media has been left out of the grant and tax credit structure within Alberta. "It's for film and TV, not new media," he says, adding that the province should explore innovative approaches such as "loans based on properties started and finished in Alberta" as well as the more widespread production tax credits."We could provide production incentives based on integrating different technologies into projects as well as incentives based on stages of development," Bautista concludes.Talking with Bautista, one thing is evident: he's enthusiastic and optimistic about his new appointment to AFAC, an energy that should result in a much more competitive portfolio of initiatives to strengthen the screen-based industries in Alberta.

DMAA President Appointed to Alberta Film Advisory Committee

Broadcast | September 5, 2007

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