The seventh annual Strategic Partners Conference, running Sept. 16-18 in Halifax during the first weekend of the 25th Atlantic Film Festival, is ramping up for a key year, as coproduction continues to fuel worldwide markets, and as the event's reputation for successfully introducing international partners has grown significantly over the last several years.

"There is an increasing need from broadcasters around the world, particularly in the U.K. and the U.S., to embrace coproduction, because it's simply not possible for a single market to finance its own projects anymore," says Simon Vaughn, founding partner of the young U.K.-based company Alchemy TV, which is a distributor, financier and producer of event TV movies and miniseries. Vaughn first attended the conference last year and will be a panelist this year.

In preparation for Strategic Partners 2005, event director Jan Miller met with producers and financiers in L.A., New York, Berlin, Glasgow and London.

"I had at least a dozen really productive meetings and found that I no longer have to fill people in on Strategic Partners - they had already heard about it," says Miller.

This year, and for the last three, SP has focused on coproduction in the U.K., U.S. and Canada. In 2006, SP will add South Africa, New Zealand and Australia to its staple countries.

While SP is a project-driven event including a maximum of 150 delegates selected based on the experience of the prodco or producer presenting each project, many producers say the event's real value lies in the long-term relationships it helps to ignite.

"Relationships start to develop at SP and you start to figure out who is looking for what and what broadcasters are interested in what," says Wayne Grigsby of Halifax-based Big Motion Pictures.

For example, at last year's conference Grigsby met Vaughn, who subsequently picked up BMP's Trudeau miniseries for international distribution from the CBC.

For Vaughn, SP is a key event because it's Canadian.

"Canada, for me, is the most user-friendly coproduction territory." That is because, he explains, the two countries share a common language, Canadian filmmakers and executives recognize the sensitivities of the U.S. television market, and "they are smart business people who understand collaboration," he says.

Vaughn's first Canada/U.K. copro was in1997, when he worked on the 26 half-hour animation series Watership Down for Decode. He has since worked on the Canada/U.K. coproduction series of MOWs based on Mary Higgins Clark mysteries with Toronto's Lucky Day Productions; cofinanced Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion; produced and executive produced A Bear Called Winnie; and is currently a distributor and financier on an Everest series with Toronto's Screen Door (previously Tapestry Pictures).

"Our objective in the drama area is to position ourselves as Canada's partner of choice for international distribution, coproduction and cofinancing," says Vaughn. "Right now is the moment of fruition, because there is a genuine interest, for example, at the BBC for coproductions, whereas in the past they have been tolerated as a last-ditch alternative."

Vaughn will sit on one of three panels at this year's conference. It is to be moderated by Grigsby and will look at how international partners share financing and creative but may struggle to share sensibilities.

Other panels will include Alternate Distribution: Don't Print That, which looks at the potential impact of digital distribution avenues, and a yet-to-be-titled examination of feature film focusing on The Conclave, a Canada/Germany copro executive produced and written by Halifax's Paul Donovan, who will participate in the panel.

Conclave producer Bill Niven (Marion Bridge) says that in addition to building international bridges, SP also helps to build important partnerships among Canadian producers from across the country.

"Strategic Partners is a terrific advantage for those of us based in Halifax because it gives us a chance to see people on our own turf in a really relaxed environment," he says.

The event has also had a real economic payoff for the regional community. According to the New Brunswick-based Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, in 2003 the event generated at least $10 million in contracts for the film and television industry in Atlantic Canada.

-www.atlanticfilm.com