CBC Television to Host Entertainment Master Class at BWTVF

February 25, 2008 World Screen

TORONTO/BERLIN/POTSDAM,
February 25: CBC Television will host an Entertainment Master Class on
game-show format development from June 8 to 14 at the 29th Banff World
Television Festival (BWTVF).

The goal of the
Entertainment Master Class is to train a select circle of professionals in the
development and production of programming formats for the
entertainment-television genre and their marketing and distribution in the
international marketplace.

This year’s Entertainment
Master Class is part of the first international Format Academy, which offers an
elite course taught all over the world by experienced executives in the format
business to the next generation of format makers, covering entertainment genres
such as game show, comedy show, variety and event show, factual entertainment
and reality show. Among the Advisory Board members are FremantleMedia’s Gary
Carter, ITV’s Paul Jackson and Peter Bazalgette.

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The program consists of
five training units per year, which will be held in five different cities:
Lucerne, Banff, Berlin, Copenhagen and London. The training unit for game-show
formats is scheduled for June and is incorporated into the BWTVF. Among the
trainers and guest speakers that will share their inside knowledge on game
shows with the participants at the Entertainment Master Class-Module in Banff
are format industry veterans David Briggs, Tim Crescenti, Paul Gilbert, Colman
Hutchinson and Michel
Rodrigue.

Participants selected for
the Master Class are from all over the world, including Europe, Australia and
North America. Applications are still being accepted for one of the limited 40
seats until March 3.

"We are looking
forward to hosting the EC Master Class at the 2008 Banff World Television
Festival,” said Jennifer Harkness, the executive director of BANFF. “This is an
extremely important opportunity for our delegates who will benefit greatly from
the international experience and knowledge of the contributing professionals.”

The Banff World Television
Festival will take place from June 8 to 11.

—By Irene Lew