The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and the Buffer Film Festival have announced Canada’s first Buffer Festival Industry Day, an industry conference devoted to those using YouTube as a content and talent development platform and a marketing and distribution channel.
The CFC is no stranger to the Canadian tech and startup world, particularly with its ideaBOOST accelerator program for companies in the entertainment and digital media space. It even helps run the ideaBOOST Mind Pirate Production Lab, another accelerator devoted to Google Glass apps.
The Buffer Festival, meanwhile, started last year in Toronto as the world’s first festival dedicated to Youtube content. Youtube personalities like Vidal, Michael Buckley, Nadine Sykora, Damon Fizzy and Daniel Shim all flocked to Toronto.
It looks like Buffer Festival is taking it one step further now with the one-day conference. It will take place in Toronto on October 16 at the Hyatt Regency Toronto and will provide a “unique opportunity to network with celebrity YouTubers, MCNs, CMOs and digital entertainment industry executives.”
Attendees can expect a lineup of sessions and networking opportunities as top YouTube creators “provide insight into global YouTube domination, brands and creators examine some of the most successful branded entertainment partnerships, and MCNs discuss the seismic shifts hitting the YT landscape.”
Speakers will include:
● Harley Morenstein, Creator/Host, Epic Meal Time (6,500,000+ Subscribers)
● Mitchell Moffitt, Co-Creator, AsapSCIENCE (2,800,000+ Subscribers)
● Shay Carl, Vlogger and YouTube Creator (2,540,000+ Subscribers)
● Craig Benzine, Creator, Wheezy Waiter (539,000+ Subscribers)
● Bernie Su, Executive Producer & Head Writer, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, Emma Approved and new series, Frankenstein, M.D. (119,000+ Subscribers)
“The CFC Media Lab is committed to accelerating talent, products and companies in the digital entertainment sector,” said CFC associate director Amy Davies. “Central to that ecosystem is YouTube, and we are thrilled to create and launch Canada’s first-ever YouTube Industry conference in partnership with one of our resident companies, Apprentice A Productions, and their new property, Buffer Festival.”
The Buffer Festival will run this year from October 17 to 19 and will feature dozens of live screenings and celebrity meet-ups, plus a red carpet Gala premiere. The Festival was actually incubated and developed through the CFC’s digital entertainment accelerator, ideaBOOST.
Last year the festival sold 5,000 tickets and hosted more than 70 YouTube celebrities with a combined 45 million subscribers and 7 billion views.
“We were beyond delighted with the success of Buffer Festival last year, with the participation of dozens of YouTube creators and thousands of attendees,” said Corey Vidal, founder of Buffer Festival. “It made perfect sense for us to partner with the CFC to produce our first Industry Day as part of Buffer Festival 2014. This year we have hundreds of top YouTubers taking part in our event. This is a unique opportunity for us to bring YouTube creators, advertisers, distributors and entertainment executives together in one room.”