Hollywood Brings the Latest Transmedia Buzz to Hollywood North at Merging Media 2012!

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 28, 2012) - Merging Media Productions Inc. and the Canadian Media Production Association - BC Producers' Branch are pleased to announce a unique partnership between The Merging Media 2012 Conference (MM2012) in Vancouver, BC and The StoryWorld 2012 Conference (SWC12) in Hollywood, CA. This partnership is a joint effort to grow strong transmedia communities and build a lively and connected cross-media industry on the West Coast.

This year, Merging Media is pleased to welcome a growing number of speakers and delegates who will fly up from Hollywood to take part in MM2012 on October 24-26 after attending SWC12, to continue the exciting conversations. Visiting speakers will include MM2012's Keynote Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, "the 5th most innovative company in media" (as named by Fast Company in 2011) from New York; Alison Norrington, CEO of StoryCentral DIGITAL/Chair of SWC12, from the UK; and John Heinsen, CEO of Bunnygraph Entertainment from Los Angeles.

"We're thrilled to have some of the world's foremost 360 thought leaders join us at MM2012 to continue the buzz that begins a week earlier at SWC12 in Hollywood", says Christine Lim-Labossière, Executive Director and Founder of Merging Media. "Our MM2012 theme is 'Be a 360 Game Changer', and the speakers we've invited personify this positive call to action".

"This partnership is further evidence of the close ties between media makers in Los Angeles and Vancouver", says Brian Hamilton, Chair of CMPA-BC, presenting partners of MM2012. "Talented creators and distributors from each city are coming together to ramp up the economic engine of multiplatform content."

Also featured at this year's annual celebration of cross-media's best and brightest are speakers from Facebook, Google, Machinima and MediaCom. We are also offering a half-day Business Modeling Masterclass by the Canadian Film Centre and a new MM2012 Biz Hub, made possible by the Western Economic Diversification and the BC Government, where delegates can network and schedule meetings. MM2012 Partners include BC Film+Media, sponsor of the annual $10,000 Pitch 360 Prize, Telefilm Canada, The Canada Media Fund, CBC and the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund.

Full Program details: http://mergingmedia.ca

PRESENTED BY:

Merging Media Productions Inc. is an event production company that develops + organizes events + initiatives to help grow the Canadian media industry. M+M's current focus is to help promote the understanding of cross-media and transmedia production. Initiatives created aim at providing industry intelligence, financing opportunities and platforms for partnerships to develop between media sectors. www.mergingmedia.ca

The BC Producers' Branch of the CMPA is a non-profit trade organization that works on behalf of some 80 British Columbia companies engaged in the production and distribution of television, feature film, and digital media content. More specifically, it promotes the general interests of its members municipally, provincially, federally, and internationally; negotiates and manages labour agreements with guilds and unions; and undertakes a variety of industry development initiatives to build the capacity of BC based companies.