NaSTA 2011

Early this year, I was approached by NaSTA via the Royal Television Society to be one of the judges and speaker for this year’s National Student Television Awards held in Loughborough. I can’t believe how quickly we got to April and I just want to thank the organising team, who looked after everyone so well.

I had a midday talk about how to break into broadcasting and was glad to see so many eager faces listen intently. It’s quite overwhelming how many aspire to be presenters. Some are already showing a promising career ahead of them and I commend those who are involved in student television. They’re already showing their commitment to the industry by doing this.

Thank you to Dave Bird for this photo:

Then, I was in a panel session with the BBC’s Lisa Rogers, Tim Marshall (also from the BBC) and ESPN’s Paul Ryan Ore Oduba chaired and we talked about the changing media trends, the advantages and potential threats. Again, it is becoming apparent that there are broadcasting jobs that new candidates are completely unaware of and so there may be a call for exploring these ‘unknown’ industry opportunities.

Then the awards ended a brilliant Saturday with student TV stations from across the country vying for the top prize – Best Broadcaster. This year it went to LSTV and high commendation went to YSTV. I presented the category I judged, which was Best Freshers’ Coverage. I chose UniTV as the winner, because their entry stood out and high commendation went to LUST. The quality of the entries were really exceptional and it is reassuring to know that there will be a new intake of talent that know what they are doing.

The full list of winners are:

Best Ident: winner RU:ON, highly commended NTV

Best Video-to-Music: winner XTV, highly commended SUSUtv

Best Freshers’ Coverage: winner UniTV, highly commended LUST

Best Animation: winner Met TV, highly commended SUSUtv

Best Music Programme: winner LSTV, highly commended CUTV

Best Factual Programme: winner LSTV, highly commended LSUTV

Best Sport Programme: winner LSUTV, highly commended CUTV

Best Drama: winner SUSUtv, highly commended NUTS

Best Light Entertainment Programme: winner LSTV, highly commended STOIC TV and XTV

Best Station Marketing: winner LSTV, highly commended NUTS and SXTV

Best Comedy: winner SUSUtv, highly commended NTV

Best News Programme: winner Trent TV, highly commended QMTV

Open Category: winner LSTV, highly commended UniTV

Best Documentary: winner LSTV, highly commended Demon TV

Best Title Sequence: winner UniTV, highly commended LSUTV and STOIC TV

Best Live Programme: winner LSUTV, highly commended Warwick TV

Best Technical Achivement: winner YSTV, highly commended MADTV

Best On-Screen Female: winner Harriet Brampton (NUTS), highly commended Danielle Bevan-Jones (NTV) and Briony Lammas (LSUTV)

Best On-Screen Male: winner Chris Wells (Demon TV), highly commended James Goldburn (LSUTV)

Tim Marshall Award for Special Recognition: winner CUTV, highly commended NU:TV

Best Broadcaster: winner LSTV, highly commended YSTV

I’m already looking forward to 2012 and good luck to everyone – am sure our paths will cross once again.

London Twestival 2011

On March 24, more than 150 cities across the world raised money for their favourite local charity as part of Twestival. In case you didn’t know, Twestival is a global Twitter festival where Tweeps from various backgrounds meet up, socialise and of course help raise vital funds for their cities’ chosen charities. Here’s a little insight to it:

This year, I have joined the London Twestival team in which we raised nearly £10,000 for Centrepoint, who support young, vulnerable homeless people in the city.

Our event, which took place at South African bar Cape, near St Paul’s, was supported by the Financial Times. There was live music from Jack Whiskerd, Tamra Carhart and Tres B, who was one of the 75,000 helped by Centrepoint. There was karaoke thanks to Lucky Voice and yummy burritos from Chilango as well as a raffle draw, which had lots of fabulous prizes including some Angry Birds merchandise.

Centrepoint’s Martyn Paré-Hall said that he and his colleagues “simply wouldn’t be able to do our job” without the donations that come from initiatives like Twestival.

He added: “We work tirelessly to give many vulnerable young people a chance to better their lives and look forward to a future that is full of opportunity.

“Every penny we get from London Twestival will be spent on the vital services we provide to around 800 homeless young people each day including providing a safe home, help into training and education and support to tackle health issues to turn their backs on homelessness for good.”

I’ve really enjoyed being part of such a proactive team and meeting so many like-minded individuals. A karaoke session on the night gave birth to the Ice Ice Ladies which consists of myself and other London Twestival team members: Katie Wilkinson, Sam Morris, Louisa Douma and Francine Higham. Here I am with my friend, Ellesse Digital Producer Katie at the start of the event:

Looking forward to the next London Twestival already! Also, congratulations to all the other Twestival teams for raising cash for good causes.

Midlands Media Awards 2011

This year is the 10th anniversary of Midlands Media Awards, which is part of Birmingham Press Club. I attended the event (as one of the judges), which was held at the newly developed Edgbaston cricket ground and it was nice to see so many new and familiar friendly faces.

The ceremony honours those who excel in journalism and photography.

Here are the categories:

NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR (DAILY)
NEWS REPORTER OF THE YEAR (WEEKLY)
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
THE TREVOR ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE YEAR
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
BUSINESS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
TV AND RADIO JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
HEADLINE OF THE YEAR
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR
ONLINE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
COMMUNITY/ONLINE CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
INNOVATION AWARD
STUDENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Hosted by Heart FM DJ Ed James, BBC’s Genelle Aldred, ITV’s Bob Warman and Lucy Kite plus telly personality Llewela Bailey, the audience saw established and emerging talent snap up the prestigious gongs recognising their hard work.

The night certainly reminded me of my journo days and how fulfilling it was to nab a front page exclusive, get by lines (and it was even better to get a picture by line) and most of all writing about something that was popular amongst the readers.

Apart from seeing fabulous friends like Tara Tomes, Marverine Cole, Joy Stefanicki, Austen Duffy, Dorothy Hobson, Isabel Clarke, Jayne Greene, Claire Procter and Karen Strunks, one of my highlights was going on stage with the great Bob Warman.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. I very much look forward to next year’s entries already! And also, many thanks to the lovely Jas Sansi for letting me post some of his photos here. You can see the set through Jas’ Flickr account.

Dance, film, jewels and fashion

This week has been a very busy one…

Tuesday was the International Dance Festival Birmingham advocacy document launch. It was nice to see IDFB supporters. Hip hop artist Salah was there too and had treated attendees to a special dance number.

On Wednesday, I produced a Royal Television Society event. The event, which sold out, was a screening of award-winning indie film Crying With Laughter at The Electric Cinema. The film is a gritty dark comedy that has a tag line of ‘a bad trip to memory lane’. After the screening, I chaired a Q&A with lead actor Stephen McCole, Synchronicity Films’ writer/director Justin Molotnikov, Britfilms’ Nick McCaffery and Wellington Films’ Rachel Robey.

I just want to thank Tom Lawes and Sam Bishop from The Electric Cinema for their continuing support for the RTS Midlands events.

Thursday was all about edgy jewellery. I was invited to the Brilliantly Birmingham event on Thursday at the mac. It’s their 11th season and the launch featured an exclusive preview of FLUX – an exhibition of new and emerging UK and international contemporary designer makers. Sadly, I did not make it to the event, but am sure it went smoothly as my friends at Rewired PR have had something to do with it.

Friday was a tribute to the legendary Andy Warhol – a nice treat to end the week with a fashion show at Mechu and just dancing the night away. Sponsored by Dom Perignon and Harvey Nichols, the coolest thing I’ve seen was the photo booth that printed Warholian style photos with a built in wind machine inside for that extra glamorous look.

Phew! Thank goodness for the weekend…

Gongs, golden year and the Great Hall

The prestigious University of Birmingham’s Great Hall played host to the 2010 Royal Television Society Midlands Centre Awards last night. The event, which also celebrated the Centre’s 50th anniversary, saw the cream of the Midlands’ digital, broadcast and television communities being honoured for the outstanding work they have done in the past year.

Top producers and celebs joined hosts Emma Willis (MTV, I’m A Celebrity…) and Ed James (Heart FM) on the night.

Best Regional Programme went to The Man Who Shrank the Globe – AB Media for BBC East Midlands and a special commendation went to Made in Birmingham – Reggae Punk Bhangra – Swish Films.

This year, the Awards committee introduced a new category – Best on Screen Game. The decision was based on the growing games community being produced in the region. It was also a privilege to have met Inspector Morse writer, Colin Dexter. He was given the top prize of the night – the Baird Medal – for his contribution to broadcasting.

Here are the winners of the night:

Best Promotional Programme
Disabled and Living in Walsall – Pat The Bull Films

Best Drama

TV Drama
Land Girls – BBC Drama

Best Short Film
Handle with Care

Best Acting Performance

Male
Danny Webb

Female
Sophie Ward

Best Newcomer
Becci Gemmell

Best Digital Innovation
Such Tweet Sorrow – Mudlark

Best Entertainment
Countrywise (War of the Roses) – ITV Central

Best On Screen Personality

Male
Bob Warman – ITV Central

Female
Sameena Ali-Khan – ITV Central

Best New Talent
Dave Stephenson – Fullrange

Best On Screen Game
Battle of Britain 303 Squadron, Fish in a Bottle for Channel 4

Best Production Craft Skills
Neil Hillman – The Audio Suite

Best News
Central Tonight – ITV Central

Best Current Affairs
White Collar Boxing – Andy Bevan, ITV Central

Best Documentary
The Man Who Shrank the Globe – AB Media for BBC East Midlands

Best Regional Programme
The Man Who Shrank the Globe – AB Media for BBC East Midlands

Baird Medal
Colin Dexter OBE

More images can be seen on the RTS Mids Facebook Fan page.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. As Hon Secretary of RTS Mids Centre, it’s very nice to see a thriving digital and television community here in the Midlands that are making an impact not just nationally but internationally as well. I am very much looking forward to the 2011 entries already!

Turbulence

I’ve always wanted to do a feature film and so I immediately took the chance when I got asked to get involved as New Media Producer in upcoming movie Turbulence. Produced by award-winning Natasha Carlish and directed by two-times BAFTA winner Michael Baig-Clifford, this film has been described as Friends meets Glee. Today, I met some of the actors and production team at the newly refurbished MAC. I’m very much looking forward to working with new (and not so new but friendly) peeps. This project is definitely active online, so no doubt, see you soon.

Here’s a video of the actors improvising. Watch more on YouTube:

Read the blurb about it:

TURBULENCE is an Indie Musical Comedy. The project is a collaboration between the actors David Alwyn, Adrian Banks, Emma Devereaux, Connor Mills, Shay O’Driscoll and Sophie Waller (all recent graduates of Birmingham School of Acting) and BAFTA award winning producer/director team Natasha Carlish and Michael B Clifford. Other exciting collaborators in the project are Adam Regan and the Hare & Hounds, The Scholars, Aquila and Katy Pryce.

The project has evolved over a number of months. It was born out of Natasha and Michael’s desire to explore the world of social media networking and the exciting opportunities it presents filmmakers. So far a number of the characters in the film have FaceBook pages - CLICK HERE to see the Characters’ Page – but further online activity plans to develop wider interest in the film. Because Michael and Natasha are relatively new to this world, they wanted to challenge themselves to make the film in order to better understand its potential and to see what all the fuss is about!

SXSW Freshers

South by Southwest has always been a great experience for me and so I was quite reminiscent of my first SXSW jaunt when I stumbled across this YouTube video… it was great sharing that moment with a good friend of mine, producer Rebecca Cadwallader.

Hectic Day 1 at SXSW

Slight regret that I didn’t head to SXSW on Thursday. It meant that I was too jetlagged to find the energy to keep awake for the premiere of Kick Ass starring Nicholas Cage and Superbad’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse last night the Paramount. However,  having a good night’s sleep (and a fabulous dinner at Moonshine) meant that I had more energy to endure my first day here at SXSW 2010.

So, with the traditional IHOP breakfast, I went to my first panel session called The Powershift: Who Stands Between Creator and Audience. The panel members are below. To find some of the conversations that went on Twitter use #thepowershift.

• Liesl Copland, William Morris Endeavor’s Global Finance & Distribution Group
• Malik Ducard, Paramount
• Tom Quinn, Magnolia Pictures
• Chris Hyams, B-Side Entertainment
• Matt MacNaughton, Musician-Friendly Culture Jam

Although it was focusing mainly on the theatrical side of things, I was interested in the concept of this session because I can see that there has been an apparent “shift” in broadcasting power. When I say broadcasting, I don’t just mean television broadcast, but media as a whole. Basically, it’s not just about the big boys maintaining a strong hold in broadcasting, but the so called little ones are able to broadcast themselves thanks to digital and social media.

The overall message was that the power shift is not completed. It’s still in transition.

Quinn, who is with Magnolia Pictures, stated that the theatrical industry is using more old world marketing, but there have been a lot of innovation with digital marketing. So, he said that he found that they worked with local cable providers and doing promos available via VOD menus that contain extra material and incentivising audience.

Quinn’s company gets support from bloggers and according to him bloggers are the fastest growing audience in the specialised work. He said marketing is peer to peer and this is powerful, which is why blogger support is great. But he added that content is glue to this.

Paramount’s Malik Ducard has the League of Extraordinary Dancers under his belt. He added the fact that innovation is a big contributor to this and Magnolia is doing it well. He said “it’s an industry to break out of standard model which works for a big portion of the content that goes out. It’s our job to press the boundaries of what’s been done and create new approaches that’s outside of the model.” He said that they are workng on creating content that is straight for and produced for digital.

Ducard said that innovation, experimentation and risk taking are the steps to find the right path to go beyond the boundaries.

MacNaughton said it is important to know how to monetise from different models. There is a need to create properties that plug into audiences and use digital and social media. He asked the questions what are the formats that will be of value to adudiences? and what new formats are going to reach audiences?

Hyams then added that there is no magic formula to all these. The key is make sure that there’s a transactional platform that is tied in to the new media stuff.  He said that word of mouth is the cheapest and most effective way of marketing and social media effectively allows people / companies to just that.

The best example of power shift they gave was Felicia Day. She produced a series about gamers on YouTube and then cut a deal with Microsoft for exclusive release on the Xbox platform. She was smart to do this because she got a cut in a very generous share. Day has 1.3m Twitter followers, which apparently is more than the New York Times readership. So, she is a content creator who has hold of her audience and the deal she’s cut with MS enabled her to control all IP. But he doesn’t think this is going to be the norm, but still shows the powershift. It’s people who understand social media currency that do quite well.

Ducard added that digital should be interactive and engaging e.g. give audiences a season pass, access to something, which gives them the element of exclusitivity.

After quite a good panel session, I went to the Kick Ass Film Panel.  Speakers were:

• John Romita Jr
• Mark Millar
• Aaron Johnson
• Matthew  Vaughn
• Chloe Moretz
• Christopher Mitz-Plasse

This was a good session and made me proud as didn’t realise that the write and director are both British – Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughn. Had a quick chat with Mark at the end of the session and he was really nice. I suppose my highlight was seeing Chris, who played McLovin in Superbad. 

I’ve got a few vids on this, so will be posting those up.

After that, I went around the Trade Show, which was quite nice. Lots of stickers and my personal favourite Mimobot was there. They have released a line of Hello Kitty USB sticks, so I will be purchasing one. Went to visit the Heart of England and Digital Mission stands before embarking on a double chilli dog and rootbeer at Champions opposite the Convention Centre.

Then I ventured to the Hilton where Brand Fiction took place. A very inspiring session and so will be writing about this separately. After this amazing talk, I headed to the Radisson with Ruth (@ruthward) and Sarah (@SarahScreenWM) for a few bevvies before going to Dorkbot. Some really cool stuff at Dorkbot. Here’s a photo I took:

Everyone was famished at the end of Dorkbot, so we all headed to Fogo de Chao for some Brazilian noms. Oh. My. Goodness. It was brilliant. Possibly not ideal for vegetarians (like Becky – @beckycad), but the selection of meat they had in there was fantastic. That with margaritas on the rocks ended the evening perfectly. Oh and here’s a video to cheer you up – it’s a giant hamster we saw by the Convention Centre:

Giant Hamster from Mars Elkins on Vimeo.

Rustling Brands

Another RTS event I’m proud of is Rustling Brands. Being able to get the calibre of speakers we had on the day felt like quite a good achievement. Dorothy Hobson, RTS Mids Vice Chair and Chair of Events, wrote a great article about it. Great to have seen that Rustling Brands got coverage in Television Magazine.

In a difficult economic climate, producers and broadcasters are keen to explore new means of funding programmes. So, RTS Midlands Centre attracted a sell-out audience of more than 100 to its one-day conference on advertiser-funded programming (AFP), held jointly with Screen West Midlands and Business Link West Midlands.

The consensus of the first panel discussion seemed to be that AFP was about the successful liaison of a brand, a programme idea and the right programme maker and broadcaster; the resulting programme should enhance the reputation of the brand by its association with the programme and vice versa.

Not surprising then, that 90 per cent of AFP ideas do not make it to television, revealed Ben Kerr, content director at Drum PHD.

His fellow panellists were: Zoe Fuller, head of planning at Thikbox; Katherine Marlow, content partnership planner at ITV; Jo Rosenfelder, commercial affairs director at Maverick TV; and Drew Wilkins, account manager at digital agency Fish in a Bottle. THe sessions was chaired by digital strategist Rachel Modecai.

A second panel, chaired by David Bausola of Ag8, looked at Routes to Market. The panel comprised: Dan’l Hewitt, head of digital content at Bebo; Luke Hyams, writer/director, Dubplate Drama; and Graham Sergeant from Codemasters. The discussion covered games and online drama as well as more traditional formats.

In a difficult economic climate, producers and broadcasters are keen to explore new means of funding programmes. So, RTS Midlands Centre attracted a sell-out audience of more than 100 to its one-day conference on advertiser-funded programming (AFP), held jointly with Screen West Midlands and Business Link West Midlands.

The consensus of the first panel discussion seemed to be that AFP was about the successful liaison of a brand, a programme idea and the right programme maker and broadcaster; the resulting programme should enhance the reputation of the brand by its association with the programme and vice versa.

Not surprising then, that 90 per cent of AFP ideas do not make it to television, revealed Ben Kerr, content director at Drum PHD.

His fellow panellists were: Zoe Fuller, head of planning at Thikbox; Katherine Marlow, content partnership planner at ITV; Jo Rosenfelder, commercial affairs director at Maverick TV; and Drew Wilkins, account manager at digital agency Fish in a Bottle. THe sessions was chaired by digital strategist Rachel Modecai.

A second panel, chaired by David Bausola of Ag8, looked at Routes to Market. The panel comprised: Dan’l Hewitt, head of digital content at Bebo; Luke Hyams, writer/director, Dubplate Drama; and Graham Sergeant from Codemasters. The discussion covered games and online drama as well as more traditional formats.

An AFP event is something that I have researched for about two years now and so it was great to finally have seen it happen through this conference. With thanks to Screen WM and Business Link WM for making it possible.

BBC Birmingham Briefing

Fazeley Studios played host to the BBC’s Birmingham briefing. The good news is that the Beeb is looking to increase spending into the regions for 2016. It has been mentioned that we are all working in a tough financial climate and budgets are 5 per cent less each year.

BBC Four started the proceedings. Apparently this channel is not about the ratings but about quality, award-winning programmes. They want something spiky, provocative and controversial. The channel should be fairly mainstream and not niche – BBC Four is about purpose, proposition and passion. They want intelligent and witty programmes.

Seasons are a big part of BBC Four. Knowing upcoming seasons is important because most opportunities will lie in seasons, which are mostly generated by channel management team but is now open to ideas from production companies.

BBC Two is about eclectic, mixed genre programming. It wants to be the ‘intellectual engine room of the BBC’. It aims for ambitious factual programming and is passionate about history and what people had to say. They want factual or fact ent formats for news avoiders. The priority time slot is 11-12pm. BBC Two is looking to replace Masterchef. Ideally, they do not want another food programme, but they are open to ideas. Most of all, do not forget talent. A young, male food voice is missing – is there anyone out there like Jamie Oliver or Heston Blumenthal? But on a more general basis, think of talent – again, who is the next Mary Portas?

BBC Three was next and they said that it is important to understand who watches the channel. The average age of the audience is 37 years. BBC Three needs big propositions, not niche ones. For the 8-9pm slot, they are looking for formats that are quirky and cover guilty pleasures for example, Snog Marry, Avoid? and Don’t Get Screwed. They are also looking for formats like Don’t Tell the Bride.

For the 9-10pm slot, they want more of a documentary feel. They want programmes like The Undercover Princes and World’s Strictest Parents. For the 10.30pm slot, they want something like Bizarre ER.

Documentary as a strand was represented by creative director Claire Pizey. She said that it is always useful to have an idea on how the e-comms system works. For the BBC One 10.35pm slot, the team is looking for reputational and popular docs. They would like big hitters and journeys for the 9pm slot.

BBC Two is all about single docs. BBC Four is looking for provocative 3 x 60 docs, which can be stripped across the week. Single docs can have well-known faces or showing other sides of their personalities. BBC Three is open to single docs and new directing talent. Again, do not forget about new talent. Singles could have strong characters and have access to families or anything that tackles body image and rights of passage.