With Ian Wyatt and myself both attending,  ITF had a strong presence at the recent C21 Future Media conference at BAFTA in London’s Piccadilly, which largely focused on how to build audiences and, crucially, commercialise social network content.  Among the speakers were some serious social media players including Karla Geci from Facebook and Jed Simmons from YouTube.

Karla spoke of Facebook’s emergence as a new content platform and about the rich variety of opportunities for producers, broadcasters and rights owners.  She also discussed Timeline, Facebook’s new online visual curriculum vitae-style project which will allow members to put images and details of their lives so far on personal pages.   Director of YouTube Next, Jed Simmons talked about the social video platform’s investment plans and its moves to create more flexible ways to monetise video content online.

Anthony Rose (Zeebox Co-founder) revealed the benefits of his new, freely downloadable app to enable tablets to sync with TVs in second screen viewing, and for users to interact at the same time with their friends elsewhere.

The Digital Frontier of e-publishing was explored by a panel that looked at the new tablet version of The Human Body led by DK Digital Publishing Director Justin Moodie and AKQA Head of Mobile Daniel Rosen, who had turned the bestselling book into a new platform that was faithful to the original style but developed into a new interactive form – including the tablet pulsing like its heart images! Somethin’ Else CCO Paul Bennun talked about collaborating with Richard Dawkins to create the beautiful digital book of The Magic of Reality. And James Huggins (Made in Me MD) showed how his interactive Land of Me enables young children to use a tablet instinctively to create their own visual and audio versions of stories. The speakers all agreed that the evolution of the tablet meant that innovative visual and high quality e-publishing could finally show its true potential.

In the Next Generation Production session, Oil Creative Director Mike Bennett enthused about the creative benefits of two-screen, and working with brands which are increasingly setting the pace, and the funds, rather than broadcasters – illustrated by clips from his “Fallen Angel” Facebook interactive video campaign for Lynx  starring Kelly Brook. We R Interactive games designer Dan Mayers showed extracts from his innovative I Am Playr game in which aspiring soccer champion players are involved in the first person in interactive video drama scenes, with brand placement & funding (Nike, Red Bull & Alfa Romeo).

Other panel highlight contributions from ITF supporters included Matt Campion (The Social Media Factory) on creative content for Facebook, and Peter Cowley (Spirit Digital Media) showing, through his A-Lister hypothetical celebrity culture game, TV show & online video channel, how to monetise and transport audiences to different platforms, which he expands in his regular ITF workshops.

Henry Normal, CEO of ITF member company Baby Cow Productions, also contributed to the session on digital content which looked at how internet and mobile now provide a real and lucrative distribution platform for producers.

If anyone out there still needed persuading of the advantages of forward thinking and embracing social media, then surely Henry’s tale of building content brands and working with new technology were compelling.  Back in 2007, Baby Cow got involved with a company called Twitter to promote Alan Partridge online, when the unfashionable new social network service was less than one year old.  Fast forward to December 2011 and Twitter have 300 million users!  Tweet tweet.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: AKQA, Anthony Rose, Baby Cow Productions, BAFTA, C21, DK Publishing, Facebook, Fallen Angel, Future Media, Henry Normal, Iam Player, Land of Me, Matt Campion, Mike Bennett, Oil, Paul Bennun, peter cowley, Richard Dawkins, Somethin' Else, Spirit Digital, The Human Body, The Magic of Reality, The Social Media Factory, YouTube Next, Zeebox
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Exciting first few weeks in my new job as Development Executive of the Indie Training Fund; a whirlwind of meetings with Fund member indies, trainers and production companies; a crash course in the problems and challenges involved in training in the independent television and digital media sectors.

Delighted to be working alongside Ian, Laura and Andrea, and grateful for the support of Nick Catliff, the ITF chairman and managing director of Lion Television.   I’m looking forward to contributing to the development of ITF projects in 2012 and beyond.

One of our main aims is to increase awareness and membership of the Indie Training Fund.  If recent newspaper reports are to be believed, then almost fifty per cent of the independent television sector still fails to offer adequate training opportunities for staff and, particularly, freelancers.  We hope to help change this situation.

Another positive step would be to increase ITF’s activities outside London.  Although there have been recent courses in Manchester (and there are scheduled events in Newcastle and Belfast in the New Year) we’re hoping to build closer relationships with independent TV companies and other training organizations in the regions.

With this in mind I attended the Manchester Media Festival and BVE North Exhibition in mid November.  Held in the revamped, revitalized old GMex station building, it was a nostalgic return for me.  In my previous life as a music journalist and TV producer, I’d seen many great gigs in the venue including The Smiths, The Fall, James, Happy Mondays, and even INXS.  Rain or shine (but mostly rain) I still love Manchester.  The old mills are alive with the sound of music, no one’s allowed to get too big for their boots and, literally, there’s poetry on the streets of the Northern Quarter.

When I left Manchester in the early 2000s, the TV industry was in decline and the town was a building site.  Now, although its people and businesses are being battered and bruised by recession, the football clubs thrive and Media City is being promoted as the next theatre of dreams.  True, it’s no longer the Salford of Morrissey’s childhood – the hard working class Salford of Lowry and Riley; the bitter-sweet Salford of A Taste Of Honey (R.I.P. Shelagh D) – but it’s becoming more modern and original; vibrant and creative in a very different way.

It was good to hear Jon Corner, the Director of MediaCityUK, talk about the mutual relationship between the university and the industry.  He expressed the hope that the new hi-tech infrastructure and state-of-the-art broadcast-quality facilities (developed by Mediasmiths) would be hugely beneficial to graduates and post-graduates studying to work in TV and digital media companies in the North.

Equally impressive, while looking at the UK Media landscape from a different angle, were Lou Cordwell and Adam Todd of Magnetic North.  Primarily a digital design company, they presented an enlightening session titled “the evolution of the digital indie: from microsites to multiplatform”.  Having recently completed work on their acclaimed interactive BBC Desert Islands Discs website, MN is living proof of the diverse talents rising in the North.

Some of the key Manchester Media Festival discussions about the Multi-Platform future stressed the importance of convergence and co-operation, with emphasis on embracing technological advances and developing a new mindset for working with traditional TV production methods.

My old NME mate Stuart Cosgrove, Director of Creative Diversity at Channel Four, chaired forward-thinking sessions on the use of social gaming to engage with new target audiences.  These featured brain-refreshing presentations from Simon Meek of Scottish and Northern Irish indie Tern TV, on interactive story-telling in their digital adaptation of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps, and Steve Ackerman of Somethin’ Else on gaming evolution and brand integration.  Ackerman spoke about the complex digital multiplatform deals for Somethin’ Else’s recent collaboration with publishers Random House on Richard Dawkins’ The Magic of Reality to create a children’s science book, a TV series, an interactive game and an iPad App.  They’re also working on a Channel Four interactive-game-meets-Sims-style-soap-opera for 2012 titled The Super Mes.

It was also great to hook up again with two former Granada contacts now working in Manchester’s university and industry.  My good friend Beth Hewitt is the Director of Graduate and Industry Development in Salford University’s School of Media, Music and Performance.  She runs an excellent MA course in Documentary Film and Television Production, but I guess I would say that because I’ve lectured there!

Meanwhile Cat Lewis is the MD and Executive Producer of the award-winning indie Nine Lives Media.  They’ve just picked up an RTS Award for Best Factual Series for BBC Three’s Small Teen Bigger World, and other recent success stories include Extraordinary People for Five and Nightmare In Suburbia for the Crime & Investigation Network.  Nine Lives recently won commissions from CBBC and BBC Learning.  I also worked with Cat’s husband, ex-World In Action chief Mike Lewis, at Granada back in the 1990s and he’s helped build Nine Lives’ reputation in factual programming with Panoramas including Finished At Fifty.

Aside from Nine Lives’ own productions, Cat’s the driving force behind The Indie Club which has been instrumental in building a real sense of community amongst independent television companies in Manchester and beyond.  The club, run by and for programme makers, has over 450 members and regularly hosts top quality guest speakers such as Paul Abbott, Carolyn Reynolds, Willy Russell, Sita Williams and Stephen Lambert.

Hopefully in 2012, by building ITF’s relationship with these strong contacts and working with regional partners such as Skillset and the BBC Academy, we can further help improve training opportunities in TV and digital media production in the North.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: Beth Hewitt, BVE North, Cat Lewis, channel 4, cross-platform, digital, digital media, digital platforms, Lion, Magnetic North, Manchester, Media Festival, MediaCityUK, Mediasmiths, multiplatform, Nine Lives, North, peter cowley, production, Richard Dawkins, Salford, Somethin' Else, Stuart Cosgrove, tern tv, The Indie Club, The Super Mes, training, TV
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ITF’s new Social Media Skills for Success workshop was launched last week by Mike Flood-Page, BAFTA winning cross-platform producer and former Editorial Director of Illumina Digital. He explored how you can use social media to market your content, mobilise your users to contribute and campaign with you, and monetise  your production. He also emphasised the growing importance of 2-screen viewing, specialist niche blog sites, and engaging with your social media users.

He was joined by 2 leading expert practitioners as guest speakers.

Award-winning digital exec producer of many cross-platform projects for the BBC & ITV, Fresh One’s Tom Kenyon shared his insights on working with YouTube & Google on the Jamie’s Dream School channel,  social gaming on Restaurant City, and his recent Rap Beatbox Choir project for Channel 4.

Barry Pilling talked about how he’d built such a large, active social community as the online producer behind Zodiak UK’s big hit Being Human for BBC3 & the spin-off web drama Becoming Human, as well as his work through his new company Telegraph Hill on the new BBC3 supernatural horror series The Fades with Facebook, YouTube & Twitter. He emphasised that web teams work more like developers than production teams.

Feedback for the workshop was very enthusiastic:

“The ideas & the participants were fantastic. The speakers were truly inspirational” – Jessica Ratty (Twofour)

“All brilliant – so helpful & well delivered” – Chloe Dymott (Baby Cow)

Many thanks to both guest speakers and all the workshop participants for sharing their own social media experience  to make this session so productive.

The next one will be in early 2012 – don’t miss it!

You can find  list of useful links to social media sites from Mike Flood-Page (emmeffpee) at:

http://delicious.com/stacks/view/FxGwMe
The stack (and search term) is “ITF Social Media Success”

The Social Media presentations can be accessed by delegates here

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: Becoming Human, Being Human, Fresh One, Jamie's Dream School, Telegraph Hill, The Fades
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Many thanks to Tiger Aspect’s Commercial Partnerships VP Claire Heys and Chantal Rickards (MEC Head of Branded Content) for sharing their expertise on Ad-Funded Content and Product Placement in the third of these new workshops.

The delegates greatly appreciated their invaluable insights:
‘Thoroughly well-researched and presented: succinct, clear and inspiring’ (Freelance Producer)
‘As an overview it was very comprehensive and for PP – how it moves forward as a relatively new idea ‘ (Darlow Smithson)
‘Really interesting examples and good overview’ (Baby Cow Productions)

Here are some of their tips on Product Placement.
The full Ad-Funded presentations can be accessed by delegates here.

The next of these ITF workshops will be in 2012 so register interest now.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: ad-funding, advertising, claire heys, commercial, product placement
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Illumina digital is working with Skillset, ITF and others to develop a new online training service for employers, TV indie production companies, training providers and individuals working in the creative industries.

The aim is to create a website that will offer a range of training options to suit the individual needs of your company, and build an online platform where employers, such as yourself, will be able to browse, purchase and even create online courses to be delivered to your own teams.  Online training is not yet much used in the creative sector, with only a few providers and employers devising content.   The service is intended to change that by establishing an new online training platform and marketplace.

However, before this service can be developed Illumina would like to understand what you, as an employer, would like to get out of such a platform.  Your opinions and experiences will be invaluable to help shape the developmental stages, so we would be most grateful if you could take the time to complete a short survey which should take no more than 10 minutes.

Your details will not be shared with anyone outside the research team, and will only be used for the purposes of this project.

Many thanks

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: Illumina digital; online learning, Skillset
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A Legacy Fund has been set up through the ITF to support training for new entrants looking to establish freelance careers in junior technical and craft positions for feature film or TV drama production.

The fund is a legacy of FT2, the former provider of trainees for apprenticeships on films and TV productions and will be managed by a steering committee made up of former FT2 directors/trustees and the ITF. The committee will be chaired by BECTU training officer, Brian Kelly with ex-MITA chair Sharon Goode as Secretary.

Funding criteria:

• The funding is to be used to support training or bursaries for new entrants from groups currently under-represented in the media – women in technical grades, men in costume and make-up, BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) and people with disabilities.
• Trainees should be at entrant level and looking to establish freelance careers in technical and craft junior positions in feature film or TV drama production.
• Training should include the practical engagement of the film and television industry and placement opportunities.
• Training should be provided by an industry recognised training provider or college (with a validated quality assurance such as being signatories to the MITA Code of Good Practice, external independent evaluation reports, etc).
• Preference will be given to applications where the legacy fund will be used as match funding to lever in additional funds.

Deadline for applications:

The deadline for applications is ongoing and the steering committee will assess proposals on a regular basis until the funding (currently totaling £104,000) has been allocated.

Further Details:

Email the fund at ft2legacy@indietrainingfund.com

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: apprenticeships, BECTU, ft2, Funding, MITA, training
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The Indie Training Fund is seeking a Development Executive to join our small team in London’s Hoxton Square.

ITF is a leading provider of professional training for the whole TV indie and digital media production industry. Its day and half-day intensive workshops around the UK are led by current practitioner experts.

Responsibilities:

We are looking for someone with commitment and enthusiasm to lead, develop and promote our training activities, and to build relationships with our members, other indies and partners.

Essential Experience:

Network TV production and managing budgets, preferably with indies at producer/production manager level or above.

Ideal Candidate:

Training delivery and design experience, and aptitude for social media, writing/journalism and marketing.

Salary and Benefits:

£38,000

25 days annual holiday plus linking days between Christmas and New Year

Annual performance related bonus scheme

Annual travel season ticket loan

Private health insurance

Job Description:

Download the full job description and person specification

About the ITF:

ITF is a charity supported solely by voluntary donations from top UK independent production companies like Baby Cow, Darlow Smithson, Endemol, Hat Trick, IMG Sports, Kudos, Leopard, Lion, Oxford Film & TV, Red, Shine, Talkback Thames, Tern, Tiger Aspect, True North, Wildfire, Windfall, and Zodiak UK.

ITF’s members are major contributors to the Skillset TV Skills Fund which provides training bursaries for freelancers and employees.

As well as its company membership, it has also started its ITF Freelancer scheme to enable individuals to attend its courses at discounted rates.

ITF has also signed up to the Cultural Diversity Network pledge, and has recently launched the Indie Training Promise for independent companies to show their commitment to developing their teams.

ITF works in partnership with Pact, BECTU, Skillset, regional and national funding agencies, the CDN, ProductionBase, Women in Film & TV, Skillset Media Academies, the BBC Academy, Channel 4 and other broadcasters and leading training providers.

To apply:

Send covering letter with CV to ian@indietrainingfund.com

Deadline:

12th September 2011

Interviews:

Interviews will be held during the week of 19th September 2011.

ITF is unable to respond to all applications – short-listed candidates will be notified of interview by 5pm 16th September 2011.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: development executive, job, recruitment, vacancies
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Many thanks to Hat Trick’s Head of Digital Jon Davenport for sharing his expertise on Devising & Monetising Successful Apps in the second of these new workshops rolled out for 2011.

The delegates greatly appreciated his invaluable insights:
‘lots of protocol information, specific examples, exact answers. The perfect mix of information & anecdotal evidence‘ (The Comedy Unit)
‘most interesting examples were the successes & failures of Fonejacker & Father Ted Me’ (Endemol UK)

The full presentation can be accessed only by delegates in attendance here

The next of these ITF workshops is scheduled for 10 November 2011

Posted by indietrainingfund
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Many thanks to Tiger Aspect’s Commercial Partnerships VP Claire Heys and Chantal Rickards (MEC Head of Branded Content) for sharing their expertise on Ad-Funded Content and Product Placement in the second of these new workshops rolled out for 2011.

The delegates greatly appreciated their invaluable insights:
‘Thoroughly well-researched and presented: succinct, clear and inspiring’ (Freelance Producer)
‘As an overview it was very comprehensive and for PP – how it moves forward as a relatively new idea ‘ (Darlow Smithson)
‘Really interesting examples and good overview’ (Baby Cow Productions)

Here are some of their tips on Product Placement.
The full Ad-Funded presentations can be accessed by delegates here.

The next of these ITF workshops is scheduled for 22 September 2011 so book now.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: ad-funding, advertising, claire heys, commercial, product placement
Comments: (0)

ITF’s first workshop on this hot topic was led by Jon Davenport, Head of Digital at Hat Trick, who produced the highest grossing entertainment app of 2010: Fonejacker.  He used it as a case-study to illustrate the invaluable lessons and pitfalls of devising apps with a packed roomful of delegates. These included development partnerships, relationships with broadcasters, brand ownership, the benefits of links with TV transmission and strong brands, monetisation, marketing and the long tail follow-up, and Hat Trick’s apps plans for the future.

Drawn from a wide range of indies who are also experimenting in this fast-growth area (Angel Eye, Baby Cow, Brown Eyed Boy, Endemol, lllumina, Shine, The Canning Factory & Tiger Aspect), all the delegates shared their own experiences with each other throughout the collaborative and productive session.

“Great seeing the key choices made in development and production of a successful (Fonejacker) app, and then how they impacted on success. Also fascinating round table discussion from great mix of participants” (Seb Barwell – Angel Eye)

“Explanation of how the money works, the relationship with the broadcasters and the discussion of successful and less successful apps was really interesting” (Andy Hayward – Brown Eyed Boy)

“We can’t think of ourselves as just TV producers any more…” (Tim Searle – Baby Cow)

The workshop covered theses topics

The full presentation is available to course delegates here

The next Devising & Monetising Successful Apps workshop at ITF is on 30 June – book now to avoid missing out!

Posted by indietrainingfund
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