Broadcast: In My View

Everyone benefits from having a well-trained freelance community, says Nick Catliff

In The Guardian recently, Maggie Brown declared that TV was in a “chaotic state”, relying “too heavily on poorly trained freelancers”. More than 50% of independent TV employers said they couldn’t afford to invest in training, which wasn’t a priority in the current economic climate.

As chairman of the Indie Training Fund (ITF) – a non-profit training provider for TV and digital media professionals – I just don’t recognise the picture Maggie paints. There are some skills shortages in TV and many freelancers struggle to build a coherent career path but, at the same time, the indie sector is carrying out a great deal of high-quality training.

Recent Skillset research reveals that more than 60% of TV indies have funded or arranged training or development in the past year. Nearly 70% offered it to people on short-term contracts.

Much of it is in-house. Companies such as Lime Pictures and Shed Media have shrewdly decided to resolve skills shortages by training their own teams.

Other indies, from giants like Shine, Endemol, Zodiak and Talkback Thames to leaner outfits like Feelgood Fiction, Oxford Film & TV, Windfall Films, Wildfire and my own company, Lion, provide financial backing for the ITF. In return, each receives tailor-made training for their staff.

Through the ITF, these companies also make a major contribution to the Skillset TV Skills Fund, which provides training bursaries for freelancers and employees.

By far the largest funder of Skillset is the BBC, which, as well as putting cash into training schemes across the industry, trains large numbers of its own staff at the BBC Academy. This in turn feeds into the indie community since virtually everyone who goes through a BBC course will sooner or later turn up on a freelance contract at an indie.  Similarly, we should welcome Channel 4’s commitment to train a new generation of TV journalists for Dispatches. The best will go on to work in the indie sector.

Funding will always be an issue. Sky, ITV and the cable channels are among those who withdrew financial support from Skillset some years ago. The indie sector can and should do better.

While we all benefit from training across the board, many companies do little in-house training and don’t provide funding for the industry’s key training organisation, the ITF. Frankly, they are getting a free ride.

I would argue that, for all indies, training is enlightened self-interest. Better-trained staff means better programmes and better use of ever-tightening budgets.

Offering top-quality training is also a way for any company to attract and retain the best people, since it shows a clear commitment that goes beyond the limitations of yet another short-term contract.

There are many ways to achieve this and I, of course, would urge any indie to contribute to the ITF and work with us to understand any skills gaps and provide the best training.

In co-operation with our partners – including broadcasters, Pact, Skillset, the BBC Academy and other training providers – we’re determined to lead the way by developing the professional skills of the next generation of programme-makers.

Nick Catliff is managing director of Lion Television and chairs the Indie Training Fund

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: BBC Academy, channel 4, endemol, Feelgood Fiction, ITF, Lion Television, Oxford Film & TV, pact, Shine, Skillset, Talkback Thames, Wildfire, Windfall Films, Zodiak
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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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The BBC, Channel Four, Scottish Screen, Skillset Scotland, indie and freelance producers got together for a unique collaboration in Glasgow last week. It was an Open Forum on “Diversity – the Creative Opportunity”.

Greater diversity can make programmes more commercially successful as well as more creative, said guest contributor Oona King (Channel 4’s Head of Diversity).
“It makes good business sense. A more inclusive industry makes better programmes, and is fairer and more representative. Programme-makers should take the risk to involve new talent from more varied backgrounds off screen as well as on it, from the development stage onwards.”
She added that C4’s Drama Controller Tessa Ross, for example, enabled visual artist Steve McQueen to direct “The Hunger” about ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland – even though he had never directed drama before. And two of C4’s greatest successes in the past 2 years both had diversity at their core: the movies “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Last King of Scotland”.

The Forum was initiated and staged by the Indie Training Fund, the leading charity providing  development for indie TV and digital media production companies and freelancers. It was one of a series of events and half-day Diversity workshops that ITF is organising around the UK to support the broadcasters’ new Diversity Pledge, and the Cultural Diversity Network

The discussion was led by Jo Street (BBC Scotland’s Daytime Commissioner) and Daniell Morrisey (BBC Vision’s Talent Business Manager, and a member of the Indie Talent Forum).

In the opening interactive quiz the small teams of delegates from several Scottish indies (including Bees Nees Media, the Broadbent Partnership, Caledonia TV Productions, The Comedy Unit, Firefly Arts, IWC Media, Lion TV & the Media Co-op), and the BBC, and the freelance producers had some surprises in what they knew about their audiences. Guided by the workshop leaders they then discussed some successful current programmes, and came up with ideas about how they could be improved by working towards more diverse elements and viewpoints:

Most of those present felt they gained new perspectives from the event which they would aim to include in the content of their future projects.  Afterwards they said:

“I will try and change my mindset so that diversity is more integrated into the development process”

“We will work even harder to give opportunities to diverse new talent when we hire people”

“A great and thought-provoking session”

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: bbc, channel 4, cultural diversity network, Diversity Pledge. Oona King, Indie Training Fund, Scottish Screen, Skillset Scotland
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Want to learn the best way to handle contributors? When you can secretly film? How to film safely with criminals? How to film an entertainment set-up? Or what’s different when filming with children and vulnerable adults?
They’re just some of the many areas this session will be looking at. This is all about empowering independent producers by giving them a through grounding in ethics and best practice. If you’re expecting to be talked at all day, you’ll be disappointed.
This lively, thought-provoking and interactive event will includes discussion of real-life case studies, entertaining debates, a mock cross-examination of commissioning editors by a leading media barrister and plenty of audience participation. Don’t miss the chance to hear from leading programme-makers, senior commissioning editors and programme lawyers. In other words, it’s full of the practical information that all independent producers need to know.

For staff and freelancers from researcher level up to series producer, across every programme genre.
It’s completely free of charge and each delegate gets a copy of the Channel 4 Independent Producers Handbook.
All you have to do is nominate up to eight people from your company to attend. It will fill up quickly so don’t hang about.
Registration from 9.00-9.30am
Sessions from 9.30am to 4.30pm followed by a drinks reception
Channel 4, 124 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2TX
RSVP to Lauren Mollyneaux at Lmollyneaux@channel4.co.uk before 12th April 2010
Note: 1. Places are strictly limited to researchers, APs, producers, directors and series producers, although there are limited places for production managers and business affairs executives.

2. Places are allocated on a first come first serve basis to those that can attend the full day. If you can only attend part of the day, please let C4 know and they will place you on the waiting list.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: channel 4, editorial ethics masterclass
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Greater diversity can make programmes more commercially successful as well as more creative, said Channel 4’s Oona King as she wound up the ITF Open Forum for indie TV producers at C4 on Thursday 8th October. She encouraged programme-makers to take risks, show untold stories through different eyes, and give chances to new talent both in front of and behind the camera. Peter Kay, for example, was found by C4 Talent scouting in Manchester. She added that two of C4’s greatest successes in the past 2 years both had diversity at their core: the movies “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Last King of Scotland”.

The Indie Training Fund had given Channel 4 and the BBC the chance to join forces to support the broadcasters’ new Diversity Pledge by staging an ITF Open Forum called “The Creative Opportunity”. It was the first time this event had been staged for the indie sector, and seen outside the BBC where it has previously only been available to programme-makers in its Vision production unit.

The Forum was the first in a series of similar events and other half-day Diversity workshops that ITF (the leading charity providing training for the indie sector) will be staging around the UK.

It was led by the same two facilitators who have run similar sessions so successfully in the BBC: Kate Rowland (the BBC’s Creative Director of New Writing and writersroom) and Daniell Morrisey (Vision’s Talent Business Manager, and a member of the Indie Talent Forum).

In the opening interactive quiz the small teams of delegates from several indies (including Diverse, Endemol, IMG, Initial, Leopard & Windfall) had some surprises in what they knew about their audiences. Guided by the workshop leaders they then discussed some successful current programmes, and came up with ideas about how they could be improved by working towards more diverse elements and perspectives:

• Offer & support work experience for young people from a wider range of backgrounds
• Offer some shorter flexible and part-time contracts
• Go out into local/regional communities to find more diverse contributors and presenters, as well as more female, disabled & older people
• Form partnerships with local, regional or underprivileged community organisations
• Offer mentoring to regional schools/colleges on CVs and interviews for media jobs
• Today’s school-leavers are very at ease with new digital platforms which will also be  ideal for niche audiences

Everyone present felt they gained new perspectives from the event which they would aim to include in the content of their future projects.

Channel 4 & the BBC have this year also jointly funded the appointment of a new Diversity Adviser post to the industry’s producers at its trade association Pact. Recently appointed to the role, Angela Chan took part in this Forum event. She has previously worked as a diversity consultant to the BBC, and in the indie sector as both a producer (Firefly & Keo) and in C4 commissioning.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: Angela Chan, bbc, channel 4, Daniell Morrisey, Diversity, Kate Rowland, Oona King, pact
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ITF Open Forum

in association with Film London

When? Wednesday 18th March 2009 at 18.00

Where? Framestore Cinema, 19-23 Wells Street, London W1T 3PQ

Price? Free

In the current tough financial climate, TV & digital media production companies are exploring different ways of surviving the storm, including the use of branded and commercial platforms as well as broadcast ones.

space

• Why is this important, especially for the future of digital Britain?

• Who’s commissioning what, and for which platforms?

• How does a digital project differ from a TV commission?

• What is wanted for different platforms, and how is it funded?

• How do you develop & make successful projects?

• Can you make money out of cross-platform production?

• How can you make the most of digital rights?

• Starting with digital interactive content rather than TV?

• The importance of collaboration and joined-up production for TV and digital media teams

Contributors:

Andrew Chitty (Illumina Digital Managing Director) – Chair

Peter Cowley (Endemol UK Director of Digital Media)

Louise Brown (Channel 4 Head of Cross-platform Commissioning)

Jonathan Jackson (Digital Rights Group Chief Operating Officer)

Anthony Lukom (MySpace UK Managing Director)

This is one of a new series of free ITF Open Forum evening discussions when leading industry figures will talk about the latest hot topics in our business. TV, film and digital media professionals are all welcome, and those attending will have a chance to share their experiences and network with each other.

Agenda

1800 Registration, light refreshments & networking

1830 Forum session begins

Followed by open discussion & questions

2015 Closure

Online registration at www.filmlondon.org.uk/seminars

Please note that this event is now fully subscribed, and already has a large waiting list

NB: Contributors are subject to change and will be updated on this page.

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: channel 4, chitty, digital media, digital rights group, endemol, Film London, Illumina, interactive, ITF Open Forum, multiplatform, myspace
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