Louise Brown, Channel 4’s former multiplatform boss is to heading up an NFTS course which will give graduates skills to help build audiences and drive engagement around online video. The new Digital Content and Format Development diploma course run by the NFTS in partnership with Sky TV, starts in September 2014 and will train talented people to enter into this exciting and expanding area of the industry. Here she explains why the course and these skills are vital to meet new opportunities in television. (This article was first printed in Broadcast Magazine)
"I was thrilled to read in last week's Broadcast about The Singer Takes it All, the new and totally interactive Channel 4 entertainment show. With top names commissioning (Justin Gorman and Jody Smith), producing (David Flynn and Karen Troop for Remarkable/Endemol with Chunk and Tectonic developing the app and voting tech) and presenting (Allen Carr - LIVE!) I have high hopes for its success as well as a little flush of green in my cheeks of envy and nausea at the excitement of working on such a bold, ambitious show.
Aside from perennial multiplatform powerhouses such as Big Brother, Springwatch and Million Pound Drop, the world of multiplatform has been a little quiet of late and, when things have gone live, without the real heart in the mouth moments of the original votes on Big Brother, or even the live Skype moments of Embarrassing Bodies Live from the Clinic. I’m happy to see that in this time the industry, agencies and channels have been learning - sometimes from other countries - Israel’s Keshet, France’s Arte and the National Film Board of Canada consistently produce excellent multiplatform work - and sometimes on other shows that didn't make it, such as Chunk's brilliant app for the not-quite-so-brilliant show, Bank Job.
With ITV/Keshet’s Rising Star due to arrive in January 2015, the battle for the biggest and best interactive show is rumoured to be joined by a big new BBC format. It finally seems technology and ideas are matching the depth of interactivity audiences have wanted for a long time and channels now have the confidence to back them. It’s this holy trinity of audience needs, brilliant technology and great ideas which, when it happens in multiplatform, really makes for the most entertaining tv.
Keshet’s Rising Star got over 49% of audience share on its debut in Israel, ABC’s Rising Star app is the biggest free entertainment app in the US at the moment (developed by Keshet’s sister company Screenz in collaboration with Google, they are testing for 100 million interactions per minute).
All the channels should rightfully be hoping for success (whilst panicking about data security and the potential for on-air technical breakdowns but hey, without risk there is no ratings reward). Nearly as thrilling in last week's Broadcast was not only that they published a nearly five year old photo of me but also the accompanying announcement of my role as senior tutor for the new NFTS Digital Content and Formats course where, with the help of top Multiplatform talent from the UK and beyond, we're hoping to breed a new generation of talent that can learn from these current shows and past experiments and create the future ratings hits, BAFTA winners and revenue generators. With the help of seasoned multiplatform producer and project manager, Kim Plowright (BAFTA, International Emmy for D-Day: As it Happens) and some of the brightest and best from TV and online we'll be teaching how to make content that addresses audience needs and behaviour, is developed and managed in as agile a manner as possible, is appropriately researched and tested and, most importantly, is incredibly entertaining.
In the past I've often felt like the Voice of Doom on multiplatform projects I've worked on - the data's not secure enough, the servers not robust enough, the idea just not appealing to enough of the audience - so I'm delighted to be playing my part in this latest positive wave of ideas and talent when the scale of technology and ideas can produce the most compelling tv around.
For more info on the NFTS Producing Digital Content and Format development course that Louise Brown is leading, click here. APPLY BY JULY 10 DEADLINE FOR THIS COURSE.
