SET- UP | ED I NBURGH TV FEST I VAL
PRODUCTION VALUES The talks weren’t just one-way lectures, either; the festival also ran audience Q&As at the end of each session through their app. Presumably the speakers advise which topics they are happy to talk about beforehand as there seemed to be some hot moderation going on. Our question to Brandon Riegg of Netflix regarding whether the high production values of the Netflix Originals are reflected in the budgets was deleted, whereas in another session a delegate sat nearby posed a question to Ben Frow, Director of Programmes at Channel 5, about whether or not he tints his eyebrows and he gave a very detailed response (he does, and he uses a pencil from Boots). That sense of openness really differentiated the Channel 5 session – this year they produced a short film with honest sound bites from various people about what it’s like to work with Ben – one colleague went as far as to refer to Ben as Chairman Frow. Dictatorial in style or not, there’s no denying that Mr Frow knows what he wants (no more dogs or train-themed content please) and something must be working as he went home with the Channel of the Year award. Surprisingly, other than Ben Frow’s make-up bag, there was very little discussion of kit, with the focus firmly on talent, content and access rather than style. The only exception to this being the exciting world of immersive content. One panel session called ‘Tomorrow’s World of TV’ looked at how accurate the industry had been at predicting technological
advancements in the past and gazed into their own metaphorical crystal balls to talk about the next big thing. Most panelists put their money on increased personalisation and VR once the teething problems with the headsets are resolved. While excitement for VR is still high there’s a long way to go to make it a feasible income stream for the majority of content creators. Even the BBC’s commissioning editor for virtual reality, Zillah Watson, conceded that while their R&D teams are making incredible content they haven’t figured out how to budget it and they’re still a way away from being able to commission content in this sphere. MORE INFORMATION: 2019 dates and prices have yet to be announced but traditionally the festival runs the weekend before the August bank holiday, keep an eye on the website for more: www.thetvfestival.com
While excitement for VR is still high there’s a long way to go to make it a feasible income stream
18 DEF I N I T ION | OCTOBER 20 1 8
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