[Image by WoodleyWonderWorks]

Good grief! It’s Good Friday already! Easter Greetings from Not From Concentrate HQ where public holidays don’t mean that much anymore. Still, that’s a cross we have to bear. See what I did there?

Amongst the other jobs to get done today, I wanted to write a protracted blog post that covers the tricky subject of diversity in TV, which has been increasingly bugging me over the past few weeks, following on from numerous conversations and discussions – some official, industry-led events, but mainly face-to-face in the cosy confines of the pub with a few pints to lubricate the debate.

TICK-BOX COMMISSIONING

I was going to give a thought-provoking overview of the pros and cons of pigeon-holing diverse groups of people into programming, give a frank and heart-felt opinion about tick-box commissioning and try and deliver a balanced analysis of what diverse content currently resides in our TV schedules.

I was going to do that, all of it, but actually I’ve got better things to do with my time – like write cryptic clues for the imminent Easter egg hunt. And besides, all of the above is perfectly well documented all over t’internet by every industry spokesperson, every community champion and every minority group representative. [Incidentally, is it just me or is the word 'minority' somewhat patronising and demeaning these days? Probably.]

So, I’m just going to give a few, highly simplistic lines about our own take on diversity:

DUMP THE D-WORD

We try and ignore the whole term and think it really should be made redundant. Instead, we simply substitute ‘diverse’ for ‘quality’. Diverse talent? No, quality talent. Diverse commissioning? Quality commissioning has more of a ring to it, don’t you think? Diverse casting? Er, how about quality casting?

‘Diversity’ creates a dangerous, segregating precedent that puts commissioners and producers on the back foot for fear of falling foul of the Quota Watchdogs. Forget all that. Please.

Make quality the governing factor and this could and should be the future of TV production:

“See this bloke – he’s an incredible actor.” “He’s gay.” “So what? HE’S AN INCREDIBLE ACTOR!”

“Check out this script by this unknown writer.” “Love it, bring her in.” “She’s in a wheelchair.” “And? We’ve got ramps, BRING HER IN!”

“This new quiz show format totally rocks!” “I agree.” “Oh, the guy’s from Scunthorpe.” “And that matters because? Get me a fucking train ticket.”

“Wow, what an amazingly shot short film – so fresh, so contemporary, so what we’re looking for. By an Asian director would you believe.” “I don’t care if he’s Martian – we need to see more of him. Get on it.”

MORE QUALITY, MORE WOMEN PLEASE

In these first few months that we’ve been up and running, the quality of the ideas that we’ve seen come through has been outstanding, first and foremost. But if there needs to be a secondary benchmark, then the ideas have come from the old, young, ethnically and regionally diverse, hearing-impaired, straight, gay, male and female.

Actually, I lie – we’ve not had any ideas come through the Not From Concentrate process from any females so far. Strange, but true.

And the one thing that unites all these lovely people? One word, three syllables. I think you know what we’re talking about.

Which seems like the perfect moment to move on to more things cryptic – and cocoa.

Happy holidays.

[Image by Robert Couse-Baker]

As we take the first steps into this all-new, but as-yet-undefinitively-named, decade, we’d like to be the first to officially proclaim that TV certainly isn’t dead – despite the protestations of many of its opponents in the middle of the Noughties – but continues to be the cornerstone of visual entertainment in this multimedia millenium.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECT

Boosted no doubt by the proliferation of celebrity-led talent and schadenfreude shows, viewing figures have soared over the last twelve months and, ironically, the social media ‘TV Killer’ apps that now form part of our everyday lives are acting as effective viewer recruitment tools, as anyone on Twitter or Facebook can bear testament to – The Stephen Fry Effect on ITV4’s recent coverage of the darts is a classic example.

This cross-platform promotional model is perhaps not exactly what ‘Noo Meeja’ commissioners anticipated, but it’s a model that seems to have seized the general public’s imagination. Just this week Chris Moyles returned from his Christmas break with the chance for listeners to join him and his crew live from the Celebrity Big Brother house and, also on Radio 1, in Zane Lowe’s absence the cast of The Inbetweeners are taking over the airwaves.

Talking of celebrity, for ‘research purposes’ we thumbed through the latest issue of heat magazine and about 75% of all the pics, features – and even the ads – were of small screen ’stars’. [Clearly this 'research' isn't exactly a threat to the likes of Harris or MORI but, interesting nevertheless. Possibly.]

FUNNY MONEY

For would-be comedians, TV is a laughing [all the way to the bank] matter in the quest for fame and fortune, with stars of the stand-up circuit coining in the cash as part of the panel-show to DVD to sell-out stadium gig merry-go-round.

Just ask the likes of Jimmy Carr, Russell Howard, Bill Bailey and Michael ‘Apparently-it’s-’cool’-to-hate-me-but-I-earned-eight-million-quid-last-year-so-I’m-not-too-worried-thanks’ McIntyre et al.

Pay-TV has seen another upsurge in subscribers – Sky is currently received in 9.5m UK households and heading swiftly towards the 10million mark – and DVD / BluRay box sets are flying off the shelves, thanks in no small measure to the frankly brilliant drama and comedy offerings streaming in steadily from the States.

And as TV producers get to grips with the benefits of HD production and broadcast, TV manufacturers are bending over backwards to constantly push the limits of technology and offer the viewer the best possible viewing experience. [Incidentally, we're not yet entirely convinced by the push towards 3D in the home, but we're following its evolution with interest].

TEENS RETURN

Oh, and to top it all, the all-important teenage viewer – aka the advertisers’ wet dream – is BACK [did they ever really leave?] with ‘young people’ spending an increasing amount of their media time with the telly. Again, quality US imports must be a driving factor coupled with some pretty fantastic home-grown programming, especially on BBC Three, BBC Four and our old friends in Horseferry Road.

So to sum up, TV’s really not dead – far from it. There’s still plenty of work that can be done to make it even healthier – and we’re definitely leading the charge – but in the meantime, embrace it, immerse yourself in it and, most importantly, be part of it.

Happy New Year folks.

[Photo by Batega]

A fortnight or so after the official launch of Not From Concentrate, there’s a small window of opportunity – perhaps more of a porthole – to braindump and share some of the experiences that we’ve encountered during the pre-public launch phase of this humble-but-aiming-high start-up.

So, in no particular order, here go-go-goes:

GET OUT OF THE HOUSE

When your kitchen table is your new workstation, there’s a fine and delicate line between productivity and popping on a white wash, and unless you have a separate wing in your house there’s a good chance that domestic drudgery will seriously interfere with your best intentions.

Discipline is the key, as any seasoned freelancer or home-worker will tell you, but if you haven’t got the focus of a blinkered Derby winner or are weak-willed when it comes to Jeremy Kyle or Car Booty, creating a simple commute will help to bring more purpose to your ‘working’ day.

That’s obviously going to be easier if you’re in a sprawling metropolis like London with coffee shops, libraries and other wi-fied public places aplenty, but we’ve met up with people who’ve been going round to friends’ and family members’ houses and worked out of there – anything to separate work from homelife.

SHARE AN OFFICE

If you can possibly afford it – especially as you head towards an all-important launch – do think about taking deskspace in a shared office. We did just that and without doubt it’s been the best move. Check out the small ads, look in office windows or search online for the new companies – e.g. deskspacegenie.co.uk, sparedesk.com and sharemyspace.co.uk – that have sprung up offering individuals or small teams practical spaces at incredibly reasonable prices and often inclusive of business rates, service charges, electricity and internet access.

Off the back of our move, we’ve met some amazing people from different industries who have given us so much support, advice, opened up opportunities in brand new networks and have just been there to listen.

CONSTANTLY REVISE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

What we set out to achieve at the outset bears practically no resemblance to the finished article, due to a constant rejigging of our business plan and the driving force behind our model – to make the business sustainable without core reliance on investors, banks or other funding bodies.

Many revenue streams have been discussed and then dismissed or deliberately parked for development down the line. And what we’ve found is that during all these revisions – official or informal – more and more ideas come through the process for further exploration.

KEEP THE FAITH

For a first-to-market proposition like Not From Concentrate, where the key to our success is going to be a change of mindset for both sides of the equation – the general public and the established industry – the positioning has to be bold, brave and approached with both feet. Having worked with undeniably, yet undiscovered, talented people over the years, we’ve had to grab the bull by the horns and pull together a proposition that remains solidly commited to the cause.

Of course, doubts have dogged the evolution of this business model - they will do for any start up – but each time we’ve felt we’re on a sticky wicket, we’ve had the courage of our convictions to bat them into the outfield. Here’s hoping that we don’t get stumped – and here endeth the brief – and dangerously uninformed – cricketing metaphor.

DON’T RELY ON FRIENDS…

Despite the best intentions of your nearest and dearest, their time and resources are just as precious as your own, and whilst mates’ rates offer the best value in monetary terms, relying on them can seriously affect the progress of your start up.

What might appear to be the most simplest of asks – a simple retweet or a quick read-through – can slip off the most ardent supporter’s radar so it’s best to treat every task as a paid-for component, with some sort of business transaction that suits both parties, returned favours, in kind services or in hard cash. [Caveat: DO give them a hard time if they've been particularly rubbish...]

…MAKE NEW FRIENDS

Use the ubiquitous social – and real life – networks to make more business-focused relationships. Follow and connect to people who truly understand the value of networks, who want to have two-way dialogues, who could be interested in your business for possible partnerships or as prospective paying customers.

Try and block out chunks of time to focus on and engage with your social media staples like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn – trying hard not to get sucked into tagged photos, celebrity Twitpics, scurrilous rumour-mongering and too-good-to-be-true offers – whilst proactively searching for new networks in obvious and more tangential corners of t’internet and elsewhere.

Quick heads-up for anyone London-based: a fantastic way to connect to real-life networks is by getting on down to the Business & IP centre at the British Library.

SLEEP IS A LUXURY

Say goodbye to restful, salaried sleep and hello to restless, wondering-where-the-money’s-coming-from forty winks. It goes with the territory unfortunately but you’ll definitely enjoy the Brave New World that unfolds in front of you.

Signing off for now with a gem of a quote to take with you:

“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it. ~ Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries.

[Photo by greenkozi]

Blimey, take a few days out to spend some time in the Spanish sun with the Little ‘Un and all hell breaks loose, in TV terms at least.

Seems that some of the industry’s great and good have been having a pop at various aspects of the media establishment and what it purveys.

First off – and in no particular order – Anne Robinson says that ‘TV is sexist and ageist‘, although not THAT sexist and ageist since she’s apparently been wooed back to front Watchdog.

Reality TV?

Next, prolific Twitterer and lexicological living legend Stephen Fry joined forces with Jimmy Mulville – star of Who Dares Wins, and co-founder of indie giant Hat Trick Productions [Have I Got News For You / Fone Jacker / Father Ted] – to take a critical swipe at the current prevalence of ‘play-it-safe’ media production, with TV execs being so obsessed by issues surrounding compliance that shows have stopped reflecting real life.

Then El Tel has been back in the news, this time taking a pot-shot at the humble news reader, claiming that their job is the easiest in media.

Incidentally, from personal experience when running Sky TV’s Reach For The Sky initiative back in the day, it’s bloody difficult to read the news ‘clearly and distinctly’ when there’s constant stream of instructions and updates from the gallery pouring into your earpiece, but hey, what do I know?

And not quite sure why Sir Terry has been so angsty and newsworthy of late. It’s almost like he’s got a book to promote or something. Oh.

Viewer Complaints

Channel 4 has been receiving no end of complaints from the viewing public about the state of its output too, in particular the quality of its comedy offerings. Given what I’ve been watching over the past few weeks, I can’t say that I’m surprised at this outpouring, but I think that this criticism can be applied to all broadcasters.

Being possibly the most subjective of all genres, comedy is notoriously difficult to get right, yet in the main, commissioners and producers continue to invest in established ‘faces’ or talent, preferring to flog dead horses rather than welcoming new blood into their stables.

This needs to change and we’re already – ahem – grooming some future thoroughbreds in this regard.

James Murdoch’s Bons Mots

Finally, as the industry gathered for its annual outing to the Edinburgh TV Festival, James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Exec of News Corporation took to the podium to give the event’s headlining MacTaggart speech.

His open criticism of the BBC and the regulatory contraints applied to the UK’s broadcasting and media publishing arena has sparked debate and derision within the industry and outside.

I’ll leave you to make up your own mind on the contents of his speech, but one chunk, a few words long, did have a particular resonance with me and the aspirations of Not From Concentrate:

“People are very good at making choices: choices about what media to consume; whether to pay for it and how much; what they think is acceptable to watch, read and hear…”

Power To The People

This statement underlines the power of ‘the people’. Widen the people’s access, provide a platform that allows individuals to shape and proactively contribute to the content that is being produced – for them – in this brave new multimedia world, and I believe that solutions to the questions and commentaries above will very quickly be uncovered.

[Photo by Dave Bezaire]

Realising that keeping this blog updated is no easy task, especially when there are a million other balls to juggle and only 24 hours in any day and somewhere within those precious 1,440 minutes, sleep and sustinence has to be fitted in. Somewhere.

Ahead of the official, public launch now planned for the end of September, meetings of varying lengths, in multiple locations, have taken up the majority of my time recently. Too many to list here, but thought this one was worth sharing.

Had a very interesting conversation in prime Surrey commuter belt with a mate of mine, who also happens to be CEO of a UK [and global] retail giant.

It was just a regular catch-up really, getting him up to speed on how the business plans were developing apace – with the added bonus of ice-cold beer and slightly over-carbonized BBQ tucker.

But he’s a shrewd cookie this one, and told me in passing that what I was doing – unbeknownst to me – was ‘river jumping’. Had never heard about this before, but it’s something that his executive team does on a regular basis. And it kind of goes like this:

Starting a Business – River Style

In any company – start-up or established – imagine you’re riding a river, navigating a course and focusing on the objectives needed to make your business a success and meet your objectives.

When you ‘river jump’, you, er, jump from your river into a completely different one and meet people with different models, skills and expertise. You then explain your own business to these strangers and highlight issues you may be struggling to understand or overcome.

In the first instance they’ll look at you as if you’re from another galaxy – much like when you’re trying to explain to your parents what you actually do for a living – but then they’ll help you map the fundamentals of your business to those of their operation and explore any generic similarities that can best help find the solution to your commercial quandries.

Having panned this new river for nuggets of transferable gold – the concept of ‘charm pricing’ is just one that I stowed in my lifevest, if you’re interested – you bid your new friends a fond adieu and jump back across the divide to continue your course downstream towards the ocean of opportunity that lies beyond.

A prime yet stunningly simple example here of the need for any business – established or start-up – to engage in and embrace collaboration, not just within your own pool of mentors but with big fish – and smaller fry – further afield.

Bons voyages friends.

[Photo by Duncan Rawlinson]

Great opening episode of Soho Stories, a three-part series on Radio 4 fronted by ITV’s former Director of Entertainment and Comedy and current CEO of Eyeworks UK, Paul Jackson.

This episode – A Thousand Flowers – documented the creation of Channel 4 in 1982, despite the protestations of ITV and the Beeb, and the ensuing scramble by forward-thinking figureheads of TV output to claim a piece of the independent production landscape.

This was the Wild West of TV production, a blank canvas borne out of a backlash to existing bureaucracy and an attempt to inject life into Margaret Thatcher’s ethos of entrepreneurship in the early ’80s. Fascinating stuff and I’d urge you to have a listen.

Are there parallels between that time, over a quarter of a century ago, and today’s [multi]media production landscape. I think so.

Creative Zen?

There seems to be an increasing level of frustration amongst the indie sector that broadcasters – including Channel 4, ironically – are battening down the hatches to ride the current economic storm, ‘playing it safe’ and only backing ’sure-fire winners’ with their commissioning decisions, when what’s really needed is a return to the creative and entrepreneurial eighties.

Like them or loathe them, the marketplace for ‘killer’ apps seems to be a burgeoning one in terms of accessibility, offering opportunities for ‘bedroom’ developers to produce and publish innovative content for [personal and shared] commercial gain which seems to be working, in parallel with initiatives like 4iP.

A similar ’suck it and see’ approach needs to be adopted by traditional TV producers and publishers, if for no other reason than to address the dearth of new blood and diverse talent coming into the media industry.

Let’s get something structured in place, immerse ourselves in the creative pool, cause a few ripples and maybe turn the tide of TV production. As a lone surfer on this particular wave, we can confirm the water’s lovely.

[Photo by ralphbijker]

I see that El Tel hit the tabloid headlines this weekend – PR-fectly timed a few weeks before his new series returns to the box – bemoaning the “cheap” and “humiliating” state of today’s TV schedules.

“It’s not what it was like 50 years ago,” he laments. Of course it’s not and would he or any of us really want to see a return to the “expensive quality light entertainment” shows from the ’50s, ’60s or even the ’70s?

With precious few exceptions, they were rubbish. Absolute twaddle. But lapped up by a captive audience embracing a new-found freedom to be visually entertained at home – they’d watch anything, and hence the astronomical ratings.

Reality TV

Ritual humiliation and reality TV seems to be at the centre of Terry’s tongue-lashing. Huh? Arguably the grandfather of reality TV, Candid Camera, first hit UK screens in 1960, a smidge under 50 years ago, bringing schadenfreude direct to our sitting rooms, and we loved it. No surprise this set the standard for a raft of contemporaries including Dom Joly and Ashton Kutcher.

And in my mind at least, the Eurovision Song Contest, part of Our Tel’s broadcasting legacy, is just one pan-European festival of embarrassment.

The proliferation of sleb-led and wannabe reality TV might be a cause for concern, but these days it’s less about unsuspecting humiliation, but more about self-serving masochism.

Leave those who take part to further their personal quest for 15 minutes of fame to it, and use the power of the remote to switch to the best of ‘reality’ TV, such as Blood, Sweat and Takeaways or Embarrassing Bodies.

Swearing Overkill?

And as for the bad language, then I, like most people, would agree that Gordon’s use of gratuitous swearing is wearing a bit thin. His trademark potty mouth has overshadowed his brilliance in the kitchen.

It’s all about the context and I feel that in that regard, some of the recent top-rated shows would benefit from more effing and blinding, Desperate Housewives being a top contender.

Ultimately, this whole argument is a futile one: today’s TV is simply the best ever. There’s room for improvement of course, a need to get rid of some of the dead wood and for new voices to find their deserved place on the multichannel airwaves, but whilst that happens, let’s be proud of our telly producers and bear in mind these wise words of US radio and TV talkshow host, Jack Parr:

“I have never seen a bad television programme, because I refuse to. God gave me a mind, and a wrist that turns things off.”

Right, I’m off. Working on a new ‘yoof’ show treatment, Listen With MotherF*cker…

[Photo by SadJr]

Great mix of meetings last week with broadcasters, indies and emerging creatives, as the Not From Concentrate network widens, gradually getting the word out about this – increasingly apparent – unique approach to finding new content ideas from the rich seam of undiscovered talent across the globe.

From the industry side of things, I was privy to a couple of great anecdotes about sparks of ingenuity that have led to employment or commissions, both of which further strengthen the case for exploring wider circles of creative savvyness.

Creative Job Application

The first one – one that reminded me of my own entry into the media world, courtesy of a spoof covering letter to BSkyB – concerned replies to a job vacancy in a broadcaster’s development team.

Hundreds of applications came in, with the same old blarney, cut-and-pasted CVs and sanctimonious twaddle, apart from one young lad who had sent in two bespoke Subbuteo football teams.

He’d ‘dressed’ the first team in cut-out strips representating the current stable of bland TV shows, played out – and repeated ad-infinitum – on ‘traditional’ TV channels. Boring, boring, boring. The opposing team, meant to represent his potential employer, had been kitted out in sparkly new strips full of bright colours, new titles and iconography.

[I'd love to use a real-life footie analogy here, but my woefully limited knowledge of the beautiful game precludes me from doing so.]

And, needless to say, he got the job. He wasn’t actually the strongest candidate in terms of experience and needed a decent amount of handholding in his new role, but by taking such a creative approach to a mundane task, this new voice won the day.

New Talent, New Voices

A slightly less left-field tale came from a development exec at a leading but one of the smaller indies. Adopting a refreshing approach to new talent and being very open to collaboration, a wave of ideas had landed on this exec’s desk, most of which, unfortunately, were the normal mixture of me-too formats and general nonsense.

Amongst the pile of treatments was a picture sent in by a graphic artist. A photograph actually, a Photoshopped piece of artwork depicting fairies in a garden or other domestic setting. The sheer beauty of this simple picture made such an impact on the exec that she and her team immediately started to work up an idea for a short-form children’s programme that’s currently in production.

These are just two examples of how new creative voices have managed to find a home within the industry. I suspect there’s probably a fair few such tales out there but I know there are hundreds, maybe thousands, more missed opportunities like these that are crying out to be discovered.

Aggregating such creativity and talent is Not From Concentrate’s raison d’etre and, with the news that the BBC has stopped updating [= stopped funding?] its much lauded New Talent initiative [with no public announcement, if my Googling is correct], then the sooner the better.

I’m waiting for a response from Auntie about the demise of said New Talent initiative – update to follow if received – and in the meantime we echo the strapline on the banner ads for Broadcast’s Media Festival in November: “Creativity has become a Necessity.”

And then add a wee post-script of our own, 2006-stylee: “Like, durrr…”

[Photo by telethon]

That, my friends, is what Not From Concentrate is: we take ideas for new content, refine and tart them up, then take them to the street and pimp them out to the industry.

Many thanks to the legend that is Aegis’s Steve Taylor for this soon-to-be-copyrighted three-syllable strapline that will further confuse and embarrass my parents as they try to explain what their son is up to these days.

I caught up with Steve and many other lovely people this week at b.TWEEN 2009 in Liverpool, once again so slickly and genially hosted by Katz Kiely and her dedicated, professional crew.

Digital Media Players

For those of you who don’t know about b.TWEEN, it’s an annual gathering of key players from the digital media world, converging in one place to debate issues of the day, deconstruct industry trends, share knowledge and promote and provide collaborative opportunities. Please do look at the b.TWEEN site for a proper flavour of the programme menu and archive of the proceedings.

This year I was attending as 100% delegate, rather than a speaker ['07] or partner ['08] and over the two days managed to cram in many of the sessions on offer. As someone with latent Luddite tendencies, I wanted to try and understand how advances in digital media can best serve the aspirations of Not From Concentrate.

I personally felt that b.TWEEN this year, compared to the last two years, had a very different feel to it – more resignation, frustration and – it has to be said – confusion about what the future of, er, future media actually holds for many of us, a feeling I’m glad to say that was echoed – albeit in hushed tones – by a number of fellow delegates during the breakout sessions.

Uppermost in my mind was the somewhat lack of detail around the financial investment and monetary sustainability that all commissioners and producers of digital content must hold dear if the industry is going to evolve [i.e. make money] efficiently over the next few years.

Social Networking Rules

Consumers of content are absolutely in the driving seat right now, dictating via swarms of social networks what they will watch, where they will watch it, how they will engage and, most importantly, when and if they will pay for it.

As is – frustratingly – the norm for these kind of industry events, there was a complete lack of consumers to be found in any of the sessions – either tech natives – the early and natural adopters of new technologies – or the tech tourists who, whilst more cash-strapped these days, will spend if the product offers a decent return on any purchase.

And speaking of ROI, much as I tried to pester the panels on Twitter during the sessions, no-one seemed willing to divulge the detail of any sums of money that had been spent recently by brands, advertisers or commissioners on digital media/cross platform projects and what payback they got for their cash?

New Media Opportunities

For me, this is key: ‘traditional’ media needs to embrace the opportunities that ‘new/future/mutual/social’ media offers. That’s a given of course, but what would be SO useful as a benchmark – and, to be viewed without judgement or prejudice – would be a proper, top-line summary of how much ’stuff’ ['stuff' is the new 'content' apparently] costs and what the investor gets in return.

Is it really so difficult or awkward for people who know to say that Widget A was developed for Company B at a cost of £C, which resulted in an X% rise [or not] in sales or a Z% increase in brand awareness amongst generation Y? Seemingly it is.

But without publishing these details, how can any new tech start-up, advertiser, broadcaster or media agency properly map this constantly-shifting landscape and position themselves and their products/outputs successfully?

My more cynical side would therefore suggest that, apart from – *whisper* – the porn industry, attempts to embrace this so far simply haven’t worked; that investment in digital media hasn’t generated the kind of results that were expected or promised.

So what? There’s no shame in that – we all know that this is a Brave New World, a world without physical frontiers, a world of trial and error. But armed with some more statistical and up-front knowledge of exactly what is or isn’t working, we can be more calculating in our future Future Media developments.

Finally, a word about the balance between theory / strategy and actually doing stuff. Most of the sessions covered the former by the bucketload and, whilst interesting, there was a distinct lack of the latter, save really for the presentation by the gang behind one of the most talked-about projects in the trade press recently and at b.TWEEN.

Future Media: Purefold

Purefold, the bastard brainchild of a collaboration between Dave Bausola’s start-up Ag8 and Ridley Scott’s dynasty of creative DNA. At first glance, massively complicated and liable to have any potential investors running for the ’safety’ of serving sky, banner and MPU pollutants to an already overdosed audience.

Scratch a little deeper and you’ll find an innovative way of channelling, aggregating and sifting the current tsunami of web 2.0 conversations and, with a select team of world-class writers and film directors, turning these streams of conciousness into engaging short-form content which is then released back into the community for further development and mash-up by the users.

In one fell swoop you get engagement, entertainment and interaction – everything today’s consumers and advertisers want to be part of, if the theorists are to be believed.

It’s early days for the Purefold, er, fold, and of course they’re spending a lot of their time right now just talking about it. But from what I can see, they’re going to do this – it will happen.

Perhaps one valuable piece of advice worth bearing in mind for all producers and purveyors of digital media should be the line that Kevin Costner – or was it Paul Raymond? – once said:

“Build it, and they will come…”

[Photo by Baloulumix]

Just back from a couple of weeks on the continent – a three country jaunt to France, Spain and Italy – and absorbed as much media as possible in various houses, hotel rooms and hire cars.

Spent most of my time in France and, as much as I love the country, there’s no way on this earth I could ever consider a permanent move across la Manche without a UK satellite receiver in my hand luggage. I’m not sure of the legalities of such an export, but am damn certain it’s an absolute necessity.

Even taking into account my pisspoor parlez-vous-ing, I have no idea how anyone can stomach the frankly distressing lack of truly engaging content.

French Media Sucks

Radio is dominated by heavily-commercialised Euro-Pop stations littered with obscene numbers of ad-breaks and banal bantering by drivetime DJs and their posses.

TV – or at least terrestrial / free TV – carries badly-dubbed and dated American drama series [what's wrong with subtitles, guys?], drab homegrown soaps and overlit studio shows: either gameshows [with hottie hosties, it has to be said] complete with whooping audience or ’serious’ topical discussion shows, with less whoopy members of the public.

These discussion shows – which go on for h o u r s – follow a strictly-adhered-to formula. Normally hosted by an improbably good-looking chairperson, the panel of ‘experts’ are made up of middle-aged silver-haired foxes with permatans who you just know have a number of mistresses hanging out in the green room, a slightly Mutton Dressed As Lamb woman with a wide-angle cleavage and a token ‘crazy/hilarious’ guy with the obligatory bonkers spectacles and a decidedly iffy dress sense.

Considering the country’s predilection for culture and the Arts, plus the fact that France plays host to MIPcom every year, I just wonder where the commissioning and acquistion execs from TF1, FR2, M6 and arte disappear to during the buying rounds.

Oh well, one for the international To-Do list methinks. But if you are heading for La Belle France, do think about taking a FreeSat box across. And a pack or two of proper back bacon whilst you’re at it.

Vive le cliché!