07.02.08
Embrace The Now - Cross Platform Has Arrived
I've been banging on so much recently about cross-platform and multimedia approaches to programme-making that it seemed only natural to move my rants online. I thought initially I'd use my blog to ruminate on industry shenanigans and a bit of gossip about what's going down at Chapel Allerton House (that's Real Life's hq...although strangely it is also home to a driving instructor's college; you should see the standard of bay parking outside, it really is first class!) I also think it might be a good opportunity to mention what kind of projects we're currently developing, what kind of ideas we are looking for and any titbits of information from the commissioning world that may be of interest.
But be warned, before long there's every chance I'll start to abuse this space and lurch into murky personal territory...Tottenham Hotspur's season horribilis, the Kafkaesque road works between junction 31 and 32 on the M1 and why on earth Caffe Nero doesn't have an unsweetened Soya milk option. (Hey, you can take the boy out of north London but you can't take...etc.etc...)
Anyway, to talk cross-platform for a moment I don't want to be too evangelical about this or give the impression that Real Life have in any way turned their back on what is increasingly referred to as old school linear TV. Far, far from it. Most of the production and development we currently have on the go is explicitly factual or documentary programming. And it's precisely the skills we have in producing narrative and factual stories that are so in demand for the much-hyped cross-platform projects that we're already starting to see commissioned. For every blog, upload, download, video posting and podcast there has to be a story. So what we are doing is responding both to new technology and the new demands of the market (commissioners and audiences alike) by looking at how we can build on our expertise for multimedia content. Plus it's a lot of fun too. Whereas previously we might have had a cracking story that would only exist as a 60-minute see-it-or-miss-it doc now we can think about how it can be much more than that.
All of which is why we're delighted to be developing projects with, among others, Desq (http://www.desq.co.uk/) a fantastically enthusiastic and creative award-winning new media company just down the road from us in Sheffield, Mint Digital (http://www.mintdigital.com/) , experts in mass-participation multimedia projects and IMP (http://www.impmedia.co.uk/), leaders in mobile technology and like us based in Leeds. Also, I've just started a great new initiation into the cross-platform universe via TRC's (http://www.trc.org.uk/) spanking new Cross Creative programme. Basically eight or nine of us indies go up to Glagow once a month and geek out by talking to new media folk. First session was excellent - met Andrew Chitty, MD of Illumina and had a good discussion with Andy Bell from Mint. This month there's a truckload of specialists for us to bond with including (don't tell Simon this as he'll want to go instead) the man who runs Cycle TV.
If anybody wants to know more about where we stand on all of this then email or give me a call.
(By the way, apparently 'cross-platform' has won out as the accepted term for old and new media convergence - although in the States they're sticking with '360' which let's face it is so 2005.)
Right I think that's enough for my first weblog effort but I'll be back soon to tell you about pitching blind at the Sheffield Doc Fest and adventures on the road with The One Show's Street Barber.