Channel 4 and Northern Ireland

[Stuart Cosgrove]

This thread tries to identify opportunties and challenges within a Nothern Ireland context. Views, proposals and opinions are most welcome

Channel 4 believes it has underperformed in the smaller UK nations and specifically in Northern Ireland. Whilst there are a range of historic reasons for those failures Channel 4 is ambitious to substantially improve its performance in its production spend in the smaller UK nations, whilst also seeking to secure a funding settlement for Channel 4’s future.

Northern Ireland poses a range of challenges and opportunities, some familiar others harder to fathom and explain. In circumstances where progress is slow, it is tempting to apportion blame – the TV production sector blaming Channel 4 for not fulfilling its ‘duties’, whilst the London-based commissioning culture and system, has implied that Northern Ireland ‘lacks scale and quality of ideas’. Blame has helped neither party.

Channel 4 has done nothing 'wrong' although in this respect it is clearly not right either. To date Channel 4 has not failed to deliver on any of its Tier 1 PSB obligations and has in fact over-shot what are in effect generalised and intra-competitive nations and regions targets, which have been broaldy described as "out of London" .

There are no specific production targets for Northern Ireland but there is a broader representational requirement to "reflect diversity across the UK". It is almost certainly the case that these obligations are not sufficiently nuanced but that is a regulatory and policy issue, which does not alone resolve the challenges.

What is equally clear is that the Northern Ireland production sector continues to grow, diversify and strengthen, and it is entirely probable that perceptions of the talent and sector are outmoded, prejudicial and plain wrong. It is equally the case that communicating the values of the NI sector has not yet 'reached' London. That would be equally true of the BBC.

It would seem that both sources of ‘blame’ are wrestling with misconceptions.

Channel 4 believes that, alongside other providers such as the BBC, UTV and RTE, it can play a significant role in supporting and developing the creative economy in Northern Ireland withn an all-Ireland market. It may be that there needs to be a greater alignment of PSB broadcaster strategies and public policy but market conditions imply that Channel 4 alone does not have the scale to grow and sustain significant creative clusters across the nations and regions of the UK. Nor in the current recession is it feasible that more new money will be available. It may also be the case that digital media and TV production have different 'narratives'.

Channel 4 has looked at ways in which we can expand upon previous announcements and grow the production sectors of the devolved nations even further but this is neither simple nor replicable across the nations and regions.

In Next on 4, we committed to increase the proportion of our television spend in the nations by more than 50% by 2012 (2.85% of total programming spend in 2012) and has increased those again in 2009 in line with new targets agreed with Ofcom.

Senior Channel 4 staff, including the CEO Andy Duncan is on record acknowledging that this places Northern Ireland in an anomalous position, committing to double activity from a low base is not an answer.

The Northern Ireland response to Ofcom called for a realignment of commissioning to deliver, for example, a series in Northern Ireland to work towards that. Series commisiioning is an 18-24 month cycle usually pilot commisioning. So in reponse Channel 4 has established a nation’s pilot fund of £1 million to address the lack of series based critical-mass in the production sector in the smaller nations. These pilots are intended to encourage series production in 2010. So far take-up has been low from Belfast companies; only two companies have submitted qualifying projects in the six months since the fund was announced.

That said, we anticipate that this move will increase our investment in the nations by several million pounds, as well as significantly building the production capacity in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

In addition to the pilot fund, we recently announced that we will specifically ring-fence slots for companies in the nations in all of our key programming strands—including Dispatches, Cutting Edge, Comedy Labs, Comedy Showcases and our religious strand. Disappointingly the level of ideas to these strands from Northern Ireland remains very low and has not significantly increased either.

New ways of addressing this disconnect between sector and broadcaster is a matter of some importance for both Channel 4 and the independent TV community. Despite all the hard work on both sides progress is still slow.

In the case of digital media we are facing a new era working together. We have announced a number of new commitments, via the 4iP fund, where Northern Ireland and Scotland have dedicated funding and where regular commisioner meetings, and contact via informal networks like Digital Circle, Belfast Barcamp and 38minutes has raised confidence of improved deal-flow.

Northern Ireland has been a willing and consistent partner at the level of Screen Agency Support via Northern Ireland Screen. This has taken the shape of funding for high profile projects in film such as Hunger (seee above), documentary, short film and more recently digital media. There has also been consistent commitment over several years to jointly-funded activity in new and entry-level talent development. Northern Ireland Screen has been among the best supporters of some of Channel 4's initiatives.

However, Channel 4 has had less success than it has enjoyed in Scotland, the North West of England, West Midlands and South West of England in securing the deeper strategic investment and support from economic development agencies than we have in Northern Ireland. Whilst it is not Channel 4's role or position to determine policy or priority in this area, our greatest success has been in those nations and regions where that support has been clear and consistent.

In its response to Ofcom’s PSB consultations various parties argued for a refined competitive funding model for PSB as articulated in Option 3 of Ofcom's PSB Review. Whilst Channel 4 has been invited to engage in creating a bigger PSB entity possible through joint-ventures, and also test a 'go-it-alone' model, we would not disagree with the ambition of a contestable fudn, and would be likely participants with others in any such fund.

Channel 4 looks forward to maintaining and strengthening relationships in the future especially in areas of returning production, new platform development and high profile projects.

I’d welcome comments, criticisms and realisable suggestions from anyone interested in these issues and debates and offer up these thoughts as a way of framing debate. I for one feel a sense of daja-vu about regulatory reports, submissions and processes, and now want to hear the personal views of friends, colleagues and companies in Northern Ireland.

Over to you

Stuart Cosgrove
Channel 4

[Darryl Collins]

Stuart, I read the above initially with great enthusiasm, that quickly moved to resignedness and on to apathy before reading your last paragraph. Your last sentence neatly sums up my current mood of cautious optimism - I too have had a belly-full of reports, submissions, processes, consultancy, meetings and foot-dragging. If the current economic situation tells us anything, it's time to get on with business, not have endless talking shops about the industry, its regulation or "what have the Romans ever done for us".

So, what's to be done?

Back experienced ambitious local talent.

In production. Digital media. Online software. To use a local phrase (with lots of loaded meaning), even the dogs in the street know where the talent is! I have this theory that if you asked every talented person who they REALLY rated, and then asked each of them the same question, and so on for a few 'generations'... you would find a very common list of talented people both capable and deserving of significant support and mentoring. So-called 'open' invitations often get clogged with people with too much time on their hands and who are frankly flattered to be taken seriously when they apply for something. (That's NOT to say they are not talented in their own rights BTW!) But in my opinion, if you want to make the biggest difference, for the least cost in the shortest time, BACK EXPERIENCED AMBITIOUS TALENT.

For instance, it has taken 4IP many months to focus on NI (this isn't a criticism of individuals or the current work being done, just an opinion about the relative priorities that are evident in getting to this point...) But now it's about delivery of good projects from talented people, and quickly.

I welcome your comment that there is "... raised confidence of improved deal-flow" in N. Ireland, but that isn't really news to those of us who chose to work here! We have a lot going for us locally. NI is an internationally recognised centre for mobile phone development. It has an ambitious European Connected Health movement that is drawing worldwide support and interest. It has a great further education system. And it has bred many successful entrepreneurs and business people, including media and entertainment talent galore.

(BTW someone told me that the H&W on our big cranes now stands for Health & Wealth!)

Yes, agencies (Invest NI, NI Screen etc.), local networks (Belfast Open Coffee, BarCamp Belfast), local associations (Digital Circle, Momentum etc.) all have a role to play, but frankly in an over-regulated, over-represented, over-bureaucratised part of Europe, it should be about giving talent the means to aspire, create, develop and grow, not finding new structures and processes.

My ha'pworth! :-)

[Stuart Cosgrove]

Thanks for coming back on this Darryl. It’s appreciated. Two things that stand out both familiar one is the question of talent, the other engagement. I share your sense of frustration and when I talked about the increased deal flow I meant with Channel 4 - in all its forms- rather than with your other numerous clients.

You say it has "taken 4IP many months to focus on NI (this isn't a criticism of individuals or the current work being done, just an opinion about the relative priorities that are evident in getting to this point".

Ironically the idea of 4iP was first shared with colleagues in Northern Ireland. The ambition was to secure a £5m match funded pot in NI with a dedicated commisioning manager. For a range of reasons almost all to do with the resources/priorities within Invest NI, we could not raise that level of partnership and so could not fund the overhead of new staff in a period when we had to cut our staff budget by 30%.

For the avoidance of doubt, Richard at Screen NI tried to encourage a different outcome, but we were not successful and had therefore to re-focus on the exiting partner budget he had available for digital media.

When Ewan took up his role in Scotland, I argued that it should include N. Ireland and the North East of England, which it now does and he is in Belfast very regularly and promiscuously available online. (That’s not to say he is promiscuous just online a lot)

Can I add that I share your anxieties with the relentlessness of reviews – in the case of Northern Ireland I think PSB 2 has actually harmed relationships rather than strengthened resolve? Nor has the process so far been particularly kind to Northern Ireland.

One area that we have talked a lot about is talent and you mentioned key strengths as follows - >“NI is an internationally recognised centre for mobile phone development. It has an ambitious European Connected Health movement that is drawing worldwide support and interest.”What other strengths would you identify and any corresponding sector weaknesses?

More than happy to share Channel 4’s numerous weaknesses.

[Una Murphy]

I have worked in Cardiff, for BBC Wales and I am now based in Belfast where I work as the independent production sector. Both nations have around 1.5 people. I think Channel 4 has been less Londoncentric than other UK TV networks and I went to several workshops in Belfast where Stuart set out his stall about what the broadcaster wanted. Sometimes though I think its easier for the Daleks to cross the Severn Bridge than it is to be commissioned in NI! After all Cardiff is about two hours from London - to get to Belfast its far more of a chore. As a former member of Ofcom's Advisory Committee NI I have read the reports about the lack of network activity from production companies in NI. I have suggested that money should be ring-fenced for each nation rather than a one size fits all outside London production pot. The production sectors in NI, Wales and Scotland are at different stages of development and each should be looked at as a separate case with difference measures to increase productivity.

Stuart Cosgrove said:

Thanks for coming back on this Darryl. It’s appreciated. Two things that stand out both familiar one is the question of talent, the other engagement. I share your sense of frustration and when I talked about the increased deal flow I meant with Channel 4 - in all its forms- rather than with your other numerous clients.

You say it has "taken 4IP many months to focus on NI (this isn't a criticism of individuals or the current work being done, just an opinion about the relative priorities that are evident in getting to this point".

Ironically the idea of 4iP was first shared with colleagues in Northern Ireland. The ambition was to secure a £5m match funded pot in NI with a dedicated commisioning manager. For a range of reasons almost all to do with the resources/priorities within Invest NI, we could not raise that level of partnership and so could not fund the overhead of new staff in a period when we had to cut our staff budget by 30%.

For the avoidance of doubt, Richard at Screen NI tried to encourage a different outcome, but we were not successful and had therefore to re-focus on the exiting partner budget he had available for digital media.

When Ewan took up his role in Scotland, I argued that it should include N. Ireland and the North East of England, which it now does and he is in Belfast very regularly and promiscuously available online. (That’s not to say he is promiscuous just online a lot)

Can I add that I share your anxieties with the relentlessness of reviews – in the case of Northern Ireland I think PSB 2 has actually harmed relationships rather than strengthened resolve? Nor has the process so far been particularly kind to Northern Ireland.

One area that we have talked a lot about is talent and you mentioned key strengths as follows - >“NI is an internationally recognised centre for mobile phone development. It has an ambitious European Connected Health movement that is drawing worldwide support and interest.”What other strengths would you identify and any corresponding sector weaknesses?

More than happy to share Channel 4’s numerous weaknesses.

[Darryl Collins]

As you said in your opening salvo, no point in going over old ground (I realise a lot of hard work was put in by a lot of people at various points). To focus on the penultimate point "What other strengths would you identify and any corresponding sector weaknesses?"

NI is a world leaders in writing strategies... I have papered my house with glossy reports!

NI has a world-class children's film & TV festival - Cinemagic which is 20 years old next year - IMHO Cinemagic has done more for local media literacy and vocational training than many government departments and agencies. (Disclosure: I came up with the name and was on its board for 4 years, two as chair).

NI has global reputation for medical devices and medical applications (hence the European Connected Health Campus).

NI has a lot of young people who want to remain here if they can get the jobs - that can be harnessed that by creating a commercial media campus... when they're not large-ing it up on St Paddy's Day in the Holy Lands!

NI has a great reputation for Trauma Care and ER expertise for obvious reasons.

Electrical engineering - we have ECIT, a centre of excellence in advanced digital and communications technology.

Sound engineering & technology - Sonic Arts Research Centre at QUB

Missiles & IEDs as exported to places like Iraq, Afganistan and Columbia...

[Matt Johnston]

The problem with backing experienced local talent is that it's going to be the same old faces in many cases. And for every seasoned pro, we have ten naive whippersnappers who don't know the ins and outs of how to get the deal flow going. I think it's apparent that the 4IP scheme even has the "pros' caught on the back foot - it's different, it's not broadcast and the expectations are shattered. This highlights a couple of things to me.

a) we don't think BIG enough for the most part. We're too used to being the underdog.
b) we're resistant to change. Two weeks ago we were killing each other again.

This isn't unilateral but it does exist.

Last Thursday evening I sat in a room with 15 other folk - all from different industries and it was commented that in no other country could you get this group together - never mind with 2 days notice. We debated the European Connected Health Campus and my NITsunami iPhone Initiative and how they could easily be linked. And this morning we see the ringfenced £100K from 4IP for Connected Health iPhone apps. This proves we have the ideas. We have the deals. We just have problems putting them on paper and part of this is a lack of understanding about what 4IP is and how the deal flow works. The New Media sessions with Ewan were great for my understanding and it is my fault perhaps that I have yet to organise a "Here's the deal" followup with an open door to anyone in Northern Ireland to help them understand how it works.

That's something I will endeavour to fix tomorrow.

This lack of engagement is not Channel 4's fault. And yet equally it's not entirely our fault. But the fact remains that without someone on the ground forcing this agenda, it will be slow, it will be hard and it will be less fruitful. We've witnessed this with NESTA, with the TSB, with other 'national' bodies which have a dearth of local folk pushing their agenda. And, after all, we're a small region - hard to justify a full time head.

I think the way forward is for someone local to push that agenda and I'm going to start to fill that role informally until we see some sort of result. To this end, I'd ask 4IP to just keep an eye out and we'll get some events running, drum up some interest and see if we can't resolve that deal flow problem.

We tell everyone we're a nation of ideas and ambitions, a nation of poets and visionaries. It's up to us to put up or shut up.

[Stuart Cosgrove]

Matt Johnston said: This highlights a couple of things to me.

a) we don't think BIG enough for the most part. We're too used to being the underdog.
b) we're resistant to change. Two weeks ago we were killing each other again.

This isn't unilateral but it does exist.


I think this has been a crucial issue there are some good Tv companies in Belfast but most (not all) have been in single film genres and getting huge scale projects like Relocation (Glasgow), How to Look Good Naked (Birmingham) Shamless/Hollyoaks (Mancsheter) is hard, really hard.

I think the shouting about excellence and capability is important.

I so agree with Una about different stages of devlopment Wales has benefitted from having a dedicated Channel with a £65m annual budget s4C, Scotland and N. Ireland have not. Scotland has benefitted from political devolution more than NI and to be honest creative economy argument are much higher up the radar than they are in NI.

If you were to write a 100 word manifesto what would it be?

[Darryl Collins]

@matt - Don't knock experience. Patronising people about working for pizza in the hope of future success is a very limited ambition - yes it can be a useful way to get things moving, but really, is that the best way to help create or build a diverse and vibrant industry? Not everyone has the comfort of a full-time day job to fall back on. Not everyone can come up with a good original idea, develop it, launch and sustain it. The reality is that BOTH experience AND young talent are required. Probably in equal measure. And why not try to put them together to mutual benefit?

[Matt Johnston]

As in many cases, Darryl, we're violently in agreement. you said we should back experienced talent, I'm just saying we need more than that - we need fresh eyes. So yes, it'll require both. And we'll need to drag Digital Circle, NIScreen, NIMIC, Momentum all into the ring to sort it out. And there are bound to be knees scuffed and cheeks red from being slapped. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm surprised you bring up my "working for pizza" idea, it's aimed at Schoolkids - in order to encourage and not to patronise. Ironically the number of high-tech businesses who start up and feed their techies sandwiches, pizza, noodles in order to get things built with the "promise" of dividends is quite high. Code4Pizza.com is an after-school club, not a commercial business. It's not about having the comfort of a full-time job, it's about social karma. And in the next six months, I'll launch it and see what I can do about getting folk to turn up.

[Darryl Collins]

Oh good, we agree! It wasn't clear to me that the code for pizza idea was an after-school project, thanks for clarifying that and best of luck with it.

BTW what is the " NITsunami iPhone Initiative"? Is that being created by Digital Circle? Where can I find information about it?

[Matt Johnston]

Of course I'm going to agree - I've become one of the old greyheads....

NITsunami is a use-name for, initially, the iPhone development workshops, competition and conference planned for later this year. At the moment Digital Circle and Intertrade Ireland are supporting it. We have additional support from InvestNI promised but not yet realised. It's not just iPhone - but iPhone is currently leading the way. You've heard about a lot of it at a lot of meetings - it was mentioned at the ECHC launch, mentioned at Mobile Monday, seen bits and pieces mentioned elsewhere. We're now at the stage where we have to get events booked.

[Darryl Collins]

Thanks Matt. I heard it mentioned, but didn't know what it was and didn't find anything on your blogs. Sounds great.

[Stuart Cosgrove]

Matt Johnston said:

BR>
NITsunami is a use-name for, initially, the iPhone development workshops, competition and conference planned for later this year. At the moment Digital Circle and Intertrade Ireland are supporting it. We have additional support from InvestNI promised but not yet realised. It's not just iPhone - but iPhone is currently leading the way. .

make sure you factor in opportunities via the 4iP Apps Call to Action Matt


* 4iP will invest up to 100K in total

* We’ll offer up to 30K / app

* It must use new features offered up in the 3.0 update / SDK

* Bonus points if your app uses the games or ‘iphonic ubisensor’

* We’d like it to to be in the area of health, welfare or accessibility but we’re open to anything that meets 4iP criteria

* Output should be ready for submission to the App Store

* Entries must come through our submission system

* Must be UK companies / developers

* We must have received your entry by 16th April