fIRST LOOK AT FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
We are delighted to reveal a first look at the programme for the 2024 Festival. Helmed by new Creative Director, Rowan Woods, and this year’s Advisory Chair, Harjeet Chhokar, the line-up includes masterclasses, In Conversation events, the ever-popular Spotlight Controller sessions, and keynote speeches including the prestigious James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture which this year will be delivered by playwright and dramatist, James Graham. Further programme announcements to follow in the coming weeks.
The 2024 Festival reveals three key themes: social mobility and class, holding power to account, and tackling the current upheavals in the UK TV industry. Through masterclasses, In Conversation events and sessions on subjects including soaps and sitcoms, the Festival will also celebrate creativity, storytelling and the vital cultural impact of TV.
The festival opens with a state-of-the-nation debate BACK FROM THE BRINK: REIMAGINING THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION led by BBC’s ‘Explainer in Chief’ Ros Atkins, which dives headfirst into the storm rocking the UK television industry and tries to chart a way forward. As the industry stands on a precipice, can it rebound from the recent upheaval, or is a complete re-imagination necessary? The panel of industry leaders tackles burning questions about survival, job security, and the fate of traditional revenue models, and asks “Where Do We Go From Here?”. Other sessions that tackle some of the most pressing questions facing the industry right now include TV’s INVISIBLE ARMY: THE FREELANCER CRISIS, a vital discussion of productions’ ever-increasing reliance on this ‘invisible army’ and what more needs to be done to ensure a more sustainable engagement model and a healthier, happier workforce; OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: HOW INDIES CAN THRIVE AND SURIVIVE INTO 2025 provides a blueprint for commercial survival in a difficult landscape; in a year where budget squeeze and commissioning slowdowns are top of the agenda, MIND THE GAP: THE NEW SCRIPTED FINANCING FRONTIER is one of two sessions exploring new funding models; and with duty of care and compliance the watchwords of the moment BASED ON A TRUE STORY: GETTING FACTUAL DRAMA RIGHT explores the right way to approach fictionalising true events on screen – and the consequences of getting it wrong.
In the wake of some high profile industry departures IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR DIVERSITY, EQUALITY AND INCLUSION IN TV? unpicks the complexities of the debate around DE&I departments and explores the future of these valuable functions; HOW TO GET CLIMATE CONTENT COMMISSIONED is one of a number of sessions that underscores the Festival’s ongoing commitment to holding broadcasters to account on Climate Change; and REPORTING GAZA digs into the unique journalistic challenges posed by this war, including access, language, impartiality, the impact of social media, duty of care to staff and wider political pressures.
Other sessions that explore hot topics in the industry include PUTTING THE ‘IP’ INTO SCRIPTED, THE RISE OF THE SPORTS DOC: WHO ARE THE REAL WINNERS?, WHAT THE FUND?! CREATIVE FUNDING MODELS and WHERE TV AND PODCASTS COLLIDE.
As the BBC gears up for the second series of James Graham’s critically acclaimed hit drama Sherwood – one of his most personal pieces focussing on the communities of Nottinghamshire in which he grew up – the dramatist looks to his working-class roots and the power of drama to affect social and cultural change, as he delivers the Festival’s prestigious JAMES MACTAGGART MEMORIAL LECTURE.
James Graham’s MacTaggart themes will run throughout the programme, with discussions around social class and holding power to account across the programme including: Carol Vorderman’s ALTERNATIVE MACTAGGART address; SAVING MR BATES: THE FUTURE OF FACTUAL DRAMA, a panel which will celebrate the ITV drama’s seismic cultural impact and ask how we preserve an ecosystem in which socially-minded factual dramas that affect real change can continue to be funded and produced; and THE ‘C’ WORD: TV’s LAST TABOO sees the Festival tackling head-on the implications of recent reports that only 8% of people working in TV and radio come from working class backgrounds. An additional session asks whether: SILENT PREJUDICE: CAN INVESTMENT IN TRAINING AND SKILLS HELP BREAK TV’S CLASS CEILING?. The provocatively titled debate ARE OBS DOCS DEAD? AND DOES ANYONE CARE? will also explore what we lose in terms of working class representation on screen if we let this genre die out.
This year will also see the Festival celebrate TV as a vital cultural force. As the city of Edinburgh revels in the buzz of numerous Festivals from film to books and comedy to music, the TV Festival sets out to demonstrate why the small screen more than deserves its place as an important cultural form, spotlighting incredible creatives, inspiring conversations and reminding ourselves why we do what we do.
Sessions will include a broad spectrum of speakers and subject matter including WARREN LITTLEFIELD IN CONVERSATION WITH ANNE MENSAH, in which the former NBC boss turned producer (The Handmaid’s Tale, Fargo, Dopesick) will discuss the international drama landscape with Netflix UK’s VP of Content; FROM THE RACE TRACK TO THE FARM: ANDY WILMAN IN CONVERSATION WITH JANE ROOT will see the mastermind behind Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm discuss the secrets of his success with the former Controller of BBC2; masterclasses on INDUSTRY and SQUID GAME: THE CHALLENGE will see the Festival get under the hood of both scripted and unscripted shows; JACK ROOKE AND SOPHIE WILLAN IN CONVERSATION sees two of the leading comedy names in British TV – the creator and writer of Big Boys (Rooke) and creator and star of Alma’s Not Normal (Willan) – come together in a funny and insightful conversation about their respective work.
A FAIR COP: INTERROGATING THE POLICE DRAMA sees the creators of hit shows Blue Lights and The Responder in conversation with BBC Director of Drama, Lindsay Salt; in a year where we’ve seen cuts to continuing drama, SOAPS: ESSENTIAL TV, will celebrate the vital cultural contribution made by soaps, as well as exploring the importance of their role as an entry point and training ground for people across the industry; DOWN UNDER ON TOP: AUSTRALIA’S TV DOMINATION celebrates the huge success of shows like Married At First Sight Australia and Colin From Accounts in a year where the Festival also partners with VicScreen to bring a delegation of Australian producers to Edinburgh; and finally, BRING BACK THE FUNNY celebrates the sitcom, while some of the UK’s most powerful comedy commissioners call for the return of shows that sit in the pure comedy space.
Other include UNLOCKING GLOBAL STORYTELLING: THE POWER OF CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS and CAPTURING IMAGINATIONS: HOW CREATIVE VOICES ARE INNOVATING AND CREATING IN AUDIO, in partnership with Audible.
The previously announced Frontiers section of the Festival Programme will also cover subjects ranging from AI in creativity to Roblox and the telly-verse, via podcasting and social media; not only future-gazing as to what’s next for the TV industry but to also look at what can be learned from digital creators, brands and the games industry.
In a nod to the role the Edinburgh Fringe plays in birthing new TV talent, the Festival also features – in a first of its kind collaboration between the TV Foundation and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society – a Comedy Showcase, supported by Universal Studios Group, that will feature 10 of the most exciting new stand-up comedians and scripted comedy creators featured at the Fringe performing at the TV Festival.
Creative Director of the Festival, Rowan Woods, and Advisory Chair, Harjeet Chhokar said: “We’re so proud to reveal the line up for this year’s festival. It’s a programme that lifts the lid on vital conversations around class in the industry, and the role of television in holding power to account. In the face of a difficult year, it’s also a celebration of creativity and storytelling and the vital cultural impact of TV.”
The Festival will once again take place at the EICC in Edinburgh from 2pm on Tuesday 20 August to 2pm on Friday 23 August.
Keep your eyes peeled for further announcements in the coming weeks…
