TV & Academia Collided at AHTV 2020
"[AHTV provided] a real insight into the relationship between academia and TV and the calibre of the contributors was really impressive." - 2020 Delegate
AHTV is a one day conference designed to bring together academics working in the Arts and Humanities with Television professionals working in specialist factual programming to foster relationships and improve understanding between the two.
AHTV 2020 included insights from commissioners and programme makers on how academic research is incorporated into specialist factual programming, plus the opportunity for delegates to meet and engage with the specialist factual community as well as academics with a wide range of specialisms through speed meetings and networking drinks.
Historian, presenter and producer Bettany Hughes opened the second edition, which brought together two worlds with common interests but not always a shared language. Specialist knowledge and research underpins the best factual television, but decoding TV for academics, and ensuring TV producers understand how to work effectively with experts, was top of mind at the Arts and Humanities Research Council and The TV Foundation event.
Hughes recounted being told by a BBC executive in the mid-1990s that “nobody is interested in history.” The exec added: “People don’t want to be lectured at by a woman.” BBC, Netflix and other series later, Hughes proved that TV dinosaur wrong. While the gender imbalance has been tackled it hasn’t been redressed, but the work of Hughes and her peers means women won’t be airbrushed from factual TV’s future.
Learn More About AHTV 2020Award-winning historian, author and broadcaster Bettany Hughes has devoted the last 25 years to the vibrant communication of the past. Here, she gives us her perspective on the importance of television as a means of disseminating academic research, and the vital role that academics play in specialist factual programming.
Edinburgh Television Festival MD Campbell Glennie speaks to BBC Two’s Patrick Holland about the specialist factual landscape, what he thinks the opportunities are for academics in TV and his plans for the channel.
A chance to see inside the pitching process. In this session, four of our 2019 TV PhD delegates will pitch their TV ideas to producer Simon Willgoss and commissioner Daisy Scalchi who will provide feedback and show you what they’re looking for in a specialist factual programme idea.
From the first idea to the final product, what are the stages of a production? Using this Channel 4 documentary as a case study, Executive Producer Bill Locke and producer and director Giulia Clark will take you through the process and highlight where academics and their research come into play.
Music documentaries are a mainstay of specialist factual programming, but what makes for a successful programme, and what does the future hold for the genre?
Between them, Nicholas Kent and Judith Winnan have produced countless hours of arts programming. In this session, we’ll ask them what they think the key is to presenting art on television, and what they’re looking for when searching for their next arts project.
In this session, we take a close look at the state of play in History programming and hear what commissioner Fatima Salaria and producer James Rogan think makes for a successful history programme.
In this session, the BAFTA winning team behind ‘Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley’ will take you through their processes, explaining how they find and adapt original sources and work with academics to ensure that they are telling the stories of their subjects in a way that is not only dramatically engaging but also factually accurate.
“The sessions really gave me a clearer view of what TV producers are looking for. A special shout out would go to the live pitch session, which was really great!” - 2020 Delegate
"It's refreshing to be in a room full of open-minded academics, looking to take their work beyond academia." - 2020 Delegate
“I really enjoyed the commissioner and development panels - I found them genuinely inspiring and useful from an industry point of view.” - 2019 Delegate
“The speed meetings [were] extremely valuable and [it was] enjoyable to speak with passionate and open people.” - 2019 Delegate
