Highlight LabelsOpinion


Opinion: Reflecting on the relentless hustle of 2023 & why next year will be better…

TBI’s format expert Siobhan Crawford reflects on a tumultuous 12 months for the global market and picks out green shoots that suggest 2024 might offer better pastures. May next year be merrier and brighter… If ‘Catch-Up London’ re-affirmed anything, it is that the bright spot in our professional lives is the people (and that post-market […]

Where the hell are all the formats?

Siobhan Crawford, head of sales and acquisitions at Belgium’s Primitives, the distributor of The Mole and Reputation Rehab, asks what the future holds for formats in an increasingly talent-led business. The words “creative renaissance” were uttered this week at the Edinburgh TV Festival, referring to the positive impact of Covid on creativity in our industry. […]

Unpicking AVOD, FAST & natural history’s potential

Carlyn Staudt, global general manager at Love Nature, discusses the opportunities presented by increasingly competitive FAST channels and AVOD platforms. If you’re not totally clear on the nuances of free streaming platforms, but have been nodding along for the last several months, you’re not alone. Now, more than ever, the way we talk about free streaming is changing and […]

Putting a fragmented audience back together (Column)

Carlotta Rossi Spencer, Banijay Group’s SVP of format acquisitions, argues for a return to family viewing as audiences continue to fragment. In a world where content continues as king, deal-making becomes ever more complex and NBC pulls the trigger on yet another platform for the market, it’s easy to become consumed with the day-to-day job […]

How space programming evolved from no-go zone to no holds barred

Ahead of his ‘Space On The Big Screen’ session at IBC later today (16 September), Arrow Media co-founder and creative director Tom Brisley details the trajectory of space programming from a no-go zone among commissioners to a flourishing genre with myriad partners.  It used to be that if you were pitching factual content to US […]

TBI Weekly: It’s Quibi or bust for short-form (Column)

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mobile-first service Quibi and its growing roster of A-list on and off-screen talent is shaping up to either make or break premium short-form content once and for all, writes Richard Middleton. To say it’s been a busy month for Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s soon-to-launch short-form streamer Quibi would be an understatement. Greenlights […]

Concepts vs. formats: how to tell the difference

K7 Media founder and FRAPA board member Keri Lewis Brown breaks down how to identify a piece of IP as a format versus a concept, and how the formats agency plans to help creators tell the difference in the future.  Remarkably, given that some of the biggest entertainment brands of the past 20 years — Big […]

How can Canada’s golden age of comedy go global?

Jamie Brown, CEO of Baroness von Sketch Show producer Frantic Films, says more broad-appeal experimentation is required across Canadian comedies to make them more appealing to international distributors.  The late, great Jack Lemmon once quipped: “It’s hard enough to write a good drama, it’s much harder to write a good comedy.” I think many would add that […]

It’s time to stop ignoring mental illness in TV

Alex Pumfrey, CEO of the Film & Television Charity talks about mental health concerns in the TV industry, and why the organisation is launching its industry-wide survey.  People love working in television and film – it’s a joy and a privilege. But it can also be tough. The outpouring of revelations about sexual harassment and […]

Opinion: How we’re fighting unconscious bias in TV recruitment

Sarah Lee, founder and creative director of UK recruitment platform The Talent Manager, explains why the site is employing unconscious bias controls that allow companies to hide profile pictures of freelancers during the recruitment process. In a world more connected than ever before it would be logical to assume that everyone has a fair chance […]