Opinion


The importance of knowing your history

Adam Jacobs of UK indie Woodcut Media argues the history programming is rediscovering its mojo, and will soon be the programming of the moment again. History has always been a popular genre within non-scripted schedules. Whether it’s the study of conflicts such as World War II or the weaponry used by troops during battle over […]

Feel-good programming is needed in our crazy world

Media Ranch president Sophie Ferron explores why feel-good titles from This is Us to Pay it Forward have been big hitters during a tough global political climate. Trump, Kim Jong-un, Brexit, Syria, terrorist attacks, the Las Vegas mass shooting, the Mexico City earthquake and hurricanes Irma and Maria: these are just a few of biggest news […]

Viewpoint: A Romper Stomper route to television

Film director Geoffrey Wright explains the process of how his cult Australian feature film Romper Stomper transferred from the big screen in the early 1990s to subscription video-on-demand in 2017 as a Stan original drama series that DCD Rights will be selling at market. It was around September of 2016 that John and Dan Edwards […]

Television can help the aged

Red Arrow International’s head of non-scripted, Harry Gamsu, discusses TV’s role in the health and well-being of an ageing population. Social experiment formats always seem to garner the headlines. In taking a subject that is relevant and resonant, and digging deep to explore it from the inside, these shows can reveal much about the current […]

Viewpoint: Game of Thrones and the art of the modern opener

With the latest season of HBO’s Game of Thrones almost upon us, the first thing many fans will be anticipating is the show’s opening credits. Such is the power of the modern opener that, regardless of whether you’ve been bitten by the GOT bug, you’ll certainly be aware the series boasts an Emmy-winning title sequence […]

The view from the Riviera

It’s hard to find a more beautiful and glamorous location to shoot than the Côte d’Azur in the south of France, but new drama Riviera aims to expose its dark underbelly Cannes and the Côte d’Azur are synonymous with the international television industry through the MIPTV and MIPCOM events, but they have rarely been used […]

How Loaded went from Israel to Channel 4

Hillbilly TV co-founders Kate Norrish and Polly Leys recall how their UK drama business begn, and what had to change in order to Channel 4 to commission new scripted series Loaded, a remake of an Israeli format about a group of friends who become millionaires overnight It was while lying on the beach on holiday […]

Jamie, FoodTube and the changing face of MCNs

K7 Media’s Clare Thompson asks what the demise of Jamie Oliver’s FoodTube tells us about the changing online channels business. In September it was announced that the Jamie Oliver Media Group was to disband its FoodTube multichannel network, launched in 2013, then expanded to include DrinksTube, FamilyTube and 14 other talent-fronted channels including River Cottage, […]

Viewpoint: Discop Dubai fills a gap in the MENA market

On the eve of the inaugural Discop Dubai event, Yvonne Pilkington, senior VP of format sales and production at NBCUniversal International Formats, explains how content is evolving in the Middle East and North Africa region. The creation of Discop Dubai last year reflected the growing appetite for high-quality content in the Middle East. Boasting an […]

Viewpoint: Factual TV in a post-truth era

Jan Salling, CEO, Missing Link Media & co-chairman, FRAPA Donald Trump has become a leading exponent of  post-truth in his successful bid to win the White House. What might the implications be for factual television producers and programmers around the world? Twenty-sixteen saw some fascinating and worrying developments in terms of truth and the media […]