Bve thought leaders in profile 2017 by Diễm My

KEYNOTE 2017’S THOUGHT LEADERS IN PROFILE

THE POWER OF LANGUAGE Amma Asante Writing a winning screenplay

Louis Theroux “I’m drawn to the dark side”

01 BVE Keynote 2017 FCn_Final.indd 1

Stephen Mai, LADbible “We’ve been able to understand the general mentality of youth”

Jason Flemyng “You have to be prepared to piss people off”

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INSIDE

WELCOME BVE 2017, as always, reflects the trends that are driving our industry; and what a busy year it’s been. The rise in commissioned content, demand for greater content mobility and improved user experience catalysed by the growing importance of storytelling, as audience content consumption patterns evolve, highlights that we are, without doubt, amidst a content revolution. These are exciting times, both as a consumer of content and industry professional. To cater to the demands for information in this new age, the team and I curated these high class CPD-certified programmes based on conversations with industry figures to deliver over 80 hours of content from more than 200 speakers over three days and six seminar theatres. The top trends that were covered at BVE 2017 included the rise of VR and its immersive capabilities in broadcast, audio and advertising, through to improved storytelling. Continuing down the creative path, we’ve seen production skillsets change; emerging is a new multi-skilled individual we’ve termed the ‘PREDITOR’, who

produces, directs, and edits. Perhaps a sign of the times, but this talent pool is growing and creates increased opportunities for work. Tying audiences and the business of content creation together, another key show theme was how improved data analytics can increase engagement and monetisation. On the technical side, HDR, OTT adoption, IP and systems integration to create heightened interoperability are the hot topics for the industry. In terms of speakers it was a year to be celebrated with the likes of Louis Theroux, Amma Asante, and Jason Flemyng sharing their expertise with our visitors and brands such as Thorpe Park, Ministry of Sound, LADbible, Rushes, BBC, Channel 5, Film4 and Ketchum. This inaugural edition of Keynote captures the essence of this year’s conference programme by celebrating the fantastic array of thought leaders who participated at this year’s event. Enjoy!

ART & PRODUCTION Photography: PostPhotographic, and stock imagery Head of Design: Jat Garcha Head of Production: Alistair Taylor Designer: Tom Carpenter

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Louis Theroux Documentary filmmaker

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Jason Flemyng Actor turned director

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Stephen Mai LADbible

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Mark Kermode Film critic

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Anna Waldeck-Evans ITV Creative

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Mark Harrison Digital Production Partnership

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Adrian Wootton CEO, Film London

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Rebecca O’Brien Film producer

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Donna Mulvey-Jones FreemantleMedia UK

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Simeon Quarrie Vivida

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Jon Mountague Head of comedy, Sky

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Nicoline Refsing Rockart Design

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Rob Drewett Wildlife cameraman

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Jonathan Harrison Director of photography

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Tim Routledge Lighting designer

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Josh Wilson Page 37 Wilson Worldwide Productions Roland Hemming RH Consulting

Sindy Cain Head of Content, BVE

EDITORIAL Editorial Director: James McKeown Contributors: James Groves, Jenny Priestley, Neal Romanek

Amma Asante Screenwriter

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SALES Group Sales Manager: Peter McCarthy Account Managers: Richard Carr, Michael Mitchell (US sales) Content Director, NewBay: James McKeown Managing Director, NewBay: Mark Burton Published on behalf of the BVE Partnership by NewBay Media Ltd, The Emerson Building, 4-8 Emerson Street, London, SE1 9DU. Printed by Pensord

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THE POWER OF LANGUAGE

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Amma Asante Screenwriter and director

You can’t underestimate how difﬁcult it is being both a woman and black. The level of invisibility is unreal

By Jenny Priestley From starting out as a teenage actor in the BBC’s teen drama Grange Hill to directing last year’s BFI London Film Festival opening film A United Kingdom, Amma Asante has successfully switched from a career in front of the camera to being behind one. At this year’s BVE, Asante was invited to deliver one of the event’s keynote sessions, where she discussed writing a winning screenplay. Asante wrote her first film script while working as a secretary. “In my early 20s I was trying to get my typing speed up so that I could temp as a secretary. I started writing a script, and that was the beginning for me,” she explains. “I’m really fascinated with ideas of language – both inside and outside of the industry – how powerful it is, and how it works. I think one of the areas that keeps people out of the industry is the inability to understand the language of the film set. It’s a very specific language. For me, I learnt that really easily and it was almost implicit for me; when people would ask me to do something or pass something to them, I understood because I had learnt the language of being on set.” Having already made something of a name for herself because of her work in Grange Hill, Asante decided to submit her finished script under a pseudonym. Little did she know the major attention it would soon attract. “Mick Pilsworth at Chrysalis Vision Entertainment read the script and loved it. He knew me, but he didn’t know I was the writer,” she reveals. “He contacted my agent and said ‘can I meet the writer of this script?’ My big dilemma was ‘do I tell him who I am?’

I had no choice. I had to. He didn’t hold it against me, and that script ended up being commissioned by Channel 4. I got seven scripts commissioned by them, and in that moment I got very excited with myself. I wrote another pilot and that became something that was developed at the BBC. At this stage, I had a four-script deal and a seven-script deal at the same time. It was a lot of hard work, but the stars aligned for me and I got my big break.” Asante insists the stars haven’t always been in her favour, “It sounds like everything’s gone my way – it hasn’t!” she says. “You can’t underestimate how difficult it is being both a woman and black. The level of invisibility is unreal. “I think that quite often, when we think about prejudice and exclusion, we imagine that there are a bunch of old white men sitting in rooms saying ‘let’s not book that woman’ and ‘let’s not book that black person’. I don’t imagine that’s the way it works at all. I don’t think there’s any overall conspiracy to keep people of colour, women of colour and women out. I think it’s just a sense that we don’t figure. When they’re thinking of who could direct their next project, it’s often not a woman they think of.” Asante admits invisibility is a major problem in the industry, and it’s something she’s had to change her own thinking about. “As a young woman, I had ideas that I couldn’t and shouldn’t direct because directors come in a particular package. I was exposed to the same rhetoric as everybody else is, so my prejudices often fall into the same categories as Joe Public’s, so it’s about me challenging and reminding myself that I have a right to a platform, that I have a right to a voice, and in doing so, it’s reminding other women as well.”

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GOING THEROUX TO THE DARK SIDE

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Louis Theroux Documentary filmmaker and broadcaster

I’ve got a slightly sad eagerness to please

By Jenny Priestley

Louis Theroux was certainly the most popular speaker at this year’s BVE, with the audience for his keynote interview filling two theatres and spilling out onto the main show floor. He took the time to discuss how he got started in the industry, and how he finds himself drawn to the more unusual subjects. “I’m a fan of doing subjects that challenge me and take me out of my comfort zone,” he explains. “Maybe because I’m British and slightly timid in my nature, I’m drawn to – there’s no other way of putting it really – the dark side. Subjects that have almost a controversial quality, that makes me want to know more, almost allow me to explore the forbidden side of my own self. “I read something recently that said one of the lessons in writing is to express those parts of yourself that you want to keep hidden. I feel that applies to documentary in a way too. It exposes the part we don’t share because we’re frightened, embarrassed or scared.” Theroux started his documentary-making career developing what he describes as “fairly comical” shows: “I started out with a show called Weird Weekends, exploring subcultures in the US. In the early days it was about me pitching in, getting involved. I did an episode about the porn industry and that involved me taking off all my clothes and getting a polaroid snapped for a talent scout of the porn world.” Theroux says the technology behind making his series has changed immensely since he started out. “My first TV show was made in 1994 –

that was on Michael Moore’s TV Nation – and my series started in 1996: Weird Weekends. At the time, I used to shoot with a full crew, camera, a dedicated DoP, sound, AP and a director. “We would have a betacam with half-hour tapes, and so every 25 minutes, just as things were getting interesting, the camera person would say ‘hold it right there, I’m just going to change tapes’. Nowadays, that seems kind of weird. We also had little cameras – either a PD150, or sometimes a Z1, that the AP would wield so that after hours when the cameraperson was tired, or if we were going on a long journey in a small car, we’d get some of the more intimate stuff.” Asked what characteristics a documentary filmmaker needs to succeed in the industry, Theroux told the audience he believes there are three qualities required, “I think curiosity is probably the first one,” he revealed. “A certain level of an ability to get on with people, not in a ‘take charge’ way necessarily, or in a way that allows you to insinuate yourself into the worlds that you’re curious about, without being objectionable. I hesitate to use the word ‘charm’ because I don’t think that I’ve got charm in the normal sense. I’ve got a slightly sad eagerness to please, and I think it’s served me quite well. People pick up on the fact that deep down I’m rather vulnerable and have a puppyish quality. It’s not something I’ve cultivated. “Third, I think there has to be a steely side in there somewhere, a steely tenacity. It’s not enough to be puppyish. You have to have that journalistic edge that allows you to take it to an uncomfortable area when it needs to go there. ”

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I always felt that producing was my thing. I was very good at getting people together and smarming and schmoozing

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DON’T BE AFRAID TO PISS PEOPLE OFF

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Jason Flemyng Actor and director

By James Groves Having made his big break into the public eye with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels back in 1998, Jason Flemyng has gone on to star in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, X-Men and The Missing. Now, he’s “facing his fears” by making his directorial debut with black comedy vampire movie Eat Local. The opportunity presented itself on the back of his friend and Lock Stock co-star Dexter Fletcher. “Dex and I have been friends since we shot Lock Stock, and we always talked about making films together, with him as director and myself as producer,” says Flemyng. “I always felt that producing was my thing. I was very good at getting people together and smarming and schmoozing. In reality, the reason I didn’t want to direct was the fear. Ultimately, you’re responsible for what’s on the screen and you live and die by that.” Fletcher eventually moved on to his own projects, leaving Flemyng to look for a new director. “It came to a point where I though ‘this is silly, I should just do it myself’,” he says. “I learned so much. I learned about coverage, and about not being liked. My nature is to keep everyone sweet, to appease everyone. I wanted to please the viewers, the producers, and to keep the actors happy. I learnt I had to be a lot more ruthless. Don’t be afraid to piss people off.” Eat Local has already been sold across Europe, and Flemyng is now hoping it will secure distribution in the UK and the US.

“That’s the dream,” he told the BVE audience. “Success of films or distribution is alchemy. There’s a huge mass of films that deserve to be seen by the audience that don’t get distributed.” Flemyng’s BVE trip wasn’t his first appearance at the London ExCeL. “I’ve been here for Comic Con as an actor, but BVE is amazing. It’s much nicer and a lot more civil. I’m more patient with the geeky stuff because all of it is new to me, as opposed to the crazy, agoraphobic fans.” Asked for his thoughts on the evolution of VR and 3D within the film industry, Flemyng explains: “I had a muck about on the VR stuff here. It feels like we’re a long way away from commercially making films like that. It’s quite chunky, and it still feels like it suits your front room rather than a theatre. “When you think about Walkmans when we first started out with personal music, and how bulky that seems compared to what we have now, it’s not really going to be that long before VR becomes maybe as prevalent as 3D glasses.” Moving onto 3D, Flemyng continues: “I’m a bit old school. As an actor I work in 3D because I’m paid to do that, but as a filmmaker, I avoid it as much as possible. “I’ve only very rarely seen 3D films where I’ve loved it. Scorsese did a film called Hugo, which I just thought was incredible. It was beautiful, and the 3D really worked for that. “There are a certain number of fiscal reasons for making 3D films. It’s more expensive to see, thus it takes more money, for one. But you can’t pirate it, so it’s a way of getting people to the cinema.”

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THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT Stephen Mai Head of marketing, brand and design, LADbible

By Neal Romanek Globally, it has been dubbed the third most-viewed media property in the world, behind Buzzfeed and Time Warner. Stephen Mai joined the LADbible Group last year, after two years at Vice, and has helped the company hone its audience development strategy into a fine art. “I was approached by LADBible to develop a brand off a really massive use audience,” says Mai. “For me, one of the interesting things about marketing in this space is using the power of audience to create social movements and social campaigns that resonate beyond traditional marketing campaigns, and that’s what drew me to the company.” In his BVE keynote, ‘Ten commandments of audience engagement’, Mai outlined strategies the LADbible has used to become one of the most successful online brands in the world. Some tips from the LADbible marketing playbook included: caring about others is a priority for millennials; short video is NOT automatically the best video (Mai cited Vice’s great success in embracing long form content); and it’s essential to listen to your audience and ask what they want. Mai notes that making the transition from 20th century-style marketing to digital full-spectrum digital engagement is an art that some find challenging. “Some brands really want to do digital, and sometimes they go too far. They think everything needs to be done digitally and in its own unique way, and they ignore the basic foundations of what makes good content, or what makes something that adds value to the brand. They think by making it shorter, or making it a list, or making it

‘digital’, that it’s going to perform better. Brands need to think about digital, especially social, in a more strategic way. Sometimes they will try to hack the Facebook algorithm to get greater reach. But it’s counter-productive to try to hack the algorithm if you’re not doing content authentic to your brand. People need to start allocating proper paid budgets for social, rather than compromising their values and compromising their content. “Some businesses can get held back by doing what’s worked in the past,” Mai notes. “I’ve seen that happen with movie studios, and the music industry as well, who are held back to rights issues, or are taking things to broadcast when that actually won’t reach their right audience. The only way to really change is to take a leap, experiment, and try new things. It’s about being more clever and playful for formats.” If the success of the LADbible could be reduced to a single strategy, it would be the company’s knowledge of its audience. “What worked for us is understanding the ethos, the mentality of our audience. If you look at our stats, 50 per cent of people between the ages of 15 and 30 follow us on Facebook. For us to say that a piece of content will work for all of that audience is quite hard. But we’ve been able through data science to get information about the general mentality of youth. “For us, a ‘Lad’ is an everyday hero. It’s about recognising the underdog, it’s about trying to drive positive emotions and all the different things people care about, but written in a way that is authentic and relatable. We do this thing called the pub test. If we want to do a campaign, or an initiative, or even with day-to-day editorial, we ask ‘Is this something we would talk about at the pub’. If the answer is ‘no’, then we don’t do it.”

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The only way to really change is to take a leap, experiment, try new things. It’s about being more clever and playful for formats

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FIVE STARS FOR BRITISH FILMMAKING

The future is absolutely to do with taking control of distribution and working it from the grass roots up

Mark Kermode Film critic, writer, and presenter By Neil Romanek

Mark Kermode was at the centre of this year’s BVE conference. Seminar theatres were filled to capacity for his conversations with writer-director Amma Asante, actor-director Jason Flemyng, and the British Film Commission’s Adrian Wootton. “BVE is all about the actual process of making films. As a film critic, I don’t know one end of the camera from the other. It’s great to be around the people who understand how this stuff works.” Kermode is inspired by the untapped potential in the new technologies on show at BVE, and he thinks it bodes well for the future of cinema. “The technology exists now for almost anybody to create really well-made movies. When I grew up, you had a little Super 8 camera. You shot a roll of film, then handed it in to the chemist, who sent it away to be processed. Now, our kids have got phones with amazing cameras. Tangerine was shot entirely on an iPhone. You have a whole generation with access to the equipment that they can make a film on. “In the past, if you wanted to get into the film industry, you had to have a huge crew, you had a huge amount of expensive equipment. Just the sheer bulk involved in making a movie was different. You walk around BVE and you see how much you can do and how much you have access to that you didn’t have a generation ago.”

Though the technology is available, Kermode still thinks it’s up to the artists to decide what the future will be. “What that should mean is that if someone has the drive and vision to make a film, the tools are there. Over the next 20 or 30 years, what will be interesting to see is whether we will breed a whole new generation of filmmakers, or whether it will actually be the same set of people who end up coming through. My suspicion is that there are pools of talent being unlocked as a result of digital technology, and in the past, we never would have heard the voices of those people. “The challenge for the new generation is getting their film seen. How do they get it distributed, how do they get it on a screen? That, I don’t have an answer to. There is so much fantastic, low-budget independent British filmmaking going on at the moment, and it really struggles to get seen. Making the film is just the beginning of the struggle.” Kermode notes that the recent financial success of the British film industry is primarily on the back of US production in the country. A lot of work is to be done if a genuinely British industry, with content written, produced and distributed by British companies is to grow and flourish. “The future is absolutely to do with taking control of distribution and working it from the grass roots up. You make your film with a roadshow, you make it with Q&As, you make it with audience interaction and social media involvement, and good movies will survive by word of mouth. The inventiveness in your distribution is now like a secondary layer of creativity that’s required. You can do it, if the movie’s good. But the movie has to be good.”

Wednesday 7th June 2017 I Millennium Mayfair Hotel, London

CELBRATING THOSE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES IN THE PRODUCTION, MANAGEMENT, AND DELIVERY OF TODAY’S MEDIA CONTENT

Join us at the TVBAwards in June

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BVE is a great opportunity to stay up to speed on the latest technology across all areas

Anna Waldeck-Evans Controller, production and operations, ITV Creative

DEDICATION, DESTINY, DELIVERY By Jenny Priestley

Recruited by ITV Creative in 1997, it’s fair to say that Anna Waldeck-Evans – now controller of production and operations – is familiar with the brand. She was introduced to the industry at a very young age, with a BBC cameraman for a father and a mother in the indie production sector. “I always knew I was destined for a career in TV production,” she says. “I spent many school holidays ‘helping’ my parents, either in the production office, or on shoots helping with wproduction paperwork, and doing the tea run. “I don’t remember getting paid, but I do remember loving every second of it and couldn’t imagine doing anything else as a career.” RISING THROUGH THE RANKS Joining ITV Creative in June 1997 as a “very keen” production assistant, Waldeck-Evans moved through six different production roles up to senior producer, where she produced award-winning campaigns for the broadcaster’s portfolio of channels. She then became head of production before taking on her current role as controller of production and operations. “The production and operations team are responsible for delivering high-quality work at a fast pace, supporting and working with the wider teams, to engage audiences across all our family of channels,” she says. “They are a fantastic team; dedicated and passionate about the part they play and the company they work for. I have learnt a lot from others in the industry as well as through the great opportunities I’ve been given working on ITV-wide initiatives.”

THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX On ITV Creative’s current projects, Waldeck-Evans explains, “We spent many months investigating possible campaign management and media asset management solutions, but discovered there was nothing on the market that delivered exactly what we needed as a fully-integrated 360 creative agency and marketing and media planning team. “It is not always the easiest decision to create something bespoke, rather than just buying an off-the-shelf solution, but we were supported by the wider business to push forward and create something that would answer the brief for ITV.” At BVE, ITV Creative showed off Phoenix, its new campaign management and asset management system, and Waldeck-Evans – along with her ITV counterparts – were suitably impressed by their surroundings. “BVE is a great opportunity to stay up to speed on the latest technology across all areas – from shooting to workflows and post production,” says Waldeck-Evans. “Meeting other professionals and experts in our industry is invaluable, as well as being able to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s ahead and what things we might need to consider when innovating for the future.” Looking to the future of Phoenix, and ITV Creative as a whole, Waldeck Evans explains: “Our modernisation project is still in flight and we will be bringing in a new automated versioning system for all our promotions to help simplify and speed up the production process. The benefits of Phoenix are just being realised, enabling our teams to work more collaboratively with far more robust and auditable end-to-end workflows. Investing in new technology and changing our ways of working will really enable the teams to focus on the craft and quality of the campaign output, and help us to bring the audiences to all our ITV shows.”

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CLOUD IS UP, VR IS DOWN There is more content commissioned for non-broadcast use than broadcast... that is going to start to change everything

By Neal Romanek

In his role as managing director of the Digital Production Partnership, Mark Harrison has become something of a soothsayer. As one of the UK’s leading TV industry trade organisations, the DPP – and Harrison – frequently feature in ‘what to expect in the year ahead’ type industry debate. The DPP has gone a step further this year, and has published the results of a study in which UK media industry leaders assess where we’re headed in 2017, and what their major concerns are over the next 12 months. “This is the first time the DPP has released its own set of predictions,” says Harrison. “A lot of people do predictions, so we had to ask what the DPP contribute to this space. The answer is that the DPP can bring people in from the whole supply chain. When we look at an area for discussion, we get a very rounded, real-world view.” For its new report, the DPP asked its members what would make a material impact on their businesses over the next 12 to 24 months. What will affect their key business decisions? The survey produced 55 different issues that ranged from very technical topics like IP production, edge networks and multi-cloud to general trends like speed, security and quality, and even to cultural issues like authenticity and the appetite amongst users for live content. Harrison presented the highlights of the report at his BVE keynote presentation and produced some surprises. The surveyed companies listed the technological issues they thought would have the greatest impact on their business. Coming in at the top of a list of eight was the cloud.

Mark Harrison Managing director DPP

“It sounds so dull,” says Harrison, “but what people are saying is they can see a great deal of potential for cloud-based working, but by and large they aren’t there yet. The benefits to cloud working are going to come up in several years time, but the next couple years is going to be about the transition to being able to realise those benefits. The most important thing is something that is invisible.” What was at the bottom of the list? Only the most hyped and glamourised technology of the last year: VR. “People did believe that, yes, VR and AR are here to stay and are going to be influential. But they’re only going to be influential in very specific areas, particularly around providing experience; experiences related to branded content, training and education pieces. These are things around the fringes of TV, but not massively part of the TV experience. For many areas of media, there won’t be a pressing need to adapt to VR. “There’s also a feeling that the technology is not quite there yet. And we felt like people got too excited about it last year.” The predictions sit within some background context points, watchwords that are of general industry themes right now. Harrison calls them calls the industry’s “mood music”. They are: mobility, quality, live, speed and security. Harrison also notes that the composition of the DPP is changing, because what it means to be a broadcaster is changing. “Most of the people we have had in the room were from ‘mass media’, making or supplying to what we would call television. That group is becoming more aware of that there is more content commissioned for non-broadcast use than broadcast, and that change is going to start to change everything. There will be more content of more different types, and that will start to change the model.”

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THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT Adrian Wootton Chief executive Film London

By Jenny Priestley

Film London chief executive Adrian Wootton discussed the rise of UK-US co-productions at this year’s BVE, something he feels hugely benefits both the UK film and TV industries. With Brexit now looming ever closer, Wootton says it’s having a surprisingly positive effect on our creative industries. “We’ve had this phenomenal rise over the last ten years, but certainly the last three or four years, in the amount of international productions being made in the UK,” he explains. “We’ve broken all records with new figures that came out a couple of weeks ago, and that’s down to tax credits, the development of infrastructure, our visual effects, our crews. We’ve become one of the most competitive and attractive places in the world to make largescale feature films and independent films as well. An unexpected consequence of Brexit means that the exchange rate makes us more attractive too.” Wootton says the success of the British TV and film industries is helping to retain key personnel in the UK; something that hasn’t always happened before. “Obviously in front of the camera I would argue we’ve got the greatest acting talent pool in the world outside of the US. In the the past, any actors, directors or writers demonstrating real flair and talent got on a plane to LA and stayed there. “What’s actually happening is that because of the development of the infrastructure and the amount of work that’s coming in this direction, we have more film stars actually shooting in London than in LA right now. Creative talent is now staying in the UK and basing itself here.

“This infrastructure has meant that a whole new technology has been developed. We’re leading in both stereoscopic 3D technology and motion capture. If you look at companies like The Imaginarium, with digital technology that visual effects companies have developed specifically for particular films – the Harry Potter series is an example – our R&D has advanced beyond other countries. It’s meant fantastic employment for our crews, for our visual effects artists and technicians, for our security services. What the US and international investment has done is grow the infrastructure for the benefit of UK Film and Television PLC.” But while there are many positives for the UK’s creative industries, Wootton admits Brexit does pose some problems. “There are challenges for the selling of independent films in terms of export sales, potential change in trade agreements, there are challenges in terms of talent - we want the best global talent to be able to come into the UK. We already have visa exception rules for talent not in Europe, but we’re very concerned, and we’ve been talking to government along with our industry partners about this, to ensure that the rules do not become prohibitive for creative talent from Europe. Our visual effects and animation industries draw heavily on that talent to come in and work. It’s not because we have skill shortages, but because that interaction is so inspiring and those companies thrive on that interaction. “We’re working with India, China and Latin America,” he continues. “But we absolutely want to retain the strengths that we have now. Brexit hasn’t damaged us yet. In fact, it has accelerated our demand, but we’ve got to deal with the challenges Brexit poses really effectively to ensure we remain competitive.”

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FACING OFF AGAINST BREXIT

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Rebecca O’Brien Producer Sixteen Films

By Neal Romanek

If a film detailing the bureaucratic cruelty against the individual citizen was ever going to be a major hit, 2016 was the year. Political dissatisfaction and opportunism on all sides reached a head, and Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake struck a major nerve with audiences and critics. As the producer of Loach’s films for the past twenty years, Rebecca O’Brien, appeared at BVE to talk on the panel “The effect of Brexit on the UK film industry” alongside Bertrand Moullier of international film consultancy Narval Media. Producers of indigenous British films frequently rely on co-funding from the continent – and vice versa – but it’s uncertain how much of this co-funding will survive the British secession from the EU. Given how aggressively Brexit was sold as a way to put Britain first, it’s a terrible irony that it threatens to damage an already struggling British home-grown sector. “I’m a regular co-producer with different European countries,” says O’Brien. “That’s the way I’ve funded my films for a very long time. The actual mechanism by which we do co-productions comes under the Treaty Of Rome, which is an earlier iteration of the agreement. Because of the Treaty Of Rome, we can still do co-productions and apply for co-production status.” However, being out of the EU will mean the UK is no longer a member of Creative Europe, which is the European Commission organisation for supporting culture and the audio-visual sectors.

“Creative Europe supports the film industry in two ways,” explains O’Brien. “Firstly, it provides development money. I have used that three or four times over the years. It means that you can get a grant, which you can use for script development, and there’s nothing better than that money. The money pays for half of the development of a script, and you find money from elsewhere to match it. But once you’ve achieved getting it – it’s quite a painful application – then you have that money for good. When you get it back – by going into production, say – you can cycle it into developing other projects. That’s been a real lifeline for a lot of independent producers. “The second thing, which is even more important, is that the British film distribution business is heavily dependent on Creative Europe grants for exhibition. Any European films that we see in the cinema are supported by these big exhibition grants. It’s very difficult for European films to be seen here, and for our films to be seen in Europe, without that grant.” Whether or not the UK relationship with Creative Europe is at this point up to the will and the negotiating powers of the UK government. “They need to understand that this issue is bigger than they probably know. We could, like Norway, buy into Creative Europe. I think that’s our only sensible hope. That’s what I’d like to see the government do.” If the goal of Brexit really is to promote and preserve indigenous talent and home-grown businesses, then a lot of careful consideration and hard political dialogue need to take place. Forums like the BVE conference are going to be essential in sharing ideas and energising the industry to go out and get the deal it deserves.

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Technology is nothing without people. And people are a lot more complicated to manage than technology

Donna Mulvey-Jones Head of post production FreemantleMedia UK

AN ENTIRE INDUSTRY UNDER ONE ROOF By Jenny Priestley Donna Mulvey-Jones was appointed head of post production for FremantleMedia UK in 2015 – the third consecutive company at which she has held that title. She kick started her career at Maverick Television in Birmingham in 2002. “I started in production and loved it,” she says. “But an opportunity to grow an internal edit facility came up and I wanted to learn more about post production. It turned out I loved this part even more. “I learn something every single day, even after ten years. I grew my department and role naturally over time. The explosion of technology made my presence within a production company so much more valuable.” It was late 2015 when Mulvey-Jones spoke to FremantleMediaUK. “I got an amazing opportunity to head up a brand new, high spec post facility, offering in-house post to their UK labels across a range of genres,” she explains. ATTRACTING THE VERY BEST Mulvey-Jones chaired a panel discussion of BVE: ‘Building the dream team’. She explains, “If there’s one topic I love more than post, it’s leadership. Technology is nothing without people. And people are a lot more complicated to manage than technology! Ahead of BVE, Mulvey-Jones found “an amazing panel of experts” to discuss a range of questions around how to build the best teams and then get the best out of them. “We discussed how to attract the best talent to our business, how much time should we be dedicating to training and developing internal

talent, the benefits of having a diverse team, and where we’re currently falling short. And, when we’ve managed to build our dream team, what more can we be doing to keep hold of people.” THE VALUE OF BVE “I love how much BVE has grown in recent years,” Mulvey-Jones smiles. “The panels are usually full of take away information. The networking opportunities are priceless. It’s also a great time-saver as I get to be updated on the whole industry under one roof. “It’s made me feel old when the fresh young talent comes in and can’t comprehend how we used to shoot on tape only a few years back. The biggest change for me has been the blend between production and post. Having that bridge to communicate between the two critical stages of programme making. Being an in-house department has been perfect for this.” She moves on to her annual BVE ritual: “I always walk around the whole hall and specifically go and see anything that I don’t know what it is. I’m happy to be the one asking ‘dumb’ questions when really that’s what everyone wants to ask. It’s also great to just network. I’d love to meet some new freelancer colourists, dubbing mixers and online editors, especially for scripted content.” With the usage of tape deliverables falling by the wayside, MulveyJones looks upon the storage horizon, and concludes: “Each year we see less and less tape deliverables. This year, I can see us no longer using our decks. “Storage is something else that grows each year as acquisition codecs and resolutions get higher and higher. We are also looking to utilise Interplay and Forscene more as we attempt to educate users on the benefits of this technology.”

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MOVING AS A PACK The worldwide audience is getting used to digesting information in a video format

Simeone Quarrie Visual storyteller, and MD Vivida Productions

By Neal Romanek

Vivida’s Simeon Quarrie brought his years of experience shooting weddings, corporates, and commericials to a special lighting seminar at BVE, run in partnership with lighting company LCA Lights Camera Action. Quarrie’s career originally started in shooting weddings, providing both high-end video and photography services. The services included professional lighting and staging of scenes. The work caught the eye of businesses and corporates, and the company’s work began to shift into those areas. He notes that the opportunities for indie production companies in the internet age have exploded, particularly for corporate video. “Very early on when I did corporate video, I struggled because of the old distribution method,” says Quarrie. “It meant going and printing DVDs, which sometimes cost more than the project itself. And then you hoped people would open up the envelope, and open up the box and then put it inside a DVD player, or even a VHS player. “But now, there’s this expectation that there will be video content everywhere. It could be for internal use or part of external comms. And the worldwide audience is getting used to digesting information in a video format, which means there is a new place for skilled production companies to produce corporate, commercial and advertising video content.” Quarrie notes that the varying needs of corporations also require nuanced approaches. “Because of the frequency with which video content is created, there are tiers in terms of the type of content created. There’s daily content,

then there’s other video that generally represents the brand, and there’s advertising, which is higher budget but less frequent. They almost require different solutions. “Corporations are also looking to create video content internally, which is great for some people in the industry who don’t feel like they have the business understanding to be a freelancer, or to run a production company responsible for bringing in its own business. There are some who just want to focus only on the creation. And there are new opportunities to explore these by working in-house. “At Vivida, we love the creative, story-driven brand content, but we also realise the importance and the profitability involved in creating good, meaningful internal corporate communications.” A Canon and Manfrotto ambassador, Quarrie has always been eager to pass on his knowledge, whether on the web or through workshops around the world. He feels it’s a debt he’s paying to all those who taught him along the way. “I’ve had to take the long route in terms of learning and education. I’m totally self-taught. When I started, I had the vision of getting involved with photography and video, but that was before broadband speeds were such that you could really learn using the internet. I know how much I’ve benefited over the years, picking up bits of information. And I’ve always used expos like BVE heavily to learn and to meet up with people. I’m definitely one who likes to develop myself and my business, but also to share as much knowledge with others as possible. “Passing on your knowledge makes you sharper. It makes you better at what you do. I’m a believer that if more people in the industry work to a higher standard, then that helps everybody. I enjoy moving as a pack. And if I’m in a position to be leading in that, then I’m happy.”

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Comedy has been seen as the poor relation to drama, but I think that is about to change

Jon Mountague Head of comedy Sky

COMEDY REACHES FOR THE SKY By Neal Romanek With their deluge of high quality content, the OTT heavyweights like Amazon and Netflix are challenging broadcasters to up their game. We all know that drama is king right now, but Jon Mountague, Sky’s head of comedy, believes that high quality funny stuff is closing in fast on its heels and that international comedy can be as successful as international drama has been. “Drama has been on fire in terms of global sales,” says Mountague. “But I think comedy is about to have its moment in the sun, and comedy as a genre may start to catch up with drama in terms of international sales. “Comedy can come under attack. It is sometimes considered expensive, or is said to have a high fail rate. I want to remind people of how, when comedy works, we all love it. Comedy has been seen as the poor relation to drama, but I think that is about to change.” “Big drama”, whether from HBO, Netflix, the BBC, or Denmark’s public service broadcaster DR, has commanded audiences worldwide. Mountague thinks that British comedy is at a point where it can start to command the same enthusiasm. “It’s always suggested that comedy doesn’t travel, and British comedy can be very specific and very local, but I think those attitudes are beginning to break down. I also think there’s a certain skill in how we, as comedy, can reach out to international audiences. BBC Three’s Fleabag is an interesting moment from a British perspective, looking

at the global marketplace, in that it’s made a fairly seamless transition over to Amazon. Looking at our customer research at Sky, we see audiences are demanding both types of content. So there’s power in the global and there’s power in the local. “Now there’s an interesting space where you might conflate those two, with shows that are British in location and talent, but have an international outlook. Editorially, we can start to be cleverer about how we internationalise. It’s written, show-run and cast here, but with one eye on reaching an international, particularly US, audiences.” The big movie studios have shifted production to focus on growing the largest international audience possible. If a concept isn’t going to play well in China, it’s far less likely to get a green light. Is Mountague worried the same watering down might occur if TV comedy producers try to appeal to a global audience? “I think TV is currently doing the opposite of what cinema is doing. And I’m not sure giant audiences are as important to certain platforms and providers as they once were. One of the metrics we use at Sky is the “passion score”. Sometimes what’s more important is how devoted a certain audience might be to a certain show, rather than whether millions and millions of people are watching. “Some of the comedies we’ve got coming up on Sky are challenging and morally ambiguous in tone. And they’re deliberately designed to be so, because have an audience who wants to be challenged and wants to ask questions.”

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I think a good show has to be visually appealing. It’s got to be authentic, it’s got to be relevant, and most importantly, it’s got to be something that touches people

Nicoline Refsing Founder and creative director Rockart Design

COMPOSING IN SPACE By James Groves

Nicole Refsing lives in London and is the founder and main creative force behind Rockart Design, which specialises in the design, creative direction and artistic delivery of high-end TV shows, tours, festivals and events, both in the UK and internationally. She began her career working with architect Mark Fisher, tracking him down after watching a Rolling Stones concert he had designed. After six months of working as intern, Refsing was offered a paid role and stayed working with Fisher for the next six years. Since starting out on her own, she has worked on the Brit Awards, National Television Awards and Eurovision Song Contest and can count One Direction, Little Mix and Olly Murs among her clients. After growing up in Copenhagen, Refsing went on to study at Denmark’s Royal Academy. “I was very fortunate that as part of my master’s degree I was exchanged to a Japanese university and I went over there to study traditional Japanese architecture,” she says. “I watched them compose in space, and that’s where everything settled for me. I thought ‘I know what they do’. I could see what they do with different textures, the surfaces. Even the acoustics in the room were planned, and the viewing angles: the foreground, the middle ground and the background, all of that fell into place.” Refsing’s hard work has caught the attention of some major show producers in recent years: “The National Television Awards contacted me when they were moving to the O2 from the Royal Albert Hall. I helped them scale up that show, which was really interesting, and also

position it visually as a brand, and as brand experience. I worked with them on the core values of the show, and working out how to convey in the design and the experience you get when you go into the arena. Because I’ve got my design background and I have such a good knowledge of what technically and practically brings a show together, it’s been very interesting to do those kinds of things.” One of the biggest shows Refsing has been involved in was the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, where she was appointed creative director and content producer for the whole show; no mean feat. “We created the 37 performances on the show. Once you get to grips with the structure and the rhythm of the show, you start working with the dramatic turns and how it all aligns, you have your quiet moment, you have your big moment, you make it exciting, relevant and authentic. “With Eurovision, I had two ambitions,” Refsing explains. “I didn’t want any library stock on the screen. It was all bespoke and created from scratch, and I wanted to create a unique look for everyone. Everyone appearing on that show should come out and feel that they have a completely unique space. In many ways, we succeeded. Some of the acts needed a little set piece, which I designed and then added to the performance, but I always work with the artist and see what their strengths are. Do they fill out a big space? Do they need a big space? Are they stronger in a confined space? It’s about amplifying the story they’re trying to tell. “I think a good show has to be visually appealing. It has to catch people’s interest,” says Refsing. “It’s got to be authentic, it’s got to have a storytelling element to it, it’s got to be relevant, and most importantly, it’s got to be something that touches people.”

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Rob Drewett BBC wildlife cameraman, and founder, Motion Impossible

THE RISE OF AUTONOMY By James Groves Having been a wildlife cameraman for the BBC for over five years – and recently being responsible for the footage of Planet Earth II – claiming that Rob Drewett leads an exciting life would be something of a colossal understatement. That’s without mentioning that he’s CEO of his own company. It wasn’t, however, always so interesting, says Drewett: “I was one of those kids that had no idea what I wanted to do... so I became a tree surgeon! As unusual as those beginnings sound, the job meant that I could travel. It was in Thailand on an island called Koh Tao where I first picked up a camera and started to film with it, but it was 20 metres underwater where I first found my love for filmmaking. “Island life – though amazing – is not real, so I came home to seek what I really wanted to do, and that was make wildlife documentaries.” In 2011, Drewett managed exactly that, joining the BBC under a bursary scheme as a trainee wildlife cameraman. “I worked with the best in the industry,” he says. “I was one of the first people in the UK to buy a free-fly gimbal, so I was introduced to that technology very early on in my career. I used it lots of productions, but I wanted to move the camera differently. Movement was always my thing, especially due to my role at the BBC. It was integral to what I was doing. I wanted to move the gimbal along the ground on a remote vehicle.” THE FUTURE OF FILMMAKING This, says Drewett, is what brought about the creation of his own company: Motion Impossible. “After working with the remote vehicle, I also wanted to get the gimbal high, so we could do presenter-led content.

The future of this is making it entirely autonomous and stable. You need to get to the stage where you put it in a room, it scans the room, you put waypoints in there and it essentially works as a motion capture device.” Drewett says that Motion Impossible has now evolved into a robotics company. “That’s where I see the future of TV-making,” he explains. “Everything is still manned at the moment – it’s just getting lighter, easier and more cost effective. Gimbal technology wasn’t available two years ago, and now everything has one. Drones, handhelds, stabilised camera heads… it’s becoming easier to make these things, so there are so many options out there. Autonomy is not something that is out there at the moment. VR and AR need that sort of technology, because that’s the way it will progress. Robotics has a huge future in filmmaking. COPING WITH BANDITS Drewett moved onto “one of his greatest achievements” – his work on Planet Earth – specifically, capturing the locusts: “It was difficult to try and film several billion of them, not just to find them, but also to keep up with them. We found a great spot to film. We had not had any confirmed sighting of a swarm yet, so we kept on fine-tuning our technique of herding the hoppers into our shots. News must have travelled of our whereabouts, and after a few days of filming, two large pick-up trucks turned up and six guys got out. They warned us that bandits knew of our location and we should go visit the chief of the local village and give him an offering to stop the bandits approaching us. “It’s an unnerving feeling when you’re a small team in a foreign and unstable country being told that you might be held up by gun point. Unsurprisingly, we cut the filming short and drove north!”

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It’s the best job I could ever have asked for Jonathan Harrison Award-winning director of photography

By James Groves Jonathan Harrison has been an inspiration to multiple generations of industry folk. His three BVE masterclasses (yes, three!), overflowed onto the show floor at the London ExCeL. But what attracts the crowds? After nearly 40 years in the industry, it’s easier to start from the beginning. Harrison started out at the BBC’s Ealing Film Studios in 1975, working as a projectionist. “I always wanted to be a cameraman,” states Harrison. “The training course I did at Ealing was probably the best thing I’ve ever done – career-wise, at least – in my life. You work your way up the ladder, and in that process, you learn about all the jobs and avenues that you can explore, from camera to sound to electricals, to grip, editing and dubbing. “Working at Ealing was an amazing experience. There were 40-plus permanent film crews based there, the biggest film unit in the world, and you’d turn up on a Monday and look at the allocation board, and it might say Brazil for two weeks, or Panorama, or drama with Ken Loach. “You didn’t know what you were going to do, but you knew that it was guaranteed to be exciting. Things were still developing in the industry, and you were pushing boundaries with things that people had never seen before.” A PAID HOBBY In 1988, after serving at the BBC for 13 years, Harrison decided it was time for a change. He left to become a freelancer, and that’s where his career really took off. He says, “I did a little drama, but it was mostly doing big documentary series (one being BAFTA nominated); in-depth eco-political, serious docs. They seem to have almost disappeared nowadays.” After gaining this experience, Harrison began presenting masterclasses on shooting and lighting, and not just at the ExCeL. “It took me around the world many times, and I’m still going!” Harrison smiles. “It’s the best job I could ever have asked for.

“When you’ve got a job that you love doing, it’s not a job, it’s a paid hobby. I’ve met and worked with amazing people – kings and queens, and real celebrities and stars. You see the whole spectrum of life – the beginning, and sadly, the end. You see people with everything, and people with nothing. It’s a huge, mind-expanding but grounding experience.” LIGHTING IS EVERYTHING Harrison reflects, sadly, that the industry has changed unrecognisably with the evolution of “cheap handy-cam” technology: “It’s just money now, and you’re just a number to general production companies. It’s a shame, because I don’t think that will ever change. “People now come straight in to the industry three quarters of the way up the ladder, having been to film school, and they think they know everything. It’s amazing – and scary – what they don’t actually teach in film school.” Harrison quotes a letter – one of many – that he has received in recent years following his masterclasses at BVE: “I’ve learnt more in one hour at BVE than I did in three years at college.” This, he says, shocked him: “It’s such a pleasure to hand my skills on and get comments like that, but it’s a concern. “They don’t teach people lighting very well at all; or at least many universities don’t. I’ve been to many where I see equipment that is at least 20 years old; the students are going to come out into 2017 and pick up equipment they have never seen, and have no idea what they’re doing. For the amount of money people are charged, they should be using quality, up-to-date kit.” So what, specifically, is so special about Harrison’s BVE sessions? “I deliver genuine core craft skills that people can take away that day and be able to make their images better,” he says. “Lighting is everything. Without light, there is nothing and the whole TV system is useless. “The art of lighting is about creating emotion, texture, a feel to a piece. It makes the difference between a memorable and forgettable image. I always use this analogy with Michelin-Star food; it’s the same idea. You have all these amazing ingredients. You mix, you blend, you balance. And that quality makes all the difference in the world.”

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When people think about exciting lighting it doesn’t have to be all lights blazing

Tim Routledge Award-winning lighting designer

FROM BEYONCE TO BROADCAST By Neal Romanek Tim Routledge began his career as a lighting programmer working on many major events including the London 2012 Olympics. Since then he’s moved up to lighting designer, working on everything from Beyonce’s Formation world tour to The X Factor. Routledge believes the differences between lighting for events and broadcast are becoming smaller and smaller: “Everything we do now appears on camera, be it YouTube, live, DVD, or TV,” he says. “It’s about taking all those skills and making sure they’re transferable between the two – creating looks that are more interesting and dynamic for broadcast, whilst also using the broadcast skills in the stadium shows. “They’re different in their styles of management and organisation, but the skills are transferable across the two areas,” continues Routledge. “TV shows are getting bigger in their ambition and scale, especially on the light entertainment side, and I think we spend a lot of time paying attention to detail of cue structuring and timing of lighting cues, which hasn’t necessarily been seen in TV before.” Routledge thinks TV audiences are becoming more savvy when it comes to how a show is produced. “I think some viewers notice it,” he says. “Sometimes people flash the lights too much because they think a light entertainment show has to be flashy lighting.”

He insists that while a flashy light show might work on a younger audience, it’s not right for all viewers. “I do find a lot of older viewers tend to find modern lighting on TV very distracting. They find it hard to see what’s going on. When people think about exciting lighting, it doesn’t have to be all lights blazing. It needs to be sculpted and crafted properly; your main focus should be what’s going on on-stage. Sometimes lighting can overtake that.” Although he’s hoping to move further into broadcast, Routledge’s work is gaining popularity with some of the biggest music acts in the world. “The Beyonce gig came via a colleague of mine who’d been approached to be the set designer,” he explains. “I was put forward along with a number of designers, and it came about very last minute. Within a day of speaking to them, I was involved in her Super Bowl appearance, and then got involved in the Formation tour. I worked with her very closely over that period. I’m currently in the middle of designing Take That’s new tour, and then I’m working with Jeff Lynne’s ELO again in the summer.” Routledge says he was delighted to be asked to speak at this year’s BVE, and he sees the event as a key opportunity to meet people and see the latest innovations. “BVE is massively important,” he explains. “It’s about the chance to meet people, but also it’s so hard to keep up with the latest stuff, to see all the equipment, you need to sometimes take time out and go to these events and see what’s going on. It’s important to have events where everything and everyone comes together.”

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I always have the mentality that I should be focused on the next challenge

Josh Wilson MD, Wilson Worldwide Productions

THE ‘GENISYS’ OF AN IDEA By Neal Romanek What had you accomplished by the age of 26? Starting your second job? Finding your feet in the industry? By 26, Josh Wilson has launched his own production company – Wilson Worldwide Productions (WWP) – chaired panels at BVE for the past three years and created a charity, Genisys. And he’s not done there. “There’s a quote I use all the time ‘I never arrive, I’m always becoming’”, says Wilson. “It’s from one of my favourite basketball players – JJ Redick. I always have the mentality that I should always be focused on the next challenge.” Genisys works with 18-25 year olds in a number of industries around the world, particularly creative ones, such as media, and Wilson admits it has become a passion. “It’s much more important to me than my actual work, in terms of helping other people develop and do what they want to do in their lives. I think if someone has a profession, has a skill, they can always learn. If they don’t have something to fall back on then that’s hugely detrimental to their life. I think it’s very, very important that people can do what they want to do, that they have the opportunity to do it, and that we can teach and develop them to a stage where they can utilise and introduce new skills into the industry. “What we aim to do is to educate someone in certain courses with the skillset that they require for that particular profession, and elevate them to a stage where they can get employment. We will subsidise parts of to make it more attractive to employers,” explains Wilson.

“I feel that the more WWP grows as a company, and the more exciting projects we do in the future, the charity can grow too; and if the charity grows, we can do some really exciting things in the UK and abroad. Wilson has plenty of plans in place for WPP to grow in 2017. “We’re producing quite a large, landmark show for Sky. Mission Mudder is going to feature a number of high-profile Olympians competing in a number of Tough Mudder courses, culminating in quite a large event. We have a lot of projects planned, and lot of projects in the pipeline that we’re very, very excited about. It’s looking like a very good year!” Wilson was delighted to be asked back to BVE once again, and sees the show as another way of giving back. “I believe knowledge is really important. I remember I didn’t know anything my first year, I used to come to these events and learn; learn and apply. “It’s highly important, I feel, to keep increasing and developing knowledge and developing contacts, because you’re in a room full of people that may be able to sustain your development as a producer or whatever your remit may be in our industry. The most important thing is the development of knowledge and the making of new contacts. I think if you’re doing that, it can only help you to develop your career further. “The great thing about BVE is that you can come and not know that much about the industry. You can enter for free and learn exactly the same knowledge as you would at any other [paid for] event. It really ticks the boxes for a number of elements in our industry. That’s why I keep coming back to chair year after year.”

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The fundamental problem is that manufacturers don’t cooperate enough

Roland Hemming Consultant RH Consulting

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEROPERABILITY By Jenny Priestley Roland Hemming is an audio consultant and project manager. His 28year career in the industry has taken him to live events, construction sites, hotels, theatre, corporate AV, broadcast, education and stadia. For the 2012 Olympic Games, Hemming was appointed venue technology manager for audio, working for the London Organising Committee. He was responsible for all Games audio, with the exception of the opening and closing ceremonies. Hemming began his career quite literally at the bottom – coiling cables in the warehouse of a rental company. Now he runs RH Consulting: “We help manufacturers develop next-generation products,” he explains. “We give them a lot of advice on things to do with digital audio networking, user interface, product roadmap, etc.” The future of the audio industry is a subject that is close to Hemming’s heart, and he isn’t afraid to admit that there is a lot of work to do. “The next big thing the industry has to sort out is interoperability,” says Hemming. “There are various methods the audio industry uses to send audio from one item of equipment to another, and those methods are very well established and we’ve been using them for years. However, there are a variety of methods and they’re incompatible with each other. What’s happened recently is that some people have worked out how to make them compatible with each other, so that more things interoperate.” But that’s not the only thing Hemming feels the industry needs to get to grips with. “We’ve been moving sound from A to B – that’s easy – but what we haven’t had is the ability to control other equipment in a

universal way. At the moment, everything’s very specific and the industry’s now trying to address the problem of how to have a universal way of telling things what to do. It’s quite complex to do because sound equipment is so complex. Fundamentally, it’s about tying to understand what it is we’re trying to solve, because there are lots of initiatives and standards and committees, but there are very few people looking at what happens when a real engineer is trying to do something on-site.” Hemming says his company has been at the forefront of trying to bring about change. “We have been very outspoken on how ineffective the industry has been in trying to solve these problems, and that’s done us a whole load of good, because people have gone into a ‘hissy fit’ about some of the things we’ve said, and so far most of them have turned out to be true. “That’s why we still exist. In many ways we say the things other people are thinking, but are afraid to say. We are overtly critical, especially of manufacturers, and they need to wake up and smell the coffee of what the problems are. The fundamental problem from our point of view is that manufacturers don’t co-operate enough. We often compare ourselves to the computer industry where, whilst there is competition, it’s just a given that your stuff has to work with everybody else. “Even Apple is remarkably compatible,” says Hemming. “It’ll connect to any Wi-Fi or any printer, and you don’t even think about it. The development starts with just a few agreements of ‘this is how we do things’, ‘this is what’s important to a user’, whereas the audio industry is still very much based on features and making things louder and better. Interoperability isn’t high up the list of what manufacturers think of, and that’s been our main criticism of the industry.”