5 ON THE FARM

Udderly great

Isla Miskelly, director of Showrunner Productions, and Carl Bathgate, director of Ghostwriter Consultancy and Events, produced and promoted Channel 5’s new 5 On The Farm festival

Stars of Channel 5’s hit TV programmes – Our Yorkshire Vet, This Week on the Farm and Milkshake! – took to the stage in Barnsley last month and welcomed thousands of visitors to 5 On The Farm, a new three-day festival that celebrated the network’s muchloved shows.

When the festival was launched in December 2020, Ben Frow, director of programmes for ViacomCBS’ UK networks, said that the festival gave the media giant a new way to connect with its audiences. It was a vehicle; 5 On The Farm would provide audiences with more opportunities to engage with their favourite programmes and screen stars.

Ghostwriter Consultancy and Events and Showrunner Productions promoted, produced, and delivered the new festival, working together to create an event that brought TV audiences’ favourite shows and characters to life.

ADDING VALUE

The festival concept was developed 18 months ago and organised in just nine months. The biggest challenge was managing uncertainty and the ever-changing Government guidance and having to communicate changes to customers as well as maintaining consumer confidence. But these were all elements that Ghostwriter and Showrunner took in their stride.

Carl Bathgate, director of Ghostwriter Consultancy and Events, explained: “We were the promoter as well as the producer of the event and dealt with everything from developing the concept to marketing and production.

“Whilst it wasn’t the easiest year to launch a festival, and this obviously brought its own set of unique challenges, we delivered a great event.”

Isla Miskelly, director of Showrunner Productions, concurred. Miskelly, former director of events and experience at ViacomCBS, formed Showrunner, a partnership with Ghostwriter, in March. She said: “It was important to us that we produced a real festival experience. Traditionally, the talent we work with attend country shows rather than a full live entertainment event.

“Having produced the initial concept for Viacom and Channel 5, we were able to develop the event as we went through the process, adding value and experiences where we could and stripping out some elements that come 18 months from concept,

didn’t seem to fit the narrative anymore. That ability to flex and work with the brand so closely was key to us being able to deliver the best event possible. We had to produce 29 brand new live shows as part of the event along with all the experiential elements, so it was a huge task to undertake for all involved.”

POWER OF THE SUPERFAN

According to Miskelly, one of the festival’s biggest challenges was around messaging. It was important to educate customers that 5 On The Farm festival was not a country show. Miskelly commented: “It was really important to us that we were clear throughout our campaign that this was one of a kind and perhaps not what our audience have been used to attending.” 5 On the Farm took place at Barnsley’s Cannon Hall Farm, home of This Week on the Farm, from August 28-30. Visitors could attend panels and Q&As, watch live demos, take part in a host of making, baking and countryside activities, meet animals and see their favourite stars perform throughout the weekend. Channel 5’s Milkshake! came alive in the Milkshake! Meadow where kids were able to meet the characters from their favourite shows and get their hands dirty in the Milkshake! Garden.

All the show’s elements were managed by a core team of event professionals, which included Miskelly, festival director, Gemma Shamah, head of operations, Joe Roberts, head of production, and Cleve Rushton, site health and safety officer.

But what did Miskelly learn whilst working on the show? “The real power of the superfan customer,” Miskelly added. “They know your event, your talent and their expectations a lot better than you, so to deliver to a standard of the customer is a much larger task than on anything we’d worked on previously.”

Miskelly told Stand Out that event feedback has been “exceptional” and hopes that 5 On The Farm exceeded expectations, particularly given that the festival was an entirely new concept, delivered in a challenging year.

Bathgate said that there were too many challenges to mention. These are outweighed by the highlights. He continued: “Seeing the whole concept come to reality was a real highlight. Being on site with the team in real life was also a real highlight, for all of us. There were members of our team and employees we’d yet to meet in person.”

So, what’s next? “We enjoyed the challenge and look forward to evolving and improving the concept using all the valuable lessons we learned along the way,” said Bathgate.

Miskelly confirmed that the team is affectionately referring to 5 On The Farm 2022 as “Season 2”. She concluded: “We’re much looking to the future of the event and what we can deliver to make it even better.”

SUPPLIERS LIST

Security – Titan Risk Management Staging, lighting and sound – Production Hire Event décor – Bazaar Traffic management – CTM Cleaning – Traceys Cleaners