Creativity consultant Linda Green, who has worked on BBC shows including Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing, will offer indies advice on winning commissions at the first Broadcast Indie Summit.
Why do you think it’s so important to support the Indie Summit?
TV is going through a great deal of change – events like the Indie Summit allow us to reflect on where we are and where we want to be. It’s a chance to exchange ideas on what really matters in the industry and to gain new insights into how we might fix things.
Also, I’ve made great connections for new projects and collaborations from these type of events, which is an added bonus when so many of us are freelance or always heads-down from one job to another.
What do you think your background and experience will bring to the summit?
I have worked across all genres and platforms in both the creative and business side of TV; on the big BBC shows including the Digital Olympics, Doctor Who, Strictly and Top Gear. I also work with indies and their development teams.
I coach them through the development process – helping them lead creative teams, showing them techniques to brainstorm, how to use audience insights, how to refine ideas and how to ensure they fulfil a commissioner’s brief or a channel’s need.
And then most importantly I work with those teams to ensure their brilliant ideas get commissioned. Having an idea is just the beginning: influencing others and ensuring that idea gets out the room is another whole set of skills. I specialise in creative strategy and training work, so I think I’ll be good at teasing out opportunities for new ideas, new sales revenues, new formats or new partnerships.
What will the audience take away from the Indie Summit?
A key benefit will be making new creative contacts to bounce ideas off, who share the same ambitions and issues. It’s very rare to see others pitch or understand how an idea was commissioned, how it evolved and the breakthrough moment it was commissioned.
At Indie Summit three great creatives – Films of Record’s Neil Grant, Shine TV’s Johnny Meenagh and Stellify’s Matthew Worthy will share insight on how three of the biggest new shows were born.
Delegates will gain insights on TV’s future, lots of tools and tips to win more commissions and develop creative talent, the business do’s and don’ts to grow an indie and a reminder that we are lucky to be working with such talented and creative people.
Green’s Life’s A Pitch session includes case studies from Films of Record’s Neil Grant, Shine TV’s Johnny Meenagh and Stellify’s Matthew Worthy – along with a panel of development executives from Plimsoll Productions, Full Fat TV, Twofour and RDF.