Author Archive

What’s the problem and how do we fix it?

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

Today we launched an online consultation into the issues and potential fixes for the Facilities sector - post, studio, ob’s, kit hire, etc. It is the first time that this important part of the media industry will focus on it’s skills - so please do take the time to give us your views. The previous […]

What will become of post production?

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

Last night saw me at the graduation party for the new stars of post production in the South West of England. “First Post” is a scheme Skillset and the industry created to give new employees in post production the competence and confidence to ensure that they (and their companies) will be a success. […]

Where have all the engineers gone?

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

One of the areas of work I have been doing over the last two years is looking at the crisis facing engineering in the audio visual sector. Simply put we don’t have enough of them, the ones we do have don’t have the right mix of skills, no-one else understands what they do, no-one wants […]

Grow some Management and Leadership skills or die!

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Broadcast published an article yesterday based on our draft Facilities Strategy. It will hopefully kick up some dust - the main thrust is that unless the sector grows or buys in some management and leadership skills it will die.
I am quoted as saying that “the facilities sector is divided; some companies are deploying business acumen […]

Mumbai - Back in Blighty; a conclusion

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

My word, it’s cold after 35 degrees! A bit of a shock to the system, but once the washing has been done, the gifts distributed, the body clock back to normal, what has it meant?
In order to make a little sense, I have been thinking along the lines of a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, […]

Mumbai - Day Six

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

My last full day in Mumbai, the day is one to catch up and reflect and try to make sense of what Mumbai and the UK can do together. There are opportunities, but also problems:-

Prime Focus, a major player here has already purchased a London facility. Another deal seems to be nearing completion, rumours abound […]

Mumbai - Day Five

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Today is the day of the signing of the Film Treaty between London and Mumbai. At the Whistling Woods Film School, actor Amitabh Bachchan (who may be unknown to us but is one of the most famous people in the world, with more people seeing him on screen than any other) joined our “Honourable […]

Mumbai - Day Four

Monday, November 19th, 2007

I am starting to feel the pace now - long days with our evenings filled with fantastic food have been fabulous fun but tiring. So today was supposed to be a light day of visiting Prime Focus in the morning, then I was to head up to the newest and probably largest training facility here, […]

Mumbai - Day Three

Sunday, November 18th, 2007

Today is our full-on get-to-know-the-industry day. We start with a round table with five leading players in the industry - Mr Biswajeet Chatterjee (sound engineer) Dr Siddharth Jain (Technical Director and Studio owner), Mr Vivek Agrawal (VFX Director and Post Production Supervisor), Mr Anurag Pandey (Radio DJ) and Mr Rajiv Shah (Consultant). I was asked […]

Mumbai - Day Two

Saturday, November 17th, 2007

Sunday and we head off to the south of Mumbai to the offices of the Deputy High Commissioner to get an overview of doing work in India for UK companies, and for a detailed portrait of the facilities sector. We are also joined by the Film London delegation - 8 or so London film producers […]