My views on the future for training professionals

Last night saw me give a speech at MITA AGM – the “Moving Image Training Alliance” – a group of 30 or so professional training companies supporting the screen-based industry. It’s a real success in it lasting for over a year – many trade associations crumble early, so much of my talk was congratulatory. But then I was asked to discuss what the key challenges facing the training professionals in keeping our industries healthy and skilled are – which leads, of course, to thoughts about the future. It was also one of the first times that I have given an actual speech – with it written down (I usually just talk!) . So, in the spirit of exploiting content I thought I would publish an extract here – it’s a bit long, but it may be of interest:

 

“I was asked me to do a number of things in my talk today – and one of which is to talk about the challenges facing the training professionals in equipping creative media industry with the skills they need for the future. It is this view of the future that I want to focus on tonight.  There are some well-rehearsed discussions from the industry that I could give here – lack of ideas at the start of the creative process meaning that there isn’t the raw material to start with; lack of realistic ambitions meaning that new starts into the industry are often perceived as disappoints; rapid technology change meaning that we seem to be on a cycle of about 18 months for operational training; lack of professional management skills in the sector meaning that we see scores of ill-advised and poorly thought out business decisions – with my old sector, post production, adding to the list of closed companies almost weekly.

 

But for me, the biggest challenge, and perhaps opportunity, facing the industry, and therefore all of you as a vital part of that ecology is in that dreaded “c” word. Convergence. It’s a difficult word, “convergence” meaning very different things to different people. In TV, it seemed to have its moment, then disappeared with it going out of favour of “360 commissioning” – the idea that you can start at commission to generate ideas that are robust enough to survive exploitation on many different platforms. In the web world it is more likely called “multi-platform delivery” – how to squeeze and reshape content to fit as many possible channels of delivery.

 

But for me, convergence isn’t about the need understand what different delivery platforms exists, or what shape a key idea needs to start at – it is a much bigger shift, and impacts on every single sector of the creative media industry. I have been discussing with colleagues at Skillset, and in the wider industry – and with some of you, for some time now the idea that the creative industry can continue to be split up into film, TV, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, publishing and photo-imaging – needs to be re-drawn. And I have to stress that this part of my talk is me, Triston, speaking, not a new direction for Skillset. But those that know me will recognise that I like to speak my mind, and not necessarily always on message!

 

This traditional sector map of the world that we work off is historical, and particularly difficult to use to navigate the area of convergence.

 

Take the convergence that a programme like Torchwood demonstrates.
(1)  It needs to create a presence on the TV screen with the programme,
(2)  needs to create exciting and dynamic trails,
(3)  needs to exploit this online with a website,
(4)  with a press presence in magazines and articles,
(5)  with a “TV-eating-it’s-own-babies” approach to putting the actors in it’s own chat shows to promote it!

 

So far, so “360 commissioning” – single idea into different contents – but it also created the first for the BBC, I think, ARG – Alternative Reality Game – a web-based mystery, with audio clips, emails, video, to be solved by avid viewers – and perhaps gamers who don’t even watch Doctor Who! A separate entity, with some overlapping plotlines and characters but some that are not. This is a new area – and needs new skills.

 

The BBC are also developing its first MOGG – Massively Multiplayer Online Game. “Tronji” – a 30 part children’s series aimed at 6-9 year olds. It plans to blend live action with real children immersed in the online world – with the scale of the online game being the most ambitious for the age.

 

Channel 4 launched 4IP over the last month in a number of places, with the challenging tagline of “rethinking public service media”. Our hosts here at Horseferry Road know they need to foster new skills in the existing and new media industry – to respond to this call for collaboration, for openness, for catalyzing content.

 

And with the BBC iPlayer, and a multichannel “Kangaroo” platform in the pipeline- what is a broadcaster now? Most of my viewing is done down a Virgin phone line, recording on to a hard disk, with me fast forwarding the adverts (or the boring bits). Throw in a projector rather than a Television and what part of that is TV? BT is no longer a phone company – it is a content provider, and even a commissioner of content!

 

Then look at the convergence facing the Games industry. There are at least 13 video games that have made – or are making – the translation from the small screen to the big one. Max Payne is out now, but soon to follow are other blockbuster movies – Kane & Lynch, Gears of War, Halo, Prince of Persia. And it is not just content for movies – increased processing and graphics power – and increased expectation of audience used to HD content and incredible lifelike CGI – means that the gaming industry itself is looking to other media sectors for skills. We have seen script writing courses games developers, and now they want to know more about picture editing, about sound design, about light effects and camera. The expectations of the consumer forcing convergence.

 

Interactive media is changing radically – web 2.0 sites – such as facebook and you tube – are changing the market model for getting content to consumers, creating the opportunities for consumers to choose which content they will want to see, even distribute. Some companies are exploiting this – some are fighting it.

 

I spoke earlier about the work we at Skillset have been doing around the 2012 Games. Using the Games as a frame with which to look at the world rather than a circus of sport shows a fascinating and changing picture, from which we can gauge future trends. One is that during the 2008 Beijing Games 1 in every 28 website visits in the UK were to a sport-related site – not including aggregators such as BBC iPlayer. This points to an untapped niche of potential audience – hungry for content online. And there was an additional ½ million mobile internet connections made during those 4 weeks – proving that this UK audience is happy and willing to pay a premium for media on the go. The BBC had an interesting 24/7 take on what the audience journey could be like during the games – and it’s the same journey I’ve heard described by newspapers like the Guardian and the Times:

 

I wake up with an SMS message on my phone, telling me what happened during the night, and where we are in the medal tables. As I commute in, I watch a video podcast on my iPod of the highlights. I take a coffee break – and debate online about why we won or lost a particular sport. Lunchtime sees my first interaction with the traditional – and I catch some live TV. Though perhaps I don’t – and just watch live streaming online. The evening commute sees me listening to a Radio Five Live podcast of the day, and the last thing I do before I head off to dream of Olympic gold is watch the day’s TV highlights.

 

So all very interesting for a geek like me, but what does this mean for you?

 

The first is that we have a digital generation divide like no other. The young people of today are happy to play, to interact, manipulate and distribute content like we never were. A friend of mine has an 8 year old daughter, who is happy to use her mobile phone to capture video footage, use the in-phone software to edit it into a story and post it online – all in minutes – and when asked how she learned to “shoot, edit, stream” looks blankly at me. A quick peak on any teenager’s computer screen will see a multitude of different media streams coming in, from MySpace and Facebook, to Twitter, MSN, emails and chat rooms. With music playing in the background. This is both the future audience, as well as the future talent of the industry.

 

The second is that the knowledge and skills that individuals in the creative media industry need to succeed are going to become larger and more complex. At a recent TV event we asked professionals what we can do to look make the future rosy, the assembled masses understood that it was not necessarily new entrants that needed the understanding of this new digital world, but them.

 

The old problems and issues are still there. Too few black or minority ethnic people, too few women (or men), too few people with disability. We have a new entrant workforce that is increasingly graduate. Who (according to the industry) are increasingly ill-equipped with knowledge and skills to thrive in the industry. Who are facing a ever-increasing prospect of long-term debt. We have an industry that is still consolidating, still understanding the challenges, never mind dealing with them, still trying to work out who their customers are – whether that is a post house or a TV production company; a publishing company or a photographer. And we have a funding system that is very much based on old sector models.

 

I said at the start that I felt the sector map we view the world is old, and perhaps unhelpful. As it challenges the industry, so it challenges Skillset and of course – MITA and its members.

 

Instead of imagining the world split out into output platforms, like film, TV, games – I have started to think of it like this:
(1)  There are a bunch of people who are generating ideas – generating IP.
(2)  A second bunch of people take those ideas and make it into a reality – perhaps a virtual reality, but a real commodity.
(3)  And then there is a final sector that get’s that to as many different (and hopefully paying) audiences as possible.

 

Somewhere in those three categories is my sector map. It’s still evolving – and you might not agree – but it’s a debate that is needed.

 

What an uncertain and changing future to be training people for!

 

And somewhere within that mix is the challenge that you, the industry training providers sit in. I look forward to seeing what solutions you come up with, and to know doubt working with all of you – individually and collectively, in the future on a whole heap of interesting, empowering and ground breaking projects and programmes”