Jean-Michel Jarre: treat artists as commercial partners not data suppliers

RedShark News

The French electronic music star evangelises use of AI in creative work but wants copyright rules in place

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Jean-Michel Jarre is perplexed at the creative industries’ luddite attitude to AI. Arguing that all technology is neutral until charged by human action, the electronic music pioneer claims AI is not a threat, or at least not only a threat.

“It can be one, especially regarding intellectual property, but above all, for me it’s the equivalent of a collaborator, a muse and an assistant,” he said at the World AI Film Festival (WAIFF) of which he is an ambassador. “AI can expand the boundaries of my imagination. That’s why I advocate so strongly for making people understand that we must not confuse the tool with its use. A paintbrush is neutral; it’s the person holding it who decides. And with AI, it’s exactly the same thing.”

The Rendez-Vous artist, now 77, has been using AI to create music and visuals for his concerts for a decade and prefers to think of AI as ‘augmented imagination’.

He expanded on this them at WAIFF in Cannes where his wife, the actor Gong Li, was president of the film festival.

“Ideas for a script or a film or music often appear mysteriously, from within us. But in reality our subconscious harvests from our analogue ‘big data,’ which is our memory, our culture, our environment, our family, even our children. All of that, gathered randomly, produces an idea. AI is not a category of creation in itself. It is simply an augmented way of using that source of inspiration.”

In which case, he acknowledged, all artists are thieves. “I steal everything I hear, everything I see, everything I watch. That’s what shapes an artist’s identity.”

Emotion in art comes from disobeying the rules he suggested. “Think of the greatest performers — Édith Piaf, David Bowie, Ray Charles. They often sing slightly out of tune or off the beat. That tiny deviation is what gives you goosebumps. It’s the creative power of disobedience.”

By extension he argued that creators can use AI to bend the rules. “Trying to extract something unexpected from it is our specificity. It allows us to give something back to [the machine] that is human and creative.”

The role of the creator becomes that of a curator of their own ideas, he contended. “Instead of choosing one path at a time, AI offers multiple possibilities simultaneously, which we can sort, combine, and prioritise. That fundamentally changes the creative process.”

Jarre claimed that music and cinema industries had grown conservative out of fear of innovation.

“Everyone stays in their lane and fears what might disturb them, which is paradoxical for creative work,” he said.

“When photography appeared, painters petitioned to have it banned, saying it would be the end of painting. When cinema appeared, it was seen as a threat to theatre.

“When I started in electronic music, I introduced it at the Paris Opera [in 1971], and the orchestra musicians unplugged the sound system in protest, saying electronic music would be the end of orchestras.

“I remember when people said synthesisers were cold and clinical and could never create music as well as acoustic instruments. But we forget the essential point that it’s not the orchestra or the tool that creates emotion. “It’s because we have invented the violin that Vivaldi existed. It’s because we invented electricity that we had Jimi Hendrix. And it’s because we are inventing a new learning AI model that new forms of art will be created in future.”

He was dismissive of the hyperbole around copyright theft saying that piracy has existed since the time of Rembrandt and Vermeer.

“We must not confuse the misuse of a tool with the tool itself. Fraudulent use of AI does not mean AI itself should be questioned.

“If you ask me whether the next Gainsbourg, or the next Tarantino is in danger, I would say no. What differentiates AI from an artist is that an artist transforms the past into something individual and unique. That cannot be replicated.”

On the other hand, Jarre - a former president of CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) - called for regulation and artist renumeration.

“The value of Generative AI companies today relies largely on human created content. So at some point, we must stop being treated merely as data suppliers and instead become full commercial partners,” he said.

The need to establish rules for AI is urgent, he added. “We need to bring together cinema, music, books, video games, literature, journalism and reach global agreements. I don’t believe we can apply traditional copyright philosophy anymore, simply because most algorithms can no longer identify the exact origin of their sources. It will be difficult to demand traditional copyright remuneration. We need a new model. That’s the challenge.”

Characterising AI’s current state as a “Wild West”, Jarre said rules would enable greater freedom not weaken it. “The difference between chaos and democracy is precisely rules.

“AI means democratisation. Just as music production became accessible from a bedroom twenty years ago, AI will allow people to make films at low cost. This will have a profound impact on emerging countries. Many young creators in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere struggle to produce work; soon they will be able to do so almost independently. That changes everything.

“And if tomorrow an AI‑generated work produces emotion, then perfect — that’s great. As long as intellectual property issues are resolved, there is no problem.”

Provocatively, WAIFF was held in Cannes and in the same Palais just a few weeks before the auteur-led 79th Cannes Film Festival. Jarre thinks one will soon outride the other.

“What we are witnessing here is the equivalent of the Lumière brothers’ The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. Cannes began modestly with just a handful of people 79 years ago. WAIFF will take far less time to become a major global reference.”

Redefining Cinematic Creation - DJI Advertorial

interview and copy written for DJI in Screen Daily P24 Screen Dailies 

Since pioneering the gimbal camera category in 2015 and introducing the world’s first pocket-sized gimbal camera in 2018, DJI has continuously redefined how creators capture motion and tell stories. DJI is making its most visible move yet into the professional cinema space as it brings its new Osmo Pocket 4P camera to the Cannes Film Festival.

The decision to launch at Cannes reflects DJI’s growing heritage in professional production. The company has spent more than a decade building a presence in the film industry, with its technologies contributing to Oscar‑ and Emmy‑winning productions including F1: The Movie, Dune, and limited series Shōgun. It has also been awarded a technical Emmy.

With the Pocket 4P, DJI is spearheading a new era of cinematic excellence in handheld gimbal systems, where professional-grade filmmaking capabilities meet true pocket-sized portability.

Pocket 4P builds on a growing movement in which compact cameras are reshaping how stories are created and shared. Its Cannes debut highlights its potential to influence the future of cinematic vlogging, inspire a new generation of mobile-first filmmakers, and lead global trends in portrait-driven visual storytelling.

The device represents the convergence of high-end film technology and extreme portability.  Featuring a 1-inch CMOS sensor and dual lenses for portraiture and zoom, Pocket 4P is capable of cinematically smooth slow motion at 240 fps in full 4K glory.

There are two headline specifications that DJI believes sets the camera apart from other compact systems.

The first is its 17 stops of dynamic range, a level typically associated with high‑end mirrorless or cinema cameras. DJI claims the Pocket 4P is the only compact zoom‑lens camera currently reaching that benchmark. At the event in Cannes, guests are invited to see how its advanced sensor technology and refined imaging algorithms ensure clear, detailed footage, making it possible to shoot confidently in challenging conditions from nighttime cityscapes to indoor scenes.

Dynamic range remains one of the most important indicators of image quality, and DJI is clearly aiming to position the Pocket 4P as a serious tool for cinematographers who need flexibility on set and in post.

Major colour‑science upgrade

The second major feature of the Osmo Pocket 4P is the introduction of 10-bit D‑Log 2, DJI’s professional colour science profile. This marks the first time the company has upgraded its log system since the launch of the Ronin 4D, which was used as the main camera on Alex Garland’s Civil War. DJI describes D‑Log 2 as a “huge leap” in grading flexibility, offering a richer colour‑space and more robust data for post‑production workflows.

Its enhanced portrait capabilities deliver natural skin tones and cinematic depth, enabling more emotionally engaging storytelling across interviews, vlogs, and narrative content. Improved zoom functionality expands creative possibilities, allowing creators to capture distant subjects while maintaining image integrity.

At Cannes, DJI will deepen its relationships with cinematographers. The company confirmed that several DPs attended the Pocket 4P showcase, including Christopher Blauvelt, who shot recent Cannes competition entry May December, and Rodney Charters, ASC (the lead DP on Fox series 24).

Its compact form, paired with cinematic imaging performance, positions the Pocket 4P as a compelling companion for independent filmmakers and a powerful storytelling device for documentary work - whether as a main camera or as a flexible companion device to augment coverage of any scene.

While drones remain its most recognisable product category, DJI says its imaging systems are now becoming the default choice in several Asian markets. In Japan and China, the company claims its Pocket 3 camera has effectively become the “camcorder of choice” surpassing traditional brands like Sony and Nikon.

The Pocket 4P is the next step in that evolution. It is designed to appeal to both Hollywood‑level cinematographers and ‘elite creators’ who want uncompromising image quality for personal projects. DJI frames this as part of its mission to democratise technology, making advanced imaging tools accessible to a wider audience.

By unveiling Osmo Pocket 4P at one of the most prestigious stages in global filmmaking, DJI reinforces the idea that cinematic storytelling is no longer confined to large-scale rigs, but can now exist in a device small enough to carry anywhere.

IBC Behind the Scenes: Eurovision Song Contest 2026

IBC

What began as a technical experiment in 1956 is now a global cultural institution reaching close to 170 million viewers on TV across three live shows and generating billions of views on digital platforms. IBC365 gets a tour back stage in Vienna.

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“This year we have several major innovations,” explains Michael Krön who is responsible for the Host Broadcast of Austrian broadcaster ORF and is Executive Producer of the ESC 2026. “This is especially important for a broadcaster like ORF in a year that has not been easy for the company, or for public service broadcasters globally. We want to show Austria, Europe, and the world what ORF can do. Ultimately, we want the Austrian public to feel proud that ORF, as their public service broadcaster, achieved something on this scale.”

That led to a decision that, for first time in Eurovision history, the host broadcaster would deploy a cinema‑grade camera system across nearly all acquisition points.

“We are working with ARRI cameras to create a highly cinematic look,” Krön said. “It’s the first time a show of this scale is using them as its main camera system. This allows us to capture faces and emotions with exceptional clarity which is something we always aimed for.”

The resulting hybridised broadcast‑cinema workflow, however, still operates inside a traditional HD 1080i and standard dynamic range production format.

Why 1080i still rules

Eurovision’s minimum requirement remains 1080i25, and while 1080p was evaluated, ORF’s Technical Production Lead Claudio Bortoli says the cost uplift across acquisition, routing, monitoring, and distribution made it impractical.

Instead of changing the format, ORF changed the image‑making tools.

The production is deploying 28 cameras in the Wiener Stadthalle concert venue with ARRI Alexa 35 Live as the primary source. This includes Alexa 35‑equipped rail, wire, crane and tracking systems augmented with Sony FR7 and FX6 models (four handheld and one gimbal).

“This is unprecedented for a live broadcast of this scale,” Bortoli says. “The Alexa 35’s dynamic range, colour science, and highlight handling offer a fundamentally different aesthetic from traditional broadcast cameras.”

There are some significant engineering implications. The broadcast trucks for example are optimised for system cameras (Sony, Grass Valley, Panasonic) where CCUs, RCPs, and shading workflows are tightly integrated. Cinema cameras break that model so to make integration easier conventional Canon broadcast lenses are being used (PL film lenses are used mainly in the Green Room area).

“The biggest early challenge was lens selection,” says Axel Engström, NEP’s lead technical project manager for Eurovision. “We made tests and found that cine lenses didn’t suit a large arena or the directors’ workflow. We switched to broadcast lenses for most positions to maintain zoom range and operational flexibility.”

NEP replaced or adapted CCUs to interface with Alexa systems in its trucks and ahis proved straightforward.

According to ARRI Managing Director, David Bermbach the first priority was proving reliability. “You need to deliver the baseline so people trust you. Now that we’ve done that, we can start adding new ideas.”

A major creative goal this year was giving each performance a distinct visual identity. Using profiles from ARRI (it has over 70 in its arsenal) the team created around 30 different LUTs (almost one per entry) which are applied at the camera head. One popular look was inspired by a music video by Justin Bieber.

In the weeks leading up to the broadcast, a colour grader fine‑tuned the camera looks for each performance before this was loaded into a LiveEdit automation system. During the show this software automatically sends commands, including cuts and moves, directly to the camera network.

Engström explains, “During the live show, the vision mixer is hands‑off since everything is pre‑programmed. If a camera fails, LiveEdit can automatically replace all shots from that camera with another although the vision mixer operator can also override manually.”

He explains that team delegations met with the show’s broadcast directors during the winter to present their creative ideas. “They submit staging scripts once songs are ready and then we rehearse with stand‑ins at first. We send those recordings back to delegations for feedback so by the time the artists arrive in Vienna the staging is already well‑developed.”

The final look was only locked shortly before rehearsals, in collaboration with the head vision shader, lighting designer, and directors.

Essential OB provision

Since 2015 which was also hosted by ORF in the same venue and with Bortoli playing a similar role, the broadcaster’s resources have been cut.

Bortoli says ORF now uses internal leads supported by a large freelance engineering pool. NEP provides the OB infrastructure, continuing a multi‑year partnership that gives both sides a shared operational vocabulary.

Eurovision traditionally deploys a main and backup truck but ORF is taking a more sophisticated approach in which both trucks will operate simultaneously.

Although both trucks are identically equipped, NEP’s UHD24 is covering interval acts, pre‑show, and non‑competitive elements like moderation directed by ORF’s Michael Kögler while the UHD24 in command of Swedish multi-cam director Robin Hofwander handles all the live acts.

“If one truck fails, the other can assume full control,” explains Bortoli. “All the camera feeds are available to both trucks and the routing matrices are mirrored. That means operators can switch roles with minimal disruption.”

It is what he calls a “live‑redundant architecture”, not a regular standby model.

The voting sequence is handled partly in the OB truck, with the EBU switch and distribution team operating from a dedicated cabin adjacent to the OB compound. All international routing, failover management, and signal integrity checks occur there.

Laser-based lighting

For the first time, an all LED and laser-based system is used, completely replacing traditional lighting and “significantly” reducing energy consumption and material usage, claim organisers. The lighting design is by Tim Routledge, a BAFTA winner for the lighting design of ESC 2023 in Liverpool who also worked on Basel last year.

He says the challenge was to create something that looks impressive, while at the same time being much less wasteful of energy.

“The fact that we are relying 100 percent on LED and laser technology on this scale shows that you can have both spectacular images and sustainable production.”

The overall visual concept includes more than 28,000 individually controllable LEDs. Eighty high-speed winches provide movable lighting effects—which is claimed as a first for Eurovision. Gear was supplied and rigged by Neg Earth Lighting and ACME Lighting.

The Stadthalle’s roof load limits forced the lighting team to redesign the rig multiple times. This included snow‑load modelling, since even 5–10 cm of snow could exceed structural tolerances.

“This amount of weight (from the lighting rig) has never been in the Stadthalle before,” Bortoli notes.

Video wall control

Creative Technology, part of NEP Group, is providing all LED screens and display solutions for the event.

The video wall is 2.50 sqm of ROE Graphite 2.6mm pixel pitch and the 2.68sqm LED floor is built from ROE Black Marble 4.6mm panels. Completing the wrap-around visual backdrop is a 12x8m curved infinity screen.

Video is processed through 16 Megapixel Helios 8K LED Controllers with ST2110 input with playout managed by eight Disguise servers capable of 32 x 4K feeds over ST2110.

Riedel provides the venue-wide signal distribution using MediorNet with around 25 nodes deployed across the venue. Timecode is distributed through MediorNet to sync lighting, cameras, and automation.

NEP uses its own TFC control platform in the TV compound to route signals, manage morte than 400 monitors, and to handle switching between the two OB trucks.

Audio mixing and RF density

Dietmar Tinhof is one of four audio engineers mixing the broadcast for stereo and 5.1 working out of two ORF supplied vans. “The acts are so different,” he says. “You switch from delicate acoustic folk to full‑force heavy metal. Some delegations say, ‘Make it sound like the record.’ Others send a several pages of technical notes. We try to follow them, but live situations have limitations, particularly around latency. For example, we can't use every plugin because they need a certain amount of processing time.”

They aim to have everything automated: “Ideally, during the live show we’d be sipping red wine because everything is programmed,” he added, but a recent Pro Tools bug changed that: “We can’t explain it. So we’re not as relaxed as before.”

Live performers also add unpredictability: “Sometimes they sing louder in the live show, so we counterbalance that. But we don’t do fine‑tuned automation live. There’s no reverb throws or EQ tweaks.”

Redundancy is extreme: “We have six layers of safety. Two identical Pro Tools systems monitor the MADI stream. If one sample drops, we’re already on the other machine. If there’s a deeper failure, the OB van is a complete mirror. If Pro Tools dies, we can still run on the MC²  Lawo. Six degrees of redundancy.”

The production format is stereo + 5.1 surround contributed from more than 70 Sennheiser RF mics and 40 open mics across the arena.

“The RF environment is one of the most congested in European live production,” Bortoli says.  “Our engineering team must coordinate frequency planning across dozens of delegations and use intermodulation avoidance.”

Redundant antenna distribution and failover paths for critical vocal mics are other considerations.

Eurovision by tech numbers

For those who like numbers:

The budget for the contest is estimated to be €36 million with local Viennese authorities paying €22m and the EBU contributing around €5m.

Over the course of the week at least 4,000 media files will be recorded and processed; 17,500+ camera cuts generated and executed; and 10,000+ review and validation comments logged by 80 operators tracking and annotating the show in real-time.

It requires 250 people to operate the Eurovision broadcast, among them; three multicam directors and 32 camera operators.

Nearly 200 SFX machines produce effects including flames, low fog, sparkulars, pyrotechnics, ECO2JET, and smoke.

It is calculated that 4.2TB of data will be sent every second of a live show over the 100GB network infrastructure.

Over the entire duration of ESC the total amount of data transported through this network is estimated between 5-6 Petabyte. To put that in context, 6PB equals approximately 101 years of continuously streamed HD video.

Postcards from Austria

Eurovision’s interstitial storytelling elements called ‘postcards’ were also shot on Alexa (by local production company Gebhardt Productions), giving them the same colour science as the live show.

Despite the rise of TikTok‑style formats and an astonishing 750 million views of ESC 2025 content on the platform, ORF is not generating a dedicated vertical feed. Social media teams will capture their own content using mobile and ENG devices.

That said, individual broadcasters are going social. Norway’s NRK is engaging audiences with an interactive ‘ESC 70’ online quiz alongside dedicated video content. Sweden’s SVT is expanding its digital offering with Eurovision Klubben on SVT Play. Ukraine’s Suspilne is delivering extensive multi-platform coverage, including three studio pre-shows on its YouTube channel.

For Bortoli, the biggest challenge is the timeline. “Time always moves very fast at Eurovision,” he says. “But everything looks good. The engineering fundamentals are solid.”

Creator takeover at MPTS: “You’re competing for tiny slices of attention”

IBC

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Exhibitor and conference sessions still nestle deep tech dives about compression alongside  ‘how tos’ on podcasting but this no longer feels incongruous.

For years, traditional television viewed the creator economy as adjacent but signs are that YouTubers are now taking over the roost.

“Creators have gone from individual talent to next generation studios,” said Rajarshi Lahiri, YouTube’s Head of Content Partnerships (UK & Ireland) at the Media Technology Production Show (MPTS) in London this week.

You can’t find a broadcast conference now without a YouTube exec on the programme but what they have to say always pales beside the energy and invention of creators themselves.

“YouTube is fundamentally a relationship business,” explained Jordan Schwarzenberger, CEO & Co-Founder, Arcade. “The product is the relationship between creator and audience. They understand audience relationships in a way legacy media often still does not.”

TV producers are belatedly trying to co-opt learnings from creators, if not the creators themselves, into their formats.

But Schwarzenberger said that many people entering YouTube from broadcast still treat it like linear TV. “‘We’ll make great content, put it out, and people will find it.’ But on YouTube, that logic collapses. The algorithm doesn’t reward prestige, budgets, or legacy. It rewards connection.”

Arcade are the management and ventures company behind Europe’s biggest YouTube group, The Sidemen, which has amassed 244 million followers. Yet success did not come overnight.

“The reality is that most major YouTube businesses are built over years of relentless consistency,” Schwarzenberger said. “Everyone I know who’s succeeded on YouTube has probably been making videos for 10 years, including the Sidemen. They never missed a Sunday [their regular content upload].”

Schwarzenberger also noted that creators are having to respond to shifts in audience behaviour. Pushing out content is no longer sufficient. The feeds have to be personalised to sub-groups and tailored to platforms.

“Ten years ago, people consumed maybe 100 pieces of content a week. Now it’s thousands. You’re competing for tiny slices of attention,” Schwarzenberger said.

“Platforms now serve content based on interests, not subscriptions. That means creators must constantly earn attention — not rely on followers.”

This is where many traditional media businesses still underestimate creators, he said. “What may appear spontaneous on screen is often underpinned by extraordinarily disciplined operational thinking. From understanding thumbnails, distribution, retention and audience psychology at an obsessive level.”

For Lahiri, the key misunderstanding is treating YouTube as a single-format platform. “The creators seeing the greatest success are those strategically connecting Shorts, long-form video, livestreaming and memberships,” he said.

This interconnectedness is increasingly important as creators diversify revenue beyond advertising. Lahiri pointed to the rapid rise of creator-entrepreneurs building product lines and direct-to-consumer businesses through YouTube’s online shopping function.

But for all the money and monetisation opportunities flooding into certain creators from brands, creators themselves seem to instinctively want to keep corporates at arm’s length. Authenticity is an over-used term but creators know that if they lose integrity with the audience for one second, their following will collapse.

This attention to dialogue with the audience extends to being wary of getting involved with the red tape of TV partnerships and also to technology that risks undermining the direct connection.

“As AI-generated content increases, human creativity and personality become more and more valuable,” Schwarzenberger said. “Audiences want raw stories, real perspectives, and genuine connection.  That’s why I think creators are entering a golden era.”

How to make a million

Grassroots storytelling and street talent is fundamental to the success of Million Youth Media (MYM), a platform designed to amplify youth voices and encourage social discussion through film.

Coo-founder Teddy Nygh argued that digital platforms allowed him to bypass traditional industry gatekeepers at a time when broadcasters showed little interest in the kinds of stories he wanted to tell. “We didn’t have to wait for permission,” he explained. “We could start creating, reaching people and tackling issues that mattered to us immediately.”

That thinking led to the launch of MYM in 2012 on YouTube.

“It was never just about views,” Nygh said. “It was about creating work that could stand for something and spark conversations.”

It now offers 730 films attracting 100 million viewers worldwide. More than half of views come from around 15 films, ten of which Nygh directed.

“We’ve reached a point where I can say, almost with certainty, that if we shoot a film today and upload it tonight, it will hit a million views,” Nygh said. “Algorithms change, but somehow we’ve managed to achieve that repeatedly.”

So what’s the formula? Nygh says it always starts with why. “If your ‘why’ is clear from the beginning it becomes much easier to protect the identity of the project.”

A key part of MYM’s production model involves integrating young people into every stage of filmmaking, from development through to delivery. “We mix experienced industry professionals with emerging talent. Whether you’re behind the camera, in front of it, shadowing, assisting, you’re on set, you’re paid, and you’re part of the process,  

“That energy feeds into the work,” he believes. “When you bring together some of the best people in the industry working alongside brand‑new talent, you get something powerful.”

Passion projects

It may be harder for broadcasters to engage audiences but it’s also harder in the social media space. With so many creators the market is saturated.

“It’s incredibly hard to stand out and stay relevant,” said presenter and photographer Cam Whitnall. “You have to stay true to yourself and be driven by passion.”

Two million people follow Whitnall’s social channels which are all about wildlife. “Wildlife is universal so straight away, I knew I had something that could reach everyone. If I could make it engaging, informative, educational and fun, people would respond.”

The biggest lesson creators can teach traditional broadcasters is speed.

“I’ve worked on productions made exclusively for TV where I wasn’t allowed to share anything on social media because everything was under embargo,” said Ash Dykes, Explorer & Extreme Athlete. “Then the show wouldn’t come out for a year or two. By the time it airs, the moment has passed.”

He compared that to project on an Amazon expedition where he made content specifically for social media. “When I completed the expedition, the footage was online within two or three months. It was still fresh. Everyone could see it. Traditional press picked it up, and the community could engage with it immediately. In social media, if you wait a year, everything has changed.”

It doesn’t have to be perfect from day one, or day 201, they said. Just as long as you are prepared to put in the time to regularly post content and to change it to fit your audience.

“There’s no structured formula,” Whitnall said. “I’ve seen videos filmed in landscape, with no subtitles and they go viral.  It’s just about putting it out there and seeing what happens. All it takes is one video. If that one hits, you’re onto a winner. Then the challenge is staying consistent and making sure you get that second video, that third video.”

It took six videos before Whitnall hit 100,000 views on TikTok. It took 100 posts on Instagram to reach 100,000 followers. And it took around 200 posts on YouTube to get over 100,000 subscribers.

“Consistency is everything in social media,” he stressed. “You have to keep connecting and chasing engagement. That doesn’t mean you need to post every day. But when you do post, make sure you love it.

“I’ve seen so many people give up after two or three posts because they didn’t believe in what they were doing.  So I’m really clear with myself — every single post has to be something I genuinely care about.”

Production companies crack the code

Factual producer Air TV is re‑versioning medical or blue light unscripted shows like 999 Rescue Squad for digital.  “It’s about taking a traditional high‑volume show, breaking it into different parts, and thinking about long‑form versus short‑form,” explained MD Matt Richards.

“We’re also doing original concepts. That’s the biggest learning curve. Changing the whole production model to make it repeatable, low‑cost, and doable in the margins of other shows we were producing.”

In March it launched YouTube channel First Landings capturing the moment student pilots make their solo flight. “If we thought of it as a TV show, we’d follow the whole backstory, getting to know the characters,” Richards said. “But for YouTube we strip it right down to the moment they begin their descent. It’s instantly repeatable, relatively low‑cost, and we can use AI editing and graphics to speed the production up.”

The channel may not yet be making any money but that’s not the point, he said. “We’re doing it to experiment. As a traditional TV production company, you’ve got a couple of options. You can say, ‘We’re not going into digital unless someone pays us,’ because that’s the old‑school commissioner model. Google is not going send you a massive cheque just because you put up content but you can find a way to do something that inspires the team, lets you test behaviours, and gets you moving.”

Most of Windfall Films’ content is still commissioned by a linear partner, but increasingly it is doing digital‑first alongside.

“We’re a producer, not a publisher,” explained Creative Director Dan Kendall. “Creators are both producers and publishers and that’s not our space. So we start by asking: Where is this going and what does that audience need on that platform? Because the platform changes the audience. Then we ask: What’s valuable to that particular audience? Then we work out how to tell the story appropriately.”

“In broadcasting now, big organisations expect producers to demonstrate digital experience. So for us, it was about getting that grounding so we could be taken seriously in that space, rather than expecting big revenue straight away.”

The Sun is a producer and publisher of its own content but its Director of Video Jon Lloyd suggested that the only difference between it and a solo creator was scale.

“We have 180 people across nine platforms making 25 long‑form shows every week and with 9 billion video views a year. And we’re about to start external commissioning. The crucial point is that there is no difference in quality between what we output for social and for traditional broadcast. The differences are workflow, format and audience. Just make something and put it out. Now anyone can do it.”

Lloyd worked in TV for many years before joining News Group and noted huge differences in delivering shows to digital compared to networks.

“In TV, I pitch to commissioners, we make the show, then we get the overnights and the feedback. We don’t really know what worked until after the fact. On YouTube, we have all the data from retention to drop‑off points. You can restructure instantly and you get instant feedback from your audience.”

Creators biggest kit mistakes

There were a number of big camera announcements this week, not least from Panasonic, Canon and DJI but cinematographer Keith Eccles dismissed them all.

“One of the biggest mistakes creators make is overspending on flagship cameras while neglecting lighting and audio,” he said.

Sharing his advice on the MPTS stage, Eccles stressed that “lighting and audio are way more important than a camera body or lens,” arguing that even an iPhone with good lighting and sound can outperform a cinema camera used badly.

Another common mistake, he said, is failing to fully utilise existing kit; “Many creators quickly replace gear when they’re unhappy with results, rather than learning how to maximise what they already own.” Eccles encouraged creators to buy versatile equipment that can serve multiple purposes, citing tripods designed for both landscape and vertical filming as an example of smarter investment.

He also warned against “chasing specs” instead of focusing on storytelling. With constant camera launches and social media hype around 6K, 8K and open-gate shooting, Eccles said creators often become distracted by features they rarely need.

“I shoot most of my work in 4K 50fps,” he explained, adding that an early documentary of his (now on Amazon Prime) was partly filmed on a Sony A7 III and partly on an iPhone. “Story is way more important than camera specs.”

He advised creators to “think seriously about storage and backup solutions early on.

“Reliable data management as an often-overlooked part of professional production,” he said.

Facilities offering postproduction and soundstages have to adapt too. It’s no longer just broadcasters and established production companies walking through the doors. Today’s customers include streamers, digital-first creators, branded content teams, podcasters, esports producers and social-native platforms.

Creative Cities Convention: “See your background as an asset”

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The Creative Cities Convention in Liverpool, UK, featured a range of highlights, including the first public speech from Channel 4’s new CEO, strategies to strengthen working-class voices, and the latest updates on a burgeoning regional production base.

Breaking into telly is still perceived as a career path best suited to those with the right connections and financial support. However, despite – or perhaps because of – this, working-class voices were dominant at the Creative Cities Convention in Liverpool last week. 

Hometown heroes

Oscar and Bafta winners from the area talked up their working-class backgrounds as instrumental to their success. 

Liverpool-born Producer Jimmy Mulville, Co-Founder of Hat Trick Productions, grew up in a “two‑up, two‑down slum house as the fifth of 11 children. That stays with you.” 

The experience drove him to prove people wrong, he said. 

“I didn't fit in at home because I read books [and no one else in his family did]. When I got into Cambridge University, I felt I didn’t belong there. I knew I wouldn’t last five minutes at the BBC. Being an outsider is a great fuel for anybody in the creative industry.” 

Jimmy McGovern, Cracker Screenwriter and fellow Scouser, was born in 1949, “in an area that was totally poverty-stricken, but it was fine because everybody was poverty-stricken,” he recalled. “I wasn't even aware of poverty until I passed the 11 plus and I went to a school with the sons of bank managers and doctors. That’s when I understood. That's where I got my sense of social justice from.” 

Andrea Arnold, the Director of critically acclaimed social realist films like American Honey, Fish Tank, and Bird, grew up in a council house in Dartford and thought she’d end up working in a factory. 

“People who’ve had education and money grow up with a belief,” she said. “I didn’t have that. You have to build it yourself, and that takes time.” 

She added: “Everyone is capable of so much more than they realise, but people get told they’re not powerful. I want young people from backgrounds like mine to believe in themselves.” 

Tony Schumacher, the Writer of Merseyside-set crime dramas Responder and The Cage, found success in the M&E industry via policing, taxi-driving, and hard graft.

“I grew up wanting to be normal, but what does that even mean? If you’re from where I’m from, you know you’re not ‘normal’ in the way the world defines it.” 

In Schumacher’s view, the social‑mobility ladder actually seems longer now than it did in the 1970s. 

“See your background as an asset,” he urged. “When you walk into a room full of people who are nothing like you, that’s your opportunity.” 

Uplifting universal narratives

Director Asif Kapadia (known for Senna, Amy, and Kenny Dalglish) spoke about being a working‑class, second‑generation immigrant from North London.  

“At school in Hackney, everyone was from somewhere else,” he told the audience via video call. “I didn’t realise I was a minority until I entered the industry.” 

He got a grant to attend university. “If I had been starting out now, my parents couldn’t have afforded to send me,” he said. “My perspective – being brown, working‑class, and from an immigrant family – was different. That’s a strength. Be your own boss. 

“And speak up. On my first job as a runner, they were darkening white actors’ skin to ‘look Asian.’ I walked out, found two actual Asian people on the street, and brought them in. I didn’t care if I got fired. You have to stand up for what’s right.” 

Kapadia is currently working on 70 Up, the final instalment of the landmark documentary series, which has followed the same group of Britons every seven years since 1964. 

“The Up project tracked children from different backgrounds to examine whether social mobility was possible,” said Kapadia, who noted the series’ “deep connection to class, opportunity, and the stories we tell about ourselves,” – themes that resonate strongly with his own body of work. 

However, even these established film and TV makers suggested that prejudice among decision-makers, who are often London-based, remains.  

“Just because you are working class or from a particular area doesn’t mean you can only write certain stories,” said Schumacher. 

McGovern added: “If you have empathy, you can tell universal stories.” 

PSB merger on the agenda 

Sir Philip Redmond, the creator of Grange Hill at the BBC, then Brookside and Hollyoaks at Channel 4, reiterated his belief that these two public service broadcasters (PSBs) should merge.

“Every single one of you can get behind the idea that we need a wider debate about what licence payers want from public service broadcasting,” he told the TV industry audience. “Public service broadcasting exists to do what we need it to do, not what others think it should do. That’s a social debate, and it needs to be pushed.

“The future of this £5bn, licence‑fee‑raising organisation is what’s at stake,” he added. “If we want to be unique and specific, the only thing we can do is make sure we have a strong, confident PSB – one that isn’t frightened to ignore the algorithm (of commissioning). There’s one thing I can’t stress enough. Everyone knows this shouldn’t just be about short‑term pressure.” 

Yet, there was pushback from the incoming Channel 4 CEO, Priya Dogra. Making her first public speech in the role, the former Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) and Sky executive said: “I spent years in M&A, and the thing you learn is that there are no mergers, only acquisitions. Someone is always buying someone else. From Channel 4’s perspective, that’s the wrong outcome. It would mean Channel 4 being subsumed into another organisation. Losing Channel 4’s editorial voice and the impact we have on content and on indies would be a loss for society and for the creative economy.” 

She said the broadcaster was open to “strategic alignments” and said she supported the need for a financially stable outcome for the BBC in its charter renewal. However, she drew the line at introducing advertising around BBC content, whether linear or on YouTube. 

“Beyond the seismic commercial impact on us and other broadcasters, it risks undermining the BBC’s universality,” she said. “It could compromise what makes the BBC the BBC. We already have one commercially driven public service broadcaster – us. Creating another doesn’t strengthen the ecosystem; it weakens it.

“It would be helpful if the government took that option off the table and gave the industry some certainty – especially in an ad market that’s structurally challenged and volatile.” 

Strengthening the region

Finding the funds to develop production and fill skills shortages are two vital, perennial issues if the industry is to grow in cities across the M62 corridor. 

“There’s a lot more infrastructure in the north than there was in 2020, but we still have a long way to go,” said John Whittle, Managing Director at production company Lime Pictures. “We’re not only competing with the Southeast and other parts of England, but with Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The north of England is in a place where we have to compete and collaborate.” 

Screen Alliance North was established three years ago as a collaboration among four regional agencies (Manchester, Yorkshire, North East, and Liverpool). Its latest report identified 67 production companies operating across the north of England. It also found that £103m had been spent across the four regions since 2022 to make 285 productions. Further, it revealed that over 3,700 people have been trained on courses funded by the alliance. 

“When the BFI tendered for the skills cluster, we came together as a ‘super‑cluster’ representing more than 10 million people,” said Caroline Cooper Charles, CEO of Screen Yorkshire. “That has allowed us to work strategically, combine our knowledge of local crew bases, and make sure everything we do is evidence‑based and not duplicated across regions. 

“We all work closely with our local production communities, and we don’t want to lose that. However, the partnership has allowed us to bring more business into the north – not just from each other, but from across the UK and internationally. We’ve opened the industry to people who weren’t previously engaging in it but now can.” 

This City is Ours, The Responder, and Time are among the award-winning dramas that have helped drive growth in the Liverpool City region since 2019, according to the Liverpool Film Office. Its Impact Report 2019-2025 found the film and TV industry created 5,408 full-time equivalent jobs during that period, with more than 1,600 productions said to have added £150m to the local economy. 

BBC looks north 

Since the BBC moved to Salford 15 years ago, staff numbers have grown from 2,000 to around 3,500.  

Heidi Dawson, BBC Head of the North of England and Controller of Radio 5, said: “I was one of those who moved. I grew up in Lancashire and went to the University of Manchester, but at the time, I had to live and work in London to build a career in the industry. Moving to Salford meant I could come home and do the job I wanted to do here. So, I want to challenge the misconception that it was just a bunch of Londoners travelling north.” 

Major departments like BBC Sport, BBC Children’s, and Radio 5 Live were there from day one. Breakfast TV and Morning Live have followed. Every BBC radio network also has a national programme coming out of Salford. 

“We’ve also got almost a thousand software engineers. The people driving major BBC products like iPlayer and Sounds are based here,” she said. 

Building a long-term home for production

To continue the region’s development, the next step seems to be to anchor productions in the city with a new studio, which is taking shape in a former Littlewoods building. 

The Depot, two 20,000ft² stages adjacent to the Littlewoods building, has been open since 2021. A further six stages and postproduction facilities are planned, provided that finance can be secured. 

Hat Trick Productions’ Mulville said he is working with the London Screen Academy (which provides 16 to 18-year-olds with vocational training in behind-the-camera roles) to create a film and TV education hub on the campus. 

“I approached the London Screen Academy and said: ‘It's a brilliant school, but if you keep it in London, you will become a stereotype. You've got to get this idea out to other places. Liverpool is ideal.’” 

Instead of importing craft talent from elsewhere to make shows in Liverpool, Mulville said: “Local people should work on productions made here.” 

He also expressed concern about the recent trend of BBC dramas portraying the city as a drug capital. 

“I’ve got a rom‑com set in Liverpool – I’ll ring the writer and tell him to stick a bag of cocaine in it, so it gets commissioned,” he joked. “Tell these stories, but tell the other stories too about families, love, community, women’s stories. Not just crime.”