Children’s Media Conference: Day One
The Children’s Media Conference is an annual event, causing Producers, Broadcasters, Writers, Animators, Musicians, Illustrators and anyone else who creates content for kiddies to descend upon Sheffield to network, mingle and chinwag to their heart’s content.
This year’s conference played host to over 900 delegates, who listened to 190 speakers in 50 conference sessions and 4 workshops. In addition to this, there were 40 national and international buyers, co-producers and investors. That’s right; people with actual money were there.
With over 50 sessions in just 3 days, the first thing you realise as you unpack your bag (after the squeals of delight at the freebies – I defy anyone not to get excited at a glow-in-the-dark snappy bracelet with the Disney logo plastered all over it) is that you will never make it to all the events you want to see. In every slot throughout the day, there are decisions to be made: should I learn about making money through apps or through Video On Demand? Should I meet the representatives from the BBC or from Nickelodeon? Should I worry more about learning from the wide variety of expert speakers or networking with my peers and potential employers?
Because of this huge amount of choice and the relatively short amount of time that the conference runs for, it’s important to arrive at the CMC with a well considered plan of action. To know what you need to get out of it and to decide in advance how you plan to achieve that; preferably by sitting down with the guest list, the schedule and a big pink highlighter in the weeks and months before you leave.
Unfortunately, mostly due to reasons of ludicrous deadlines and lack of sleep, I utterly failed to do that this year and turned up in Sheffield with very little clue of what I was going to be doing, where I was supposed to be or who I needed to talk to.
I do not advise this.
DAY ONE:
I have to admit to not being in the best of moods when the CMC began. I am not a morning person at the best of times, and the 6am start (coupled with the aforementioned deadline the night before) had left me feeling downright grumpy as I made my way up North to Sheffield for what was to be my second Children’s Media Conference.
The first thing that started to turn my frown upside down was the bag of goodies handed out to each delegate on their arrival. Now I don’t want to go on and on about this, but I’m a girl who likes the odd corporate sponsored freebie every now and then, and the poncho (ITV), jelly beans (Disney) and temporary tattoos of Spongebob Squarepants (Nickelodeon) made me giggle with unadulterated glee.
The next thing that brought joy to my (admittedly easily pleased) heart, was simply standing around in the ‘Hubs’ and realising that I knew, or knew of, a substantial amount of people in the room, and that even if I didn’t know who they were, we had something in common. This same feeling often happens at festivals of course, but the business like atmosphere and expectation that you’re there to network rather than socialise at the CMC does make it easier to start up a conversation with anyone in the room; be they broadcaster or student.
Last year, the first event I attended was the ‘Pitch and Polish’ workshop, where I had the opportunity to talk to an expert about a series I’d been putting together, then polish it up with the advice I was given, before pitching it to several decision makers in the TV, books and gaming worlds.
This experience had been hugely valuable to me, and had helped shape my pitch, as well as giving me the confidence to talk to other broadcasters throughout the Conference. This year, it was time to find out about International opportunities for my series, and that meant the International Exchange.
The International Exchange is new initiative to the CMC this year, and gives delegates the opportunity to meet with relevant people from all over the world. Before the event, you get a list with all the guests who will be attending the Exchange, along with their own description of what they’re looking for; be it a financier, a co-production partner, or (hopefully) an action adventure series for 6-10 year old boys.
We had three of these meetings, and had chosen to speak to guests from Italy, Norway and America whose criteria and expertise most closely matched our pitch. The half hour meetings were relaxed and informal, and were long enough that we had a chance to ask all our questions and receive the information that we needed in return.
A short snooze followed, then some feverish tennis watching (Murray was two sets down against Verdasco, it was all a bit tense), and then the keynote speech by Frank Cottrell Boyce; the author and screenwriter who is probably most famous for his work with Danny Boyle on the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Cottrell Boyle’s theme was “we are the story,” and he spoke in a highly engaging way about the need to sometimes look deeper to find the story. He talked about his experience of dealing with the cynicism and negativity that was directed at the Olympics before it began, and how it was as though the British people had forgotten their own history; their own story.
It was a very inspirational speech; funny and insightful. It’s tone was summed up neatly by Cottrell Boyce’s use of a GK Chesterton quote: “The world shall not perish from a lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder.”