Preview: Children’s Media Conference 2013
For the past ten years, the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield has mixed business and creativity together through a series of events, speakers, seminars, workshops and networking opportunities, aimed at anyone involved in creating content for children in the UK.
The event covers the funding, making, distributing and consuming of content for children, which includes not just animation, but also apps, literature, games, toys, films, television, magazines and just about anything else. It may only be a three day event, but there is enough information and advice being passed throughout those three days to make it utterly invaluable to the delegates; which includes broadcasters, co-producers, scriptwriters, musicians and investors.
The fantastic selections of guests and speakers that they have been able to boast for the last ten years shows no sign of diminishing with the line up for 2013 including:
- Frank Cottrell Boyce (author of the Olympic opening ceremony)
- Andrew Beecham (Sprout)
- Francesca Dow (Penguin)
- Joe Godwin (BBC)
- Amelia Johnson (Bin Weevils)
- Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh (Disney)
- Tina McCann (Nickelodeon)
- Jamila Metran (CITV)
- Sander Schwartz (Fremantle)
- Cheryl Taylor (CBBC)
In addition to this, the CMC is hosting a series of networking opportunities, including ‘The International Exchange’, which aims to assist those looking for international partnership and funding opportunities, as well as information on the new tax reliefs and the challenges and opportunities of international co-productions. There’s also a series of parties designed to foster relationships and strengthen partnerships, as well as the always popular Pizza Express evening.
There will be numerous talks and speakers looking at the subject of the newly revealed Tax Breaks, both from a business and a creative perspective. How will these tax breaks work? How can we best take advantage? What are the restrictions and how can we make sure we don’t accidentally cross them? All these questions and more will be addressed over the three days, so we recommend taking a pencil and taking notes!
Meet the Commissioners is a genuinely invaluable opportunity to chat one-on-one with broadcasters and decision makers about your ideas, and to hear their honest feedback. In the real world, these meetings can take months to organise, but at CMC they happen in 10 minute slots.
Strategic sessions cover topics such as entertaining education (or edutainment if we ever let the Americans have their way), games, tricky topics, apps, comedy,branding, the future of radio and more.
Research and Development companies will be there to hi-light their recent findings and share insights in to the current and future trends regarding content for kids. Is the future all about iPads over television? How are animation, games, comedy and music changing, and do we need to change with them?
There are numerous Workshops, including Polish and Pitch, Mapping Your Characters, Monetising Digital Content and Co-pro Clinic to help you develop your ideas with insight from experts in each field.
One of last year’s most popular session, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, will be held again this year. This Dragon’s Den style pitching competition allows content developers to pitch projects to producers and IP acquirers who will make the decision on the spot whether or not to invest.
In short, if you are involved with the developing, producing or distributing of content for children, there are not going to be many better places you could be between the 3rd and 5th July. With over 50 conference sessions and masterclasses, international speakers and decision makers, plus a night out at Pizza Express, Sheffield is clearly the only place to be.
To register for the conference or find out more, head over to http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com