All3Media

Financial and cultural value were discussed in an illuminating session that offered insights from what panel chair, The Telegraph’s audio director Kamal Ahmed, called “three titans in the area”.

Jane Featherstone, co-founder and CCO of Sister, commented on the current climate affecting the valuation of companies. “We’re in a state of change,” she said. “Budgets have risen, largely driven by getting movie talent in above the line,” she said. The feeling was that what was wanted wasn’t really TV any more, but long movies. This, she said, “pushed all the costs up”.

Talent managers from some of the country’s leading independent producers, as well as executives from BBC Studios, offered advice on how to break into the industry. Among the companies represented were Shine TV, Lifted Entertainment, Studio Lambert and All3Media.

The sold-out event also posted an “ask me anything” table, at which seasoned industry execs from companies including Lime Pictures, Chalkboard TV and Audible gave general career advice.

“Network your way into TV: meet the talent managers” was produced by Callum Stewart, Reem Nouss and Melissa Clay-Peters.

From her first days working in television as a founder member of Meridian, the South of England regional ITV company, Jane Turton knew that she’d landed in exactly the right place professionally.

“I’ve always loved being in TV. It’s full of interesting people,” she says. “TV is always exciting. The product – if we’re allowed to call it that – is fascinating – part manufacturing business, part creative, part art, part commerce. TV brings all that stuff together in a way that is challenging and interesting.”

The BBC has responded to the rise of subscription video-on-demand services by extending the iPlayer catch-up window from 30 days to one year.

BBC iPlayer chief Dan McGolpin defended the decision: “TV works in seasons… it means that things which are on a yearly cycle, such as The Apprentice, will be there.” He claimed that audiences, months after transmission, can now be “substantial” – some 40% of Killing Eve’s audience came to the thriller after the original catch-up window.

There’s a long-standing TV industry conception that online original content is too low in quality, too niche and too difficult to make profitable. But that view is starting to look obsolete thanks to inventive ­digital-first companies such as Barcroft Studios, Little Dot Studios and others. Successful business models for premium online content are emerging as both profits and awards start to roll in.

Addressing the students and mentors, RTS Education Chair Graeme Thompson said: “You are part of a thriving project, which is making a difference to representation in the TV and screen industry. We fervently believe that we reach the parts that others in the industry can’t reach – and that’s fantastic for the diversity of our industry.”