“I [only] think a lot about Britishness when I’m working as a screenwriter.
“Film has to work globally. When you are working for a studio, you run across a set of values that are supposed to be universal, but which Britain is often to one side of – in a good way, a way that I like.
“The film philosophy is about affirmation, simplicity, hugging, learning, about a journey.
Culture secretaries tend to come and go with some frequency – but not hours before they are due to address the RTS Cambridge Convention. On the first day of the Convention, Oliver Dowden was shifted sideways in Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle and replaced by former Health and Social Care minister and I’m a Celebrity… contestant Nadine Dorries.
The minister for media and data, John Whittingdale, generously answered a last-minute call to appear by video link to read Dowden’s speech and answer questions from the Convention floor.
In a stirring session that set that the scene for the 2021 RTS Cambridge Convention, the event’s Chair, Ben McOwen Wilson, encouraged his audience to face up to the biggest challenges to the British television ecosystem. These included the audience shift to digital, the power of the streamers and the problems of how to represent Britishness accurately on the screen, both to UK audiences and overseas.
Ben McOwen Wilson, YouTube Managing Director UK and Ireland, sets the scene for the Convention with a look at the challenges and opportunities for the UK’s television industry post-Brexit, post-pandemic and in the face of accelerating technological and viewer behaviour shifts.
He asks the question: how can - and how must - television redefine itself and its sense of "Britishness" to create a platform for global success and for reconnection with domestic audiences?
