Chaired by CNBC business presenter Nadine Dereza, “Online TV – not just Netflix” boasted a panel of Lawrence Elman, co-founder of subscription channel Docsville; Tom Clifford, CEO of History Hit; and online comic Eline Van Der Velden, who has made the jump to terrestrial TV with BBC Three’s Miss Holland.
Daniel Battsek landed the Film4 top job in July 2016. His friend David Abraham, then Chief Executive of Channel 4, had brought him in to spearhead the broadcaster’s feature-film strategy.
But less than a year after Battsek arrived, Abraham announced that he was leaving. In the ensuing management changes, former Shine Group CEO Alex Mahon was hired to replace Abraham. Battsek, flush with the success of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is unfazed by the shake-up.
The 10-part documentary series, I Am a Killer, profiles ten prisoners who have been convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The series was produced by A+E Networks UK in partnership with Netflix and Sky Vision Productions.
RTS Award winner Michaela Coel sits down with us at the RTS Programme Awards 2018 to reflect on two years of success since winning the inaugural RTS Breakthrough Award in 2016.
Chewing Gum won three awards at the 2016 RTS awards, and has since gone on to win Baftas. The show is shown around the world, however it was Michaela's work on the recent series of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror that really shot her to international attention.
Sometimes, a single show can change the way a broadcaster or a platform is perceived. For the US streaming service Hulu, The Handmaid’s Tale – based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel – has been one such show.
The 10-part series was made for Hulu by MGM Television (Hulu does not have in-house production capabilities) and quickly became water-cooler viewing on both sides of the Atlantic. It went on to win multiple awards, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series and a brace of Golden Globes.
Taking any script and bringing the story to life on screen is no easy feat, and when the story is based on the most famous family in the world, the task carries an elevated sense of responsibility.
“We’re not just recreating history,” said The Crown's production designer Martin Childs.
“It’s our own version of the world – it’s not a documentary. We try and find the mood and tone of our version of it,” added costume designer Jane Petrie.
Part royal soap, part British political lesson, The Crown is all first-rate drama. To mark the release of its second season on Netflix, a packed RTS pre-Christmas event at the House of Commons heard creator and writer Peter Morgan, executive producer Suzanne Mackie and director Philippa Lowthorpe discuss how they made the award-winning series.
Season 2 of The Crown, produced by UK indie Left Bank Pictures, begins with the Suez crisis in 1956 and ends with the Profumo affair in 1963.
The eight-part series, written by The Night Manager’s David Farr, will portray the epic story of a battle between mortals and gods – and the turbulent romance which sparks the Trojan War.
Told from the perspective of the Trojan family at the heart of the siege, Troy: Fall of a City follows the love affair between Queen Helen and Prince Paris. The romance and subsequent elopement triggers a war between the Trojans and the Greeks as Helen’s jilted husband King Menelaus seeks to get his wife back.
Sponsor Damian Collins MP and chair Baroness Bonham-Carter lead a Q&A with The Crown creators Peter Morgan, Philippa Lowthorpe and Suzanne Mackie after the RTS The Crown screening event on 20th December at the House of Commons.
Read the full event report here.
