Netflix

Mae Martin on Feel Good, imperfect love and TV's queer canon

Mae Martin in Feel Good (credit: Netflix)

Created by Canadian comedian Mae Martin, the hilarious, warm and deeply personal comedy-drama sees Martin play a fictionalised version of themself: a bi-sexual stand-up navigating a new relationship with their straight girlfriend George, played by Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts), while trying to keep their addictive impulses at bay.

Netflix, Bisha K Ali and Sky launch The Screenwriters’ Fellowship to tackle under-representation in TV

The programme will support six screenwriters from Black, Asian and other racial and ethnic backgrounds by employing them in a Netflix or Sky writers’ room for their first television credit.

Fellows will also receive a bursary and an industry mentor while attending monthly development events and workshops.

K Ali said: “I am thrilled to be working alongside Netflix and Sky to launch our new Screenwriting Fellowship.

Young adult TV goes mainstream

Sex Education (Credit: Netflix)

On the day before Netflix released the first series of Sex Education, Jamie Campbell, creative director of the producer, Eleven Film, recommen­ded the series to his friend’s 18-year-old daughter. As a high-school drama about the sexual misadventures of teenagers, Campbell assumed Sex Education would resonate with her. She agreed to call the next day to share her thoughts, but when she did, she said she hadn’t watched it.

The future of online viewing measurement

After years of refusal by the global streaming companies to share their viewing data, new light will soon be shed on the performance of Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ – and PSB streaming services such as All 4 and BBC iPlayer – by the industry ratings body Barb.

From the late summer, Barb expects to publish regular viewing figures for SVoD services on the same basis as those for broadcast television. This will allow meaningful comparisons to be made for the first time.

Hidden Figures: Understanding TV Audiences in the On-Demand Age

Lucy Bristowe, Sky Media’s Director of Insight and Research, Wayne Garvie, President, International Production, Sony Pictures Television, Sarah Rose, Chief Operating and Commercial Officer, ViacomCBS, UK, and Justin Sampson, CEO, BARB, discuss why the TV sector needs to measure on-demand audiences and how BARB is rising to the challenge with its reporting of audiences for these services. Plus, some previously unreported figures on series four of The Crown are revealed by BARB.