Wales has historically been an overlooked source of creative content, but the tide has slowly been shifting over the last several years. Welsh-language public broadcaster S4C teamed up with the research and development consortium Media Cymru for a format development funding scheme to help boost the format sector in particular.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized that Wales has had great success in the scripted arena in recent years, and we wanted to build on the back of that global success and global visibility in the unscripted arena,\u201d explains Iwan England, head of unscripted at S4C.<\/p>\n
The initial phase of the scheme involved training delivered by the University of South Wales and Grand Scheme Media, providing applicants with invaluable market insights to help shape their format ideas. From there, the companies presented their concepts to S4C and Media Cymru for selection to move on to a funded development phase, after which one idea would be chosen to move forward to the pilot stage for S4C.<\/p>\n
In terms of what types of formats they were looking for, England says, \u201cWe made it really clear that we weren\u2019t looking to compete with the very top of the market, [with] those sort of massive, international, shiny-floor shows, [like]\u00a0The Masked Singer<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Got Talent<\/em>-type juggernauts. What we were noticing was that there\u2019s maybe an opportunity at the opposite end of the scale in those very popular and successful formats such as\u00a0Come Dine with Me<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Cash Cab<\/em>\u00a0or long-running stalwarts like\u00a0Wife Swap<\/em>\u00a0that are still selling and not necessarily being replaced in the global market.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s those types of shows, specifically ones with a lot of heart and with human interest as a sub-theme, that have been very successful for us in the last few years,\u201d he continues. \u201cWe were asking for a familiar, general topic but with an original twist, an eye-catching twist. We would try not to be too prescriptive and crush creativity while pointing toward the different areas and the different types of programs we thought would offer an opportunity for us with our audience but also that overlap with an opportunity in the international market.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we wanted to do was open up the opportunity to ideate and think through the widest range of possible formats,\u201d adds Sara Pepper, deputy director of Media Cymru. \u201cThat\u2019s part of what offering the training was about\u2014to encourage the applicants to think in the broadest possible way about possibilities and opportunities. Media Cymru is all about trying to encourage innovation, new ideas, new ways of working and new ways of producing cultural content.\u201d<\/p>\n S4C and Media Cymru worked together to shortlist the nine companies and ideas that would receive up to \u00a310,000 and move forward to the research and development phase. S4C approached the process through the prism of what would work best with its broadcast audience, as well as through a commercial lens, evaluating what concepts would be able to sell in some of the biggest markets and which had the best likelihood for brand extensions, England explains. Media Cymru was looking for ideas that were original and innovative and companies that were willing to dive deep into the research and development phase and make the most of the opportunity, Pepper says.<\/p>\n \u201cDecisions were quite difficult to come to,\u201d says Adam Partridge, research and development producer at Media Cymru. \u201cWe\u2019re obviously really excited by the companies that did apply. Shortlisting wasn\u2019t easy.\u201d<\/p>\n The companies chosen\u2014Wildflame Productions, Rondo Media, Chwarel Cyfyngedig, Little Bird Films, Orchard Media and Events Group, Cardiff Productions, Tomos TV, Ty\u2019r Ddraig and Boom\u2014were those whose ideas hit the sweet spot of meeting the needs of the S4C audience, showing commercial scalability promise and having sparks of innovation and originality.<\/p>\n Now, those nine companies are receiving three months of access to further research and development, with the help of Media Cymru and S4C. A major part of Media Cymru\u2019s teachings is helping the companies refine their ideas through a double diamond four-step approach: discovery, define, develop and deliver.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the design process, companies will come up with an initial idea [during] what we would call a discovery phase, and then they would go forward and define their proposition a little further,\u201d Partridge explains. \u201cThen, once it\u2019s developed, they\u2019ll go into a development phase, then delivery. It\u2019s called this double-diamond approach. I would say that traditional development for companies really focuses on the last two stages. What we\u2019re trying to do as a fund is get companies to see the benefit of this \u2018discovery and define\u2019 phase within their practice. That\u2019s what\u2019s unique about this as compared to a traditional development process.\u201d<\/p>\n From S4C\u2019s viewpoint, \u201cone thing we\u2019re looking for in the development and in the companies is flexibility to develop and adjust each of the ideas to reflect back those fundamentals that we\u2019ve been sharing with them and reflect back the audience insights,\u201d England says.<\/p>\n They are looking for the companies to \u201cdrill down into the mechanics of each of the ideas,\u201d he continues. \u201cThey\u2019ve all got an engaging, intriguing or eye-catching proposition at the heart of them, but working that out, picking up on any practical problems or refining and sometimes simplifying the ideas will be key.\u201d<\/p>\n This three-month research and development phase provides an invaluable experience, allowing each company to \u201cactually work on real-world concepts, put those insights and that market intelligence into practice whilst having real-time feedback throughout,\u201d England notes. S4C will be conducting meetings with each company throughout the process and will \u201calso follow up in case there needs to be any course corrections or tweaks before the final materials are delivered so [that] each pitch, each idea, has the best chance of success.\u201d<\/p>\n By the end of this phase, the companies will have \u201cmaterials that can sell the ideas [and] convey the ideas in detail, including sizzle reels and pitch decks,\u201d England says.<\/p>\n Then, similar to the process that narrowed the scheme down to nine companies, S4C and Media Cymru will undertake the task of selecting an idea to move forward as a pilot for the Welsh broadcaster based on the same criteria as before\u2014what idea meets S4C\u2019s audience needs, has commercial scalability and is innovative and original. Plus, they will take into account how the companies incorporated the feedback and insights they gained during the development phase, Pepper says.<\/p>\n \u201cThough we\u2019ll only likely be able to pilot a single idea, obviously we as a broadcaster are talking to some of the biggest names in format distribution and format production, [and the] production companies should end up with a well-developed idea with a package of materials that can promote each of these ideas anywhere in the world,\u201d England says.<\/p>\n Whether or not they are chosen for an S4C pilot, the companies will have earned vital skills throughout the program that can set them up for future success.<\/p>\n \u201cRight at the very outset, the few days training that each company received, the information shared there, especially the up-to-date market insights, it would have taken an individual 12-plus months to visit every market under the sun to gain some of that insight and information, and also quite a long career in some instances to pick up on some of those insights,\u201d England notes. \u201cThat in itself is a great resource to everybody involved.\u201d<\/p>\n The funded development phase furthers the resources for the nine shortlisted companies and \u201cbuilds in skills and capabilities that they just may not have had the opportunity to learn before or frameworks for doing different processes that they can employ in the future,\u201d Pepper says. Plus, \u201cthey will have had an idea that they pitched, they will have had that successfully funded to some adoption of R&D, and, in theory, they then will have an idea that will be almost ready to take to the next stage. What we\u2019re really hopeful of is that there [will be] nine new ideas that can then be taken to other potential commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, \u201cat the end of all of this, we want to see programs getting made and companies being successful,\u201d Partridge says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" S4C\u2019s Iwan England and Media Cymru\u2019s Sara Pepper and Adam Partridge on their format development scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":10707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[3850,3848,3812,2579,3849],"class_list":["post-10706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-adam-partridge","tag-iwan-england","tag-media-cymru","tag-s4c","tag-sara-pepper","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n