NEXTWAVE Digital-First Production summit

[1st Nov 2025] This weekend saw NEXTWAVE breaking on the banks of the Saale at Halle, Germany 🇩🇪 a 1-day Digital-First Production summit to bring discussion & exploration of Digital First Content & Social Video to the heart of mainland Europe. It was organised by Documentary Campus , reflecting our championing of Digital within the mix of Documentary and our progressive approach to staying fully aligned with the realities of today’s market. The summit was expertly curated by Justin Crosby of TellyCast – the content industry podcast . The European broadcasters from Helsinki to Rome were deeply engaged with what was covered, ranging from The New Documentary Landscape (which I chaired, spotlighting Zandland, Quintus & Channel 4’s Untold online strand) to How To Launch & Build a Successful Factual Channel on YouTube by Rob Wilson of vidIQ . More to follow in 2026…

Special thanks to my old colleague at C4 Janine Thomas , Gerrit Kemming & Josh Reynolds for a sparky conversation about the future of docs; Justin Crosby for a brilliant programme & selection of speakers; Nils Franck for being a dynamic digital champion on Documentary Campus Masterschool this year; my colleague Ingrid Hübscher for excellent organisation of this landmark day; and Donata Von Perfall and Dr. Patrick Hörl for being so squarely behind the event and the direction of travel.

Documentary Campus Masterschool pitching day

[1st Nov 2025] This weekend’s Documentary Campus Masterschool pitching day was a perfect illustration of the dynamism and uplifting energy of independent hashtag#documentary hashtag#filmmaking. It would have been great to bottle that pure vibe and send out crates of it far & wide to refresh anyone who is flagging or struggling right now.

Among the nascent films – from as far afield as Ukraine and Ireland, Italy and Norway, Cambodia and the USA – it was a particular pleasure to now have digital-first projects in the mix and also to have alternative funders (like Crowdfunder ) amidst the decision-makers and broadcasters who generously made the effort to travel to the beautiful city of Halle and join in with enthusiasm.

We are working very hard at Doc Campus to be fleet of foot and fully aligned with the realities of the market as it is now. That’s why we followed up the pitching with Next Wave, a full day of exploring the digital dimension of Documentaries and the new possibilities emerging… 

The Sound of Protest

Protest is very much in the spotlight right now. In the wake of ‘Shoot the People’ with Misan Harriman which we produced at Doc Hearts and premiered at SXSW London, my latest commission is also about Protest, but this time through the filter of Protest Songs. ‘The Sound of Protest’ features a stellar cast including Smokey Robinson, Jerry Dammers of The Specials, Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Hozier and others who address the question of whether protest songs make any difference or ever have. You can watch it now on Apple TV+. It was brilliantly directed by Siobhan Logue of Songbird Television. Very challenging to put together e.g. to clear the Marvin Gaye track from ‘What’s Going On’ required dealing with all the usual suspects plus eight members of Marvin’s family. So a production story of patience & resilience, but well worth it for such a great watch for anyone who loves music (or protesting).

Are you still stuck in the disempowering rut of traditional TV?

Today [9th May 2025] I am chairing a fascinating debate at DOK Fest München documentary festival in Munich about the direction of travel for docs/factual TV entitled: ‘Reimagining Documentary’. It is looking at financing, editorial/storytelling/formats, distribution & audience building.

One of the key things TV and film people need to grasp is that our business is shifting from a Business-to-Business arena where producers supply broadcasters to a Business-to-Consumer realm.

Everything else we need to understand about the tectonic shifts of the last couple of years flows from that…
* it’s about building & ‘owning’ an audience (whose attention you can offer to brands in particular)
* it’s about community & ideally co-creation
* it’s about adopting a multiplatform mindset & understanding where value lies in the digital age (from merch to events & all things between) – it’s no longer just about the programme/series.

If you need help & insights evolving from Producer to Producer+Network (i.e. the essential journey for Now), message me & let’s future-proof your business.

Death of Skype

[6th May 2025] Yesterday Microsoft finally shut down hashtagSkype. The Zoom-before-Zoom service launched in 2003, the year I joined hashtag ChaChannel 4.

I’m not a technologist but I’ve also never been afraid of it as it’s not rocket science for the most part and it is logical – I’ve always got a kick out of finding interesting applications for new tech. 8 years after the advent of Skype I commissioned the ground-breaking interactive hashtaghealth show ‘Live from the Clinic’, a live interactive mainstream TV spin-off of that poster child of factual multiplatform television, ‘Embarrassing Bodies’. Central to the format was Skype and this was the first time it had been used substantially in the editorial of a programme. The show enabled viewers to seek advice about their health concerns and be seen by doctors Christian & Dawn from the comfort of their own home, live during the prime-time show.

After the 6-part series went out in 2011 we drew the technology and its convenience/cost-saving potential to the attention of the NHS. TBH they were a bit slow on the uptake but a decade later this kind of application of video calling has become a standard hashtaghealthcare practice in the UK.

I remember being in the studio during the live TX and desperately hoping Skype wouldn’t crap up on us. At that time much of the tech involved was a bit fragile and struggled to deal with the unusually massive peaks caused by hashtagTV calls to action. Praise the Big Man, it was alright on the night. At that time the Embarrassing Bodies website was the No. 1 competitor to NHS Online – and more importantly the No. 1 referrer, particularly of people not usually that engaged with their health, like young men.

So now Skype which enabled that innovative, impactful series is being euthanised and put to rest in the MS morgue of killed-off competitors. Microsoft have been focused on Teams at the expense of their acquisition Skype.

Skype – 22 years ago a revolutionary app for free voice & video calls over the internet – peaked at over 300 million monthly users in the mid-2010s. Microsoft acquired it for $8.5bn the year ‘Live From The Clinic’ launched (2011). The competition grew very strong, culminating in the Pandemic when hashtagZoom came into its own & developed at lightening speed. WhatsApp grew into another big beast. Skype quickly faded in their shadow.

It’s an object lesson in how delicate even the biggest platforms can be. Look at the state of Twitter/X. Remember when Murdoch’s News Corp acquired Myspace for $580 million & gave it the corporate kiss of death. The lively Vine withered on the …vine. (You can hear the story of its decline on Global’s new podcast ‘6 Seconds that Changed the World’.) What happens, for example, to the behemoth that is Google as AI displaces traditional search? It’s not a stone-cold killer but it may well shake the foundations a bit and will certainly force Search to up its game. The bottom line: in this day & age nobody (individual or organisation, however big) can rest on their laurels…

The inaugural TellyCast Digital Video Awards

[Feb 2025] We were really happy to support and get involved with the inaugural TellyCast – the content industry podcast Digital Video Awards. They are a great way to spotlight the increasing significance of Digital-First Content.

That our original format ‘Flying Through History’ has been shortlisted for best Digital Original Format – Factual has delighted the team at DocHearts as has the quality of our fellow nominees.

As a commissioning process it was the best kind of creative conversation with Sam Pearson and his progressive team at Hearst Networks EMEA.

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