Do You Want to Kick Start Your Creativity? Here Are Ten Ways.

In TV development land we are on a constant treadmill of trying to come up with new ideas; and all that spontaneous generation, writing and pitching often comes to a slow, grinding halt when we run out of ideas or enthusiasm. So what to do?

Design blog ISO50 asked 25 people in the creative industries to share their methods for shaking off a creative block – there’s bound to be a suggestion in there that will help you get your project back on track. Click through to find out how they do it.

(Photo (C) TV Mole)

Documentary Television.com

Peter Hamilton, ex-CBS exec turned TV consultant has just launched a new blog documentarytelevision.com.  A regular on the conference panel circuit, Peter shares his knowledge of Discovery network budgets in one of his first posts. For example:
Discovery’s budgets range from $250 per hour for a low budget programme to $1,500 to a showcase programme. He [...]

CableFAX Best Websites 2010 – Part I: Twitter

CableFAX’s Best of the Web awards ceremony is being held in NYC on 28th April 2010. All commissioners now want to know what the multiplatform/360 degree content will be for any idea you pitch, but it can be hard to think beyond the standard programme website content of cast photos and biogs.

In this mini-series we’re taking a sneak peak at the Best of the Web nominations to see what’s standing out (and what’s not quite working) in the current market. Explore the links and see if you can find some inspiration to help you develop your own original multiplatform content ideas.

This week, we’re featuring the sites that make the Best Use of Twitter. Click through to read. (Photo by Niffty.. CC BY-2.0)

MIPFormats Fresh Talent Pitch Call for Entries – Deadline 26th February, 2010

The Fresh Talent Pitch, to be held at MIPFormats in Cannes, on 11th April, 2010, is a chance to pitch your original non-scripted entertainment format. A panel of experts including The Wit will select the best entries from all the submissions; shortlisted producers get the chance to pitch their idea to an audience of commissioners, buyers and distributors. Cross-genre and multiplatform concepts are particularly welcomed. Pitches must be for orginal formats that have not been commissioned or broadcast on TV.

For more information and an application form visit MIPWorld Fresh Talent Pitch.

Deadline: Friday 26th February, 2010
(Photo by Olivier Bareau CC BY-SA 2.0)

Film Business Asia

Check out the new Film Business Asia website for news about festivals, awards, sales, distribution deals and box office news from Asia. Looks as though they’re focusing on narrative/feature films but there is some documentary news in there too. And handily, there is an English language version.

Content 360 Challenge Call for Pitches – Deadline Monday 15th February, 2010

The Content 360 Challenge at MIPTV is looking for pitches for Coca Cola branded content that will appeal to teenagers. Ideas can be for mobile apps, games, web series or TV shows, and finalists will pitch to Coca Cola execs at MIPTV, Cannes on 13-14th April 2010. Entry is free and the deadline for entries is 15th February, 2010.

There are also five further categories:

* “Engaging with children through the use of Connected TV” (Korea Communications Commission)
* “Next Generation Online Video Experience” (National Film Board of Canada)
* “Creating short video combining user-generated and EU online archives content” (European Commission)
* “Next Generation Audience Engagement”
* “New Advertising formats” (TF1)

For more information visit: Content360
(Photo by P/\UL CC BY-SA 2.0)

Paper Round

Mediaweek has a handy daily round up of what’s in the  news along with the front pages from the UK’s newspapers, including The Sun, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Independent, City AM, Daily Express and Daily Star.
Read all about it in Monday 8th February 2010 newspapers.

Copyblogger Articles You Need to Read Before You Write Your TV Proposal: Part III

Sometimes, OK often, you know you need to do something – come up with an idea, write a proposal – but somehow you just can’t seem to sit down and do it. You’ll know this problem because you’ll suddenly become interested in doing the things you’d usually avoid – washing up, ironing or dropping off your dry cleaning.

In the final part of this three-part series on turbocharging your development skills we look at how you can overcome your mental blocks, with the help of Copyblogger, which was named by The Guardian as one of the World’s 50 Most Powerful Blogs (click through the titles to read the full articles).(Photo by AuthenticEccentric CC BY- SA 2.0)

Copyblogger Articles You Need to Read Before You Write Your TV Proposal: Part II

Copyblogger named by The Guardian as one of the World’s 50 Most Powerful Blogs is a site all about marketing online content, but you can adapt the principles to help you write your TV proposal. In the second of this three-part series on turbocharging your development skills we look at some article that will help your proposal grab a buyer’s attention – making your idea stand out; starting your proposal with a bang, and using bullet points (click through to read more).

(Photo by AuthenticEccentric under CC BY- SA 2.0)

Copyblogger Articles You Need to Read Before You Write Your TV Proposal: Part I

Writing a concise, compelling proposal is a task that many TV producers and filmmakers find difficult: coming up with the idea and visualizing what it will look like probably comes easily to you; but being able to put your idea into words in a proposal or in a pitch is a different matter entirely. You have to switch from thinking like a director and start thinking like a copywriter. Copywriters (at least good ones) sell stuff and that’s the purpose of your proposal – it’s a sales pitch.

Copyblogger, named by The Guardian as one of the World’s 50 Most Powerful Blogs, is a site all about marketing online content, but you can adapt Copyblogger’s principles to help you write your TV proposal. In the first of this three-part series on turbocharging your development skills we look at some articles that explain the simple writing rules that you should use to polish your proposal so it looks professional. Click through to read more. (Photo by AuthenticEccentric CC BY- SA 2.0)