by David Morgenstern (course leader)
In my introduction to the CMC’s training courses, I always suggest the delegates take the short walk over to 22 Frith Street where a blue plaque commemorates the house in which John Logie Baird first demonstrated television to the public. It seems wonderfully fitting they have come from the far side of the world to learn about TV so close to the spot where the medium was born.
I don’t suppose we have anything to teach the Chinese about building a television set these days, but I do believe the creativity, professionalism, and flair of British TV professionals can challenge the delegates to raise their standards. The talented and cialis bon marche sans ordonnance hard-working Chinese producersmake the shows we make, but they don’t make them the same as we do. And their presence here in London indicates they want to see what they can learn from our practices.
The course starts by focusing on the development of new programme ideas, but not just any ideas, ideas that are fresh and bold, and have the audience’s needs at their heart. For producers from China, which in the past relied on importing – and sometimes copying – popular formats from the outside world, and where development can be a top-down process, this can be an exciting prospect. They certainly throw themselves into the task of brainstorming ideas with great enthusiasm.
Next come sessions with some of the UK’s most experienced programme makers, who talk about their shows, their companies, and their careers. These are people who have followed their passions, moved freely between companies or started their own, and operated without the burden of ever-shifting government controls. The delegates might be shocked by the language, behaviour, and ideas in some of the clips they are shown (even tattoos have to be covered up on Chinese TV), but this is what television looks like, for better or worse, in the Anglosphere.
As the course moves towards its end, the delegates meet production specialists who are respected for their skills and experience, and usually don’t have to live with the tinkering of politically appointed bosses. They hear about a culture where the management of budgets, schedules, and resources is done solely to produce better quality, better value programmes, and any abuse of this trust would spell the end of a career or contract.
Another of my favourite introductory comments is to stress we are not trying to tell delegates what to do, but rather to explain what wedo and encourage them to decide for themselves whether it will work in China’s very different media landscape. As one of the delegates explained to me, “It has to be Emperor’s Palace not Buckingham Palace.”
Nevertheless, along with their purchases from Oxford Street, Princes Street, and Bicester Village, I’m hopeful the delegates will also take home the best that British TV can offer, and get many years of use from it.
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