Putting our screen industry into focus
Tens of thousands of people work in what’s known as Wales’ creative economy, with productions like Hinterland and Keeping Faith attracting audiences way beyond our borders. But we could be doing more to increase profits at home as well as bringing in new
ROB Light is on his way back from an international TV showcase in Cannes when I phone him.
The French seaside resort is betterknown for the global stars who flock to its film festival each May, but the October TV event he’s returning from is far more significant to his employers, the Cardiff-based company Orchard Media and Events Group.
Rob’s one of a growing number of Welsh TV executives looking to sell productions overseas, and in the future he, and others like him, may find their path is smoothed thanks to a £10m scheme won recently by our capital city.
Orchard produced the TV series Bois y Pizza, or the Pizza Boys, which follows foodies Ieuan Harry and Jez Phillips as they travel through Europe in a three-wheeled van called Smokey Pete to the Pizza World Championships in Parma, Italy.
Originally from Llanelli and Trimsaran, you find the pizza boys and their wood-fired oven on the balcony in Cardiff market most days, and if Rob’s pitches in Cannes come to fruition, they’ll also be seen on screens overseas.
“S4C commissioned us to do four half-hours which went out this summer,” Rob explains, “But we also did eight half-hours for the international market, which we’ve just launched.
“That’s where I’ve been, in Cannes, we should know within the next few weeks how that’s done internationally.
“If it goes really well, it would mean we’d get a share of the sales, but the key thing for us would be to do a second series with the boys, so funding could possibly come from S4C, another broadcaster abroad and a distribution company, so we could do a bigger series.”
But, in the past, Welsh screen productions haven’t always done as well as they could in bringing profits back home, says Sara Pepper, director of Creative Economy at Cardiff University, and she’s in the business of helping change that.
Sara’s one of the driving forces behind a successful bid to attract close to £10m funding to the Cardiff city region as part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy.
In Wales, the Clwstwr Creadigol as it’s known, links universities’ research expertise with companies and organisations interested in producing onscreen content.
It’s one of nine centres in the UK to have won a place on the scheme, and there’ll be two parts to this research and development programme in Wales, a screen innovation system (SIS) and a news innovation lab (NIL).
While Channel 4’s announcement this week that Cardiff had lost out to Bristol as a site for one of its creative hubs, the creative industries are still recognised as one of the fastest-growing sectors in Wales, taking into account not just screen production but also areas like advertising and marketing, publishing, music, performing and visual arts.
The Welsh “creative economy” employed about 84,000 people in 2015, show Welsh Government figures.
Alongside that, though, is an acknowledgement Wales can do more with our creative talents.
“In the last 10 to 15 years we’ve seen growing success in the screen industries and media productions in Cardiff and the regions, but there’s a danger that what we’ve got is just show-andgo,” says Sara.
“We use Wales as a backdrop for production quite a lot, but a lot of the work that’s made here is not necessarily presented on network,” she adds, explaining that the Clwstwr Creadigol will become a way of “taking things that are made here to the next level”.
I ask what that means for viewers, and she points to the BBC drama Keeping Faith which starred Eve Myles in her character’s now-famous bright yellow mac. A second series is on the way after the first one broke iPlayer records.
Sara says: “It’s taking that work and getting it on network so that it can be seen across the UK. Or, it’s about working to produce new content for different audiences in a different way, which could be new audiences in the UK, or internationally.”
She adds: “There’s another imperative here, which is harder to explain without jargon, but it’s about recouping the value. So, intellectual property (IP) is a big part of this, and actually how we get value from creative products is around IP.
“A lot of the rights, or the value, or the ownership, if you like is being realised elsewhere. So, how can we develop markets, models, and new sources of IP so that we can see economic uplift and benefit for the screen sectors here?
“If you take an example like (Welsh TV detective drama) Hinterland, a lot of the IP was here, but because it was being sold on to Netflix, a lot of the IP was realised elsewhere. So, it’s about developing capability for us to keep that, which will then feed back into the screen sector to realise more economic uplift.”
So the financial benefits of our screen output aren’t coming back to Wales enough?
“Yes, potentially,” Sara says. “We’re producing amazing ideas here, but whether it’s the skills, or the opportunities, or the environment to do it, that’s what the screen innovation system and news innovation lab will do, is build that capacity, encourage new ways of thinking so we can develop the ambition for an increased opportunities, whether it’s new forms of content, new ways of working, new applications that come out of it, new markets, new business models.
“A lot has changed when we think of the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix piling into world screen production, so we’ve got to think about what is our contribution to that in terms of a thriving ecology that can be globally competitive.
“This isn’t just about asking people to work a little bit differently, it’s asking them to take a big leap and really have that level of ambition and that openness to thinking as widely as possible to take hold of this opportunity that innovation and R&D [research and development] offers the screen sector.”
There was euphoria when Cardiff’s bid to the Arts and Humanities Research Council to become a creative cluster was successful.
Sara was already heading an organisation called Creative Cardiff, a networking and development initiative led by Cardiff University, when they heard about the chance to apply for a share of the creative cluster funding.
They needed to link with at least one other university to be in the running, and existing academic connections paved the way.
“This is about the city’s creative economy, and there’s a lot of excellence across all three universities in the city in terms of creative industries and the creative economy,” Sara says.
“We called a meeting, we asked contacts at University of South Wales and Cardiff Met if they would think about this, if they were keen to bid for this pot, and I have to say, it was a resounding ‘yes.’
“One of the things I think is extraordinary about the success of the cluster bid, is it is the first time, I think, we’ve had those three universities working together on a bid of this size and scale around the creative industries theme in the city, and to me, that suggests we have a real opportunity here to draw on that excellent network from all three of those institutions.”
I wonder if being one of nine UK clusters means though, they’ll be competing against the other eight, with everyone chasing the same overseas markets?
“It’s interesting you say that, because we had a conference with all the successful clusters and what the Arts and Humanities Research Council were really keen to say is ‘look, you’re not in competition any more, it’s now about what’s happening in your location,’” Sara says.
“The final nine all address slightly different things, they focus on what the challenges and opportunities are in their locale,” she adds.
“So, some of us have things have crossover, but some are very specific.
“Wales, for example is UK’s most significant centre for bilingual creative production and that provides unique opportunities for us. None of the other cluster bids work bilingually in quite the same way.”
Orchard’s Bois y Pizza/Pizza Boys is a prime example of that kind of production, with the series filmed backto-back in Welsh and English.
And, when he speaks to potential international buyers, Rob says he find the Welsh language makes a difference.
“What we noticed in Cannes this year is the Welsh language is being taken by a lot of broadcasters, so the bilingual element, is great,” Rob says.
“Scandinavian countries have shown a big interest in taking the Welsh, which is great for the language and for Wales.”
Orchard Media and Events are a good example of how the creative sector is growing in Wales. They’ve seen rapid expansion in their wwTV and screen production in recent years, building on their existing specialisms in events and music production.
“There’s 72 of us in the company now, so events are still a huge part of the company,” he says.
“But what we’ve been able to do is grow the production department to be equal to events and music, which is great for us really, to go from a team of two, to a team of 16.”
The screen production arm, naturally, will be looking closely at what the Clwstwr Creadigol might mean for them.
“It’s early days for the Clwstwr of course, but we love the idea of a sector collaboration with academia and government in Wales, we need to work collectively to make Cardiff as strong a centre for creative production as we can,” he says.
Moving away from the entertainment side of the Clwstwr Creadigol project, I ask Sara how the news innovation lab (NIL) is going to work, and about the thinking behind it.
“News across the board is encountering a number of issues,” she says.
“The 18-35 year old audience is dropping off. They’re consuming their news in a variety of ways, whether that’s social media and that connects with issues around fake news.
“So, the whole environment of news consumption is changing radically.
“The rational is about ‘are there ways of developing new products, experiences or services for news to be consumed by that age group that will either halt the decline in the ways some of the news environment is going, or develop new models for people to consume news differently?
“So, that also addresses issues like fake news that are knocking on the door of all news producers.
“This is of interest to the public service broadcasters as much as it’s of interest to the hyper-local journalists.
“We’re going to be working with a range of partners and all manner of audiences to think through innovation in the news product to connect with audiences differently.”
The fine details are still being worked out, but effectively creative companies and freelancers will be able to put forward proposals and apply for support from Cardiff’s Clwstwr Creadigol, with three commissioning rounds for screen projects over the next four-and-a-half years.
“We’ll be sharing information in January which will say ‘these are the kind of things we’re looking for,’” Sara says. “It could be a new form of screen content, or it could be a game, it could be an animation, as long as it’s connected to screen product or services.
“We don’t really know until we go out and we get responses. Our job now is to be champions and to get people to think as openly and creatively as possible to make new things.”
The bottom line is whether the Clwstwr Creadigol will create more prosperity and jobs in Wales, and at this stage Sara’s reluctant to go public on how that’ll be measured.
“There are a couple of reasons why we’re being vague at the moment,” she says. “One, we’re working with Welsh Government, who are a key stakeholder in this, to define exactly how those look from a Welsh Government perspective.
“And, also, from our perspective, we have a big pot of money that will run through those commissioning rounds, and until we see what applications come in, it’s very hard to say, ‘we will make 20 new products’ because we don’t know what people are pitching.
“We’re still getting down to the absolute nitty-gritty of the detail on that. By the time we go live in January, to tell people, ‘here are the commissioning rounds, you can apply, I think we’ll be very clear then to say to people ‘and we have an ambition that this programme will create approximately x many new products services and experiences, which will translate into approximately x many jobs and have x impact.’”
Wales’ so-called creative economy is about a lot more than screen production, and wearing her hat as founder of Creative Cardiff, Sara Pepper is on a mission to bring together as many people as possible.
Beginning three years ago, she describes Creative Cardiff as “a network to better understand, engage and enable people who are working in the creative sector in the city, or further afield than that, to connect, collaborate and think about ideas like innovation, growth and development.”
They now have around 2,000 members, with up to 40% of those selfemployed, or freelance.
“The interesting thing about freelancers is it’s nobody’s job to pay attention to them,” Sara says.
“One of the key achievements I would see from Creative Cardiff is about connectivity. We know that a lot of people working in the creative industries are freelancers, and that can seem like a lonely place sometimes.
“When you’re one, your Christmas party can be quiet for a start.”
The jobs and work section of Creative Cardiff’s website is the most-visited area, she says, helping bring the right sort of people to work in the city.
“We know that in the creative industries we have issues around skills, talent and then finding the right people, and then keeping them, so hopefully people can find the jobs they’re looking for and potentially relocate to Cardiff as a result of seeing what’s happening here.”
One example of a creative talent who’s made his home in Cardiff is Matteo Marfoglia. Originally from Italy, he describes himself as a “maker and choreographer” with his production Omertà (the word means the Mafia code of silence) opening at the Wales Millennium Centre on Monday. After moving to the Netherlands to study when he was 16, he then went to London where, in 2012, he saw an advert for an audition with National Dance Company Wales.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just come and see Wales,’ then I got the job and stayed here ever since.
“Then 18 months ago, I left National Dance Company Wales to establish myself as an independent artist here in Wales.”
Now self-employed, and working all over Europe from a base in the Welsh capital, he says Creative Cardiff has opened doors for him.
He says the way the organisation brings together people from a range of different creative backgrounds is something hasn’t encountered before.
“It’s so useful to have people with skills in something you want to research,” he says.
“For example, I research history of buildings and places and communities a lot, so it’s really important for me to have someone that knows what’s the story around the people or the building.
“Creative Cardiff is really great to create a bridge between the art form and the subject matter you want to explore in the art form.
“What’s beautiful about it, is it’s quite an open space, I can say ‘look, I’m researching this at the moment, can you please find me contacts?’
“I see it as a spider’s web really, they have got a lot of contacts, they know a lot of people with a lot of different skills and I find it very useful to talk to them, because they will see it from another point of view.”
He describes the creative spirit in Cardiff as “really fresh”.
“The atmosphere in Cardiff is really unique, everything is quite bubbling on the surface at the moment,” he adds.
“There’s a lot of new artists coming, a lot of new collaborations, and I think personally what’s unique in Wales about creating art is collaborative.”
One concern he does have, though, is that not enough people outside Wales know about what’s going on.
“For my work, when I travel somewhere else in the UK, I feel people are not really aware of what happens in Cardiff or Wales in general,” he says.
“I don’t know if it’s a geographic problem, but I’m finding it really hard to bring people from London or England to Wales and then when they do, they’re like ‘Oh my god, it’s only two hours from London on the train.’
“There is this assumption or understanding that Wales is really far geographically, which it’s not.
“So, I think going from London to Newcastle is longer from London to Cardiff, but people in England will travel much more from London to Newcastle than from London to Cardiff.
“They somehow think it’s further away, and unfortunately, that doesn’t let the work emerge out of Wales as much as it could.
“So, I feel it’s starting to happen a bit more in the last year or two, but I hope it will happen more and more in the next few years.”
Rather than expect anyone else to do something about this, he says the creative community themselves need to be proactive.
“It’s the responsibility of the artist, because I know myself as an artist, you sometimes give up inviting people, but if the artist tries to be persistent and keep inviting people from over the border to come here and watch what’s happening in Wales.
“Create more bridges rather than take bridges away. Sometimes, that can happen with anger, or frustration, and you just stop creating bridges, but even collaborating with artists from England, you expand your pool of people.
“If you invite artists you know from England to come over and see your work, then you really start talking about it, you really start creating a momentum about something.”
I ask him whether Creative Cardiff has brought financial benefits for him, and he says not.
“I don’t think they’ve done that financially, but I think they’ve done that artistically,” he adds.
“They’ve helped me develop my thinking as an artist and talk to people and introduce my art form to people I wouldn’t necessarily have talked to, or worked with.”
While there’s a definite buzz amongst everyone I speak to about their ambitions, plans and hopes for Cardiff’s creative future, there’s one thing they have no power over, our climate.
“You get used to it, I guess,” says Matteo, who grew up in the Italian seaside town of Pesaro on the Adriatic coast.
“I do miss the long summers, I grew up by the beach. I miss going to the sea from April or May until October.
“Even though Cardiff is close to the sea, it’s not quite the same.”