Broadcast's Guide to the TV and Media Industry in West London and Beyond
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TV Triangle Broadcast’s guide to the TV and media industry in west London and beyond 25% OFF ALL OUR NEW SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES* Full Package Benefi ts Online Online & print Full ✔ Online access ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Subscriber only e-newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔ Weekly Broadcast Magazine ✖ ✔ ✔✔ Broadcast TECH magazine ✖ ✔ ✔✔ Greenlight commissioning data ✖ ✔ ✔✔ Ratings statistics ✖ ✔ ✔✔ Broadcast App* ✖ ✖ ✔✔ 15% conference discount ✖ ✖ ✔✔ Prices per month £14 £15 £16 SUBSCRIBE NOW TO SAVE 25% subscribe.broadcastnow.co.uk/PPF1425 +44 (0) 1604 828 706 offer code PPF1425 FOR CORPORATE SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES: [email protected] + 44 (0) 207 715 6180 *Offer available for new subscribers only. Closes 21 Nov 2014. Prices exclude VAT. Contents LEADER 4 Go west for opportunities UKTV moved to Hammersmith in 2011 and stayed in the area when it relocated to its new state-of-the-art office earlier this year. It has cottoned on to one of the best-kept secrets of TV production in London: things are hap- pening out west. Hammersmith is one of the points of what has become known as the ‘TV Triangle’. The BBC’s Shep- herd’s Bush site and Osterley, home to Sky for the past quarter- century, are the other two – with the bustling Chiswick Park 8 sitting in the centre. Within this triangle nestles an exciting cluster of start-ups, technology companies, studios, digital producers and inter- national broadcasters from Disney to Discovery. As with Soho’s post houses and the technology specialists of Shoreditch’s Silicon Roundabout, signs are emerging that this is creating a new kind of media community, spurred on by cheaper rents, hungry talent and proximity to Heathrow. We thought it was high time that we explored the benefits and challenges of bringing this unofficial cluster together – and where it might be going next. From training specialists to post facilities and property devel- 14 opers, we’ve been talking to those determined to shape a very 21st century media hub, its ethos perhaps best encapsulated by one Chiswick Park agency whose name is simultaneously its mission statement: Enjoy Work. ➤ Robin Parker, supplement editor Contents 4 Overview With lower rents, plenty of space and a host of TV businesses in close proximity, the TV Triangle is challenging Soho’s dominance 20 8 Skills Businesses, schools, colleges and training bodies in west London are joining up to develop the next generation of TV talent 12 Map A handy guide to the locations of all the major TV businesses in the TV Triangle 14 International The TV Triangle’s location near to Heathrow and strong local skills base have attracted some major international players 20 Tech & Innovation Good technology infrastructure and a culture of co-operation are making west London a centre for TV innovation Broadcast Editor Chris Curtis Supplement Editor Robin Parker Production Editor Dominic Needham Group Art Director, Media Peter Gingell Senior Commercial Director, Media Alison Pitchford Sales Manager Sonya Jacobs Business Development Director Patricia Arescy Business Development Executive Donogh Hurley Contributors Ann-Marie Corvin, Jane Marlow, Nicola Smith www.broadcastnow.co.uk 21 November 2014 | TV Triangle | Broadcast | 3 TV Triangle OVERVIEW Triangle with a cutting edge An area of west London is challenging Soho’s dominance with cheaper rents, more space and tenants ranging from the BBC to Sky and UKTV. Jane Marlow reports Gone west: UKTV’s new home at 10 Hammersmith Grove; interior (inset) 4 | Broadcast | TV Triangle | 21 November 2014 www.broadcastnow.co.uk For all the latest breaking news, updated daily, visit www.broadcastnow.co.uk OVERVIEW e’ve all heard of Silicon Valley in California and TV TRIANGLE THE WEST LONDON ‘TV TRIANGLE’ W Silicon Roundabout in (SEE PAGE 12 FOR FULL MAP) BUSINESS BENEFITS Shoreditch, east London. But now a business cluster on the other side “You’re always going to bump of the capital is putting itself on the into interesting people at map: the TV Triangle. networking events and be Nigel Walley, chair of Decipher exposed to new ideas that Group and the TV Triangle trade you might not have thought body, was one of the fi rst to see the about before. It doesn’t auto- business benefi ts of putting a name to matically mean that you’re the organic cluster of TV and related going to go into partnership industries that had emerged in west with people you meet there, London. It is defi ned by three of the but at the very least it can major TV companies at its corners: spark ideas about things Sky’s Campus at Osterley; the BBC you should be doing with and TalkTalk at White City; and Virgin your own business.” at Hammersmith. Kim Thesiger “In the early days, a few of us were Managing director, TVT struggling to keep younger staff here who wanted to be in the bright lights “The rents in west London of the West End,” says Walley. “Part of are quite keen, but where the the thinking around [the TV Triangle] partners, facilities and creative ‘We wanted Triangle is doing a great job as was that if we could recreate some of agencies we use.” a collective is by saying to local the social and networking buzz hap- UKTV followed in 2011 when it to make sure councils: would you look at the pening over in Shoreditch, it would moved from Great Portland Street to our back- rates? Unfortunately, it’s a long help us retain staff.” Hammersmith, driven by a desire to offi ce infra- process, but it gives us a col- Along with the BBC and Riverside put more money on screen. Chief exec- lective voice.” Studios, Sky was one of the fi rst to utive Darren Childs says: “When you’re structure David Maglio colonise the area when it moved into spending lots of money on rent and was effi cient Director, Loft London its Osterley outpost 25 years ago. rates, it’s not making TV programming. so we could “At the time, this was a pretty poor, We wanted to make sure our back- “When we moved out here in rundown area with not too many other offi ce infrastructure was as effi cient as put more 2003, competition was really businesses. I think Sky came because possible so we could put more money money into fi erce in Soho, as it still is. land was relatively cheap and easy to into creating programming and hiring programming So we thought: why don’t we develop,” says Sky corporate affairs people. We were in a growth stage so base ourselves out here? It’s director Graham MacWilliam. it became an easy decision for us to and hiring worked out well for us; a large And develop it has. First came the put that money on screen, and it’s paid people’ amount of our work comes Sky Studios building, then corporate dividends for the business in terms of Darren Childs, UKTV from local businesses.” centre The Hub, followed by the our ratings performance.” Soren Andersen Believe in Better training and develop- Director, Twoears Post ment centre that opens this month. Strategic clustering The fi nal phase, which brings the As well as cheaper rents and sheer “The TV Triangle might be remaining Sky staff into one building, space, proximity to key partners under- useful in showing people will be completed in 2016. pinned UKTV’s move west. “When we who previously thought ‘TV = “The BBC has been in Shepherd’s were looking at our offi ce space fi ve Soho’ that we are plugged Bush for a long time and with us there years ago, we drew a triangle on a into a vibrant and growing hub too, that’s created an anchor and other map that included Sky, the BBC and where talent and services are people have come into the space,” says our ad sales partner C4, and handed on our doorstep.” MacWilliam. “In the past few years, it over to the people who were helping Ruth Sessions we’ve massively increased our invest- us fi nd offi ce space. That was the brief,” Director of operations, ment in original British program- says Childs. Atlantic Productions ming, so we’re working with more As the mix of companies inhabiting production companies. Sky has the area increases, so too do the pos- “UKTV needed to be in a place become a bigger magnet.” sibilities for innovation. where talent was prepared The arrival of large broadcasters such Kim Thesiger, managing director to come to work. We knew as Disney, Discovery and Paramount at of digital services and post fi rm TVT, this was a good area for high- Chiswick Park in the early 2000s says: “You’ve got the broadcasters achieving, smart people look- sparked more strategic clustering. needing to be dragged into the 21st ing for their fi rst or second Attracted by core clients Virgin, century and a bunch of very intelli- job – the kind of people the Disney and Red Bee Media, Loft gent, entrepreneurial people who industry needs.” London moved west from Lambeth want to get involved in that. It’s Darren Childs in 2009. Director Davide Maglio says: at the interface of those two things Chief executive, “We have developed this eco-system where some really interesting things UKTV within the triangle with the technical are happening.” ➤ www.broadcastnow.co.uk 21 November 2014 | TV Triangle | Broadcast | 5 For all the latest breaking news, updated daily, visit TV Triangle www.broadcastnow.co.uk OVERVIEW This is just the kind of innova- to allow for the extensive work to tion that Childs is passionate about CHISWICK PARK A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT be completed, at the same time as inspiring at UKTV’s new cutting- the all-new Riverside Studios edge offi ces on Hammersmith “TV is an industry in which companies feed into and off each other development relaunches with Grove, which it moved into earlier in many ways through infrastructure.