ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT 2014 AGM 19 May 2015, 6:00pm at the RTS, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY REPORT 2014 CONTENTS Foreword by RTS Chair and CEO 3 Board of Trustees report to members 4 I Achievements and performance 4 – National events 4 – Centres events 30 II Governance and finance 40 1 Structure, governance and management 40 2 Objectives and activities 4 1 3 Financial review 4 1 4 Plans for future periods 42 5 Administrative details 42 Independent auditors’ report 44 Financial statements 45 Notes to the financial statements 48 Notice of AGM 2015 55 Agenda for AGM 2015 56 Form of Proxy 5 7 Minutes of AGM 2014 58 Picture credits 6 1 Who’s who at the RTS 62 PATRONS PRINCIPAL PATRONS MAJOR PATRONS RTS PATRONS BBC Accenture Autocue BSkyB Channel 5 Digital Television Group Channel 4 Television Deloitte ITV Anglia ITV Enders Analysis ITV Granada EY ITV London INTERNATIONAL PATRONS FremantleMedia ITV Meridian Discovery Corporate Services Ltd Fujitsu ITV Tyne Tees Liberty Global IBM ITV Wales NBCUniversal International IMG Studios ITV West The Walt Disney Company ITN ITV Yorkshire Turner Broadcasting System Inc KPMG Lumina Search Viacom International McKinsey and Co PricewaterhouseCoopers Media Networks S4C Quantel YouTube STV Group Raidió Teilifís Éireann UKTV UTV Television Virgin Media Vinten Broadcast YouView 2 FOREWORD his was a pivotal year for receive these bursaries. The students ible improvements to our website, par- the Society, with many have all started undergraduate courses in ticularly in the amount of original excellent events across practical media or broadcast journalism content being created, a great deal of the nations and regions, that have been accredited by Creative effort has also been going on under the a substantial increase in Skillset. They are a talented group, sev- bonnet. The Society is creating a much membership, the launch eral of whom have had to overcome very more engaging and robust online plat- ofT our new bursaries scheme and much difficult home circumstances and other form to showcase its activities to the of the groundwork done for a step challenges in order to study. public and to provide enhanced services change in our digital presence. The RTS We therefore intend to extend the to Members and Patrons. This is still a has continued to implement its strategic bursaries in 2015 and will be working work in progress, but we hope to have plan, announced in 2013, to do more for with our Patrons to identify those something much more vibrant and user- young people, expand its membership courses most relevant to addressing friendly launched by mid-2015. and build up its digital resources. television’s critical skills gap. These Partnerships and collaboration are also A wonderful example of the RTS at its will be Technology Bursaries aimed important for the way we work. In May best was the RTS London Conference, at engineering and computer-science we held our inaugural Joint Public Lec- Power, Politics and the Media, staged in undergraduates from less affluent ture with the Institution of Engineering the immediate run-up to the Scottish households. and Technology (IET). Dr Mike Lynch referendum. It was sponsored by STV We hope that this initiative will raise gave an excellent speech about how and chaired by the company’s CEO, Rob awareness among both students and technology is impacting on all parts of Woodward. faculty members about technology society and what this means for educa- Our national and local events, awards careers in our industries. tion and doing business in the UK. The and educational activities are only Good progress has been made towards collaboration with the IET is part of the made possible thanks to the unstinting achieving another strategic goal – of Society’s drive to re-embrace some of voluntary work and contributions of attracting and retaining a membership of our engineering and technology roots. our Members and Patrons. Our Patrons’ more than 5,000 by 2017. The increase in Other partners this year have included generous financial support is also the number of RTS Full Members from Creative Skillset, Broadcast magazine, IBC, matched by the many ways in which 1,970 to 2,740 in the course of 2014 has The Hospital Club, Sky and the BBC. It is they share their expertise and facilities been a gratifying barometer of the Soci- partnerships such as these that enable to enhance the Society’s programme of ety’s relevance and the perceived value the RTS to punch above its weight, and events. We were delighted to welcome of membership. more collaborations are in the pipeline eight new Patrons in the course of 2014. The Hospital Club affiliate access is a for 2015. A recurrent theme in our discussions fantastic benefit that effectively gives the It has been an action-packed year. We with Patrons – and the subject of a Society a central-London clubhouse hope that our Members and stakeholders crucial session at the RTS London Con- aimed at the entire creative community. have enjoyed their involvement with a ference – is that the television sector is We are looking at the provision of similar vibrant, expanding Society, and that it suffering a substantial skills shortage in benefits outside London to increase has had a positive and lasting influence technology, engineering and software membership in the nations and regions. on all those who have come into contact development. We have refreshed the RTS’s logo and with the RTS. At the beginning of the year, the RTS branding and introduced a membership launched its undergraduate bursaries welcome pack, and have redesigned and John Hardie, Chair of the scheme, and in the autumn we were able revitalised Television magazine. Board of Trustees, and to announce the first 20 students to While we have made significant, vis- Theresa Wise, Chief Executive 3 ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY REPORT 2014 RTS BOARD OF TRUSTEES REPORT 1 Achievements and Performance he Board of Trustees (who are also the directors of the Royal Television Society for the purposes of company law) presents its report and consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and TArticles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities (March 2005). The Trustees’ Report highlights the ways in which the Society’s activities have provided real benefit to the public at large. During 2014, the RTS maintained its unique and influential role in furthering public understanding of the transformative changes affecting British television through its publications, website and the wide range of affordable and accessible public events it has staged. In 2012, the Board of Trustees adopted a five-year strategic plan for growth. The details of its implementation are itemised on the following pages. 4 ITV Commissioning Editor Katy Thorogood interviewed Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Creative Officer of Twofour at the RTS Student Programme Masterclasses 5 ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY REPORT 2014 1 EDUCATION AND YOUTH Reynolds. Producer Emily Feller and Line Pro- Television faces a growing skills crisis, yet secur- ducer Alison Loose talked the audience through ing employment in the industry is harder than the various stages of drama production, from ever. In addition, there is still a lack of social script editing to location work, the skills required mobility in the television industries. Starting out and the entry-level opportunities – which have is still easier from a more affluent family with grown significantly, thanks to a drama boom. social connections in the sector. ◗ The third session, “Anatomy of an indie and a look at the regions with True North”, was chaired RTS Undergraduate Bursaries This is the context in by Barbara Govan. True North’s Creative Director, which the Society launched its £60,000 Under- Andrew Sheldon, and Head of Production Carol graduate Bursaries scheme at the beginning of McKenzie covered a huge amount of ground in the year. their contributions. Twenty bursaries of £3,000 were offered to McKenzie said the company received up to THOSE full-time “Home” undergraduate students start- 60 CVs a week. Once freelancers or interns are ing eligible courses in autumn 2014, who had a in the office, she looks for people who show WHO household income of no more than £25,000, and curiosity and are not phobic about phones. SUCCEED who had not previously been on a higher educa- “The technology changes all the time… but WILL BE tion course. Special consideration was made for what sits beneath it all the time is storytelling,” those with challenges in their family backgrounds suggested Sheldon. “What you’ve got to be care- THOSE or in other areas. The RTS received 195 applica- ful of on university courses is that you don’t [WITH] tions by the closing date of 31 May. reach for the technology because, in a way, the The bursaries are for studying television pro- technology is quite transient… Storytelling BRANDS duction and related digital media at 12 Creative doesn’t change. It’s much harder to teach how to THAT CAN Skillset-accredited British universities. Each construct a story.” bursary offers three payments of £1,000 cash per ◗ Sky News journalists Neil Dunwoodie and STAND student, paid in February of each of the three Martin Stanford made the final presentations. OUT IN A academic years. Recipients also get free RTS Dunwoodie said self-shooting and editing are membership (which includes affiliate access to increasingly important elements in a reporter’s WORLD The Hospital Club in London) while studying and skill set. He oversees Sky News’s three-week OF MORE one year’s free membership of the RTS after AND graduation.