David Abraham speech at Belfast Media Festival

14 October 2011

I am delighted to be speaking here in Belfast today, at what I know is an exciting time for its creative community. From the shooting of the HBO's Game of Thrones to Derry/Londerry being named the UK's first City of Culture, as well as the international success of production companies such as Sixteen South and Waddell Media, I know that there is a growing sense of opportunity for many of you here, and I hope that Channel 4 will be able to play its part in that story.

I have been at Channel 4 for nearly 18 months now, and I have spent much of that time reorganising and making new appointments to ensure that we are prepared for the digital future.

I have also spent some time thinking about exactly what Channel 4's role is in this changing media landscape, and how that should evolve in an age where there is no shortage of space for people looking to voice their opinion. I want to talk to you about this vision, and the hugely important role of creative talent from across the UK in helping us to achieve that.

Before I do that, though, I would just like to saw a few words about the times we find ourselves in. The dramatic scenes of unrest that we have seen this year - from the Arab Spring to the summer riots in England- alongside the jitters of the global economy - have created feelings of uncertainty for many of us. The world is now changing with such speed that it is proving hard to keep up, let alone make sense of. 

As a commercially funded broadcaster, in an industry that is being thrown into flux by the sweep of digital technology, Channel 4 is far from immune from this uncertainty.  However, I do believe that as the world changes in profound ways, the need for an organisation like Channel 4 - which can help illuminate these changes, give voice to the outsider, pose challenging questions about where society is heading and make sure that we can continue to listen and debate with one another, is more important than ever.

Already this year we have seen some exceptional programmes that I think demonstrate Channel 4's commitment to taking on difficult issues and giving a voice to groups that nobody else is covering. From the brave and urgent Sri Lanka's Killing Fields to the incredible resonance of the Street Summer season - to say nothing of Jamie's Dream School, Seven Dwarves, Gypsy Wedding, Educating Essex, 24 Hours in A&E, Attack the Block... Week after week I believe Channel 4 has offered fresh insight into many of the most pressing issues affecting the UK, and helped to set the tone of debate across the country.

In the months ahead we intend to do even more to explore big contemporary themes in bold new ways - whether that is investigating the truth behind drug addiction, giving an insight into the transgender community or examining the British housing crisis. And of course we want to do all of this without being dry or worthy - which is why we have characterised our approach as a ‘mission for mischief'.

To ensure that we can deliver this creative vision we are also looking at ways in which we can innovate with our business model. We know that in a world of converged devices, forging deeper connections with our audience is going to be key to Channel 4's business. We therefore want to pioneer new ways of understanding how our viewers engage with our content. This is why we are making a multi-million pound investment in a bespoke Channel 4 Viewer database, which can bring together data about the tastes of our audiences and help us give them an even more personalised experience. Not only do we think this strategy will help to bring audiences even closer to the content that they love, but we also think it will lead to an enhanced offer for our advertisers - which, in turn, should enable us to invest in more great content from people like you.

So I have a clear sense of what I want Channel 4's future to be - and how I think we can get there. But, as Channel 4 is an organisation built on partnerships with the independent sector, this vision will also be dependent on the amazing producers, writers and directors that we work with every day. Many of you here will have worked with Channel 4 over the years - and I am sure many others have ambitions to - and so it is our relationship with the creative community that I would like to focus on today.

At the beginning of the year I made my first keynote speech as CEO of Channel 4 at the Salford Nations and Regions Media Conference. It was important for me to make that speech outside of London, because of Channel 4's crucial role in reaching out to those who may sit outside of the traditional ‘establishment' - whether that is in political terms or the media industry itself. So that means making sure we broaden our scope beyond the backstreets of Soho.

Indeed, it was in that speech that I recognised that Channel 4 has not always embraced as wide a range of talent as I believe it could have done. And I think that goes against the grain of what Channel 4 is for and what it sets out to do.

So in Salford I announced a new approach to commissioning - one we call creative diversity. This aims to broaden out the diversity of our supply base. Headed up by Stuart Cosgrove, the Creative Diversity team work across all platforms and have project managers each charged with overseeing specific nations and regions - and I know that Susie Wright, the commissioner responsible for Northern Ireland, is here today.

I also announced the Alpha Fund - a £2m development fund aimed at supporting grassroots talent across all platforms, as well as for the first time announcing regional targets for Channel 4's online output, to ensure that our creative diversity vision is aligned whatever platform we happen to be commissioning from.

I know that there are many in the industry who welcomed these announcements, but said that, of course, the proof will be in the pudding. So what I want to tell you about today is just that - the evidence of what I think has been a step change in the level of engagement, and access, companies from all over the UK have had with Channel 4.

Before I go into detail about some of the projects that I think really showcase our approach, I would like to show a tape to give you a flavour of what we have been doing. 

(Play tape - 3 minutes long) 

So, a few facts for you:

• We have held commissioner briefings in 11 cities outside London
• The creative diversity team has met with 338 new or emergent companies so far in 2011- 41 of those in Northern Ireland.
• 54 projects have been put into paid development through the Alpha Fund, of which 22 have progressed to full commissions.
• Across 2011 Channel 4 will have worked with 130 creative digital companies - a major increase from 2010.

Our strategy has been to identify bright new companies, provide them with a small amount of seed funding, and help them forge relationships with commissioners in the rest of the organisation. We have been doing this across the UK - working with companies such as Timeline Films in Scotland, who received initial development funding from the Alpha Fund for a documentary idea and who went on to receive a network commission from Channel 4, as well as Hey Buddy Productions, an emerging BME company who gained three Channel 4 commissions within 6 months of working with the Creative Diversity Team.

Of course, it would be patronising to suggest that new talent and regional talent is the same thing. We know there are many companies out there across the UK of size and scale capable of producing major series for us - and many of them already do - from Maverick in the West Midlands to IWC in Scotland. But we know that even for larger companies based outside of London, there have been concerns about commissioner access.

This is why Jay Hunt, our Chief Creative Officer, has given every commissioning head formal objectives to visit at least two different creative cities a year, and develop relationships with at least one new indie.

We are already seeing the results of this approach, with recent commissions for companies Channel 4 has never worked with before - such as Telesgop in Wales, who made an amazing film for us this summer uncovering the secret letters of Wallis Simpson. 

I want to emphasise that this strategy is not just about opening ourselves up to television companies.  Digital innovation is now at the heart of Channel 4's commissioning ambitions - with online commissioners sitting directly alongside their television counter-parts for the first time, new appointments being made in gaming and converged formats, and two-screen experiences pioneering new ways of engaging audiences with our content.

This approach has led to commissions for a host of emerging digital companies new to Channel 4 - from Dundee's Dynamo Games, who are developing our first Facebook game, to Mobile Pie in Bristol, who are creating an app to accompany E4's Made In Chelsea. 

Indeed, today I can announce that by the end of the year we will have worked with more digital companies in 2011 than ever before in Channel 4's history. And we want this to continue - which is why for the first time we are now asking digital indies to pitch us complete multi-platform projects.  This means that we aren't just talking to digital agencies after a TV company has already had an idea - but opening ourselves up to digital companies from the outset. It may sound simple, but this is a whole new commissioning strategy for Channel 4 and one which I think reflects our status as a truly ground-breaking, cross-platform, company.

Of course, as we are here in Belfast, I am sure you want to hear what this all means for those of you working in Northern Ireland.

Over the last few years we have worked closely with organisations like  Northern Ireland Screen on critically acclaimed projects such as Mo and Hunger, and we want to build on that rich heritage by uncovering the next generation of talent.

The launch of the Alpha Fund through Channel 4's Creative Diversity Department has seen a raft of new projects appear from across Northern Ireland. 15 projects across a range of genres and platforms have been supported through development, with several now going through to full commission. Examples include:

• Belfast-based Flickerpix Animation, who have been funded to produce a series of viral animations for Channel 4's 2012 Paralympics output.
• Alison Millar, a major documentary talent who has been supported to develop a project about Belfast Women.
• "Belfast Now" - a unique project from Doubleband Films showcasing some of the Belfast's most outstanding new creative talent from the worlds of film and photography.

And beyond the Alpha Fund, Channel 4 has made a greater effort to seek out new and emerging talents in this region. Factual specialists DoubleBand have had three commissions from Channel 4 in 2011, including their film The Perfect Murder - a story of adultery, betrayal and a killer dentist. 

In drama, award-winning Irish director, Cathy Brady's latest project, Rough Skin aired on Channel 4 in July. The powerful 30 minute film was produced through Channel 4's talent strand Coming Up and starred BAFTA winning actress Vicky McClure.

Our very own Head of Comedy Shane Allen was born and raised here in Belfast, attending the Belfast Royal Academy before becoming the man who brought you The Inbetweeeners. He has remained in touch with his roots though - and in recent years has developed projects with comedy specialists from Northern Ireland and Ireland, including Green Inc, Scratch Films and Sideline Productions - who have just been commissioned to produce three comedy shorts for our exciting new online talent showcase Comedy Blaps.  

And as Channel 4 is not just about television, I am also excited that we are working with Northern Ireland Screen to invest in some distinctive new film-makers based here. 2011 saw the release of Film4 and Northern Ireland Screen's Behold the Lamb - a comic road movie set across Northern Ireland's bible belt, directed by Belfast director John McIlduff.

I also want to celebrate the creative talent that has been borne out of Northern Ireland, but who have gone on to work elsewhere. Whether it is Michael Fassbender's acclaimed performance in Steve McQueen's Shame, premiering tonight at the London Film Festival, or our new drama series Top Boy, penned by Northern-Irish screenwriter Ronan Bennett, the talent and experiences of people from this part of the country are reflected throughout our work.

Finally, I think one of the best examples of Channel 4's approach to creative diversity can be seen in the 4thought.tv strand. Since its launch in 2010, 4thought has continued to provide an inspiring and thought-provoking mix of views and beliefs week after week. It has just been commissioned for another series - with a new, enhanced, website launching this week - contributing the equivalent of 24 hours of programming from Northern Ireland across the year.

Not only am I really proud of the range of issues 4thought has covered - which have ranged from euthanasia to whether Osama Bin Laden deserves a place in heaven,  I also think it is a fantastic example of the way Channel 4 can bring talent together. Johnston North and Atto, a small digital design partnership based in Belfast, were introduced to Waddell Media after one of our multi-platform commissioners came across an online game that Johnston North had produced. Over the last year they have been collaborating to produce the television and online components of 4thought, and together I think they have created a powerful forum for debate and reflection that I think it would be hard to find on any other broadcast platform.

So I hope you will see that Channel 4 is serious about broadening its supply base.

Of course there are challenges - both for us and for you.

This is a fast-paced sector - with new technologies arriving almost daily that change the way we work. I am a passionate supporter of talent development, and believe that unless we equip our workforce with the right skills and expertise, as a country we will be left behind. This is why Channel 4 is a major supporter of Skillset - of which I am proud to be a Board member of - and why we work with other organisations around the country to develop people‘s careers. 

We also need to recognise the distinct challenges facing different parts of the UK. For example, it is clear that there is no shortage of talent in Northern Ireland. But it also has one of the highest rates of young people leaving to go to university and not returning - and therefore has a disproportionate talent-drift. Of course, we can't dictate where people choose to live and work, but I do think there is a need to work harder with our partners at BBC and Northern Ireland Screen to create new prospects here.

But I want to end on a positive note - because I believe there are great opportunities ahead of us. I hope I have outlined for you a Channel 4 that is facing the future, which is taking a new approach to its business model and its commissioning culture - and which, most importantly, is genuinely, sincerely, open to companies of all sizes, expertise and backgrounds.

All we ask of you in return is that we want big, bold, ambitious ideas that you think nobody else could, or would, do. Which bring fresh approaches to contemporary themes, that look at the world from a slightly different perspective, and which can engage and inspire our audiences in exciting new ways. 

We may be living in extraordinary, shifting times, but Channel 4 is facing the future with optimism - and I hope you can come along with us.

Thank you.