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eSCape
TV™ is a very flexible and quasi-experimental format, in
keeping with seismic shifts within the industry towards digital
multichannel, thematic programming. Our product is unique
in that it requires little or no reversioning
across transnational markets. Presenting
is multi-lingual and in short bursts which will not over-challenge
the attention span of today's 16-24s. For previewing purposes, we
have divided our programmes into 'segments', featuring footage from
over 20 European and near-European cities. eSCape TV™ Series
One can be split into four kinds of generic content: firstly, arty
and moody sequences set against a pastiche of music and audio effects,
suitable for cultural slots and teen/twentysomething
magazines in particular. We expect scheduling to be, for example,
daytime weekend, stripped in small doses across several consecutive
week-nights, or in larger portions after Programme segments can be scheduled individually as 'shorts' as
suggested above, or could feasibly be incorporated into existing
producers' output in the shape of eSCape TV™ 'windows', sandwiched
between animated logos or similar devices, in each episode. This
option is of particular interest to us, since local magazines are
generally in touch with a grass-roots market share with which we,
too, wish to engage. Such magazines are often lacking in international
quantum, however, and producers inserting an eSCape TV™ window
into each episode will acquire a valuable and innovative global
dimension, providing additional content amplification through our
60-language web site if this is useful. Reciprocally, eSCape TV™
is keen to take part in interactive TV which makes use of SMS messaging
etc. The issue of foreign rights for eSCape TV™ windows can be
dealt with variously according to context and the vertical relationship
between content producer/programme maker, channel and platform. Obviously our product is also available in conventional 'series'
format (usually six episodes, each of 25-30 minutes' duration),
but we believe that outside of free-to-air terrestrial broadcasting
(whether private or public), our more fragmented and hence adaptable
business models are equally well-suited to the present segmented
format. We see no reason why a channel should not run, say, five-to-ten
minute nightly eSCape tv™ slots alongside a weekly 30-minute
instalment, for example. Our suggested format for TV stations in the UK is coverage of
two-to-four locations per episode on average, each with a thematic follow-up
upon the screening of the following or next-but-one instalment, with two
music videos per episode concluding parts one and two respectively
(commercial channels in particular), and signing off with a short, humorous
clip, making-of catastrophe or anything short and snappy. Artistically eSCape TV™ is a subtle, hybrid and even unique
form of info-tainment which combines economic
and concise statements useful in opinion formation, with a fair
ration of jump-cuts and experimental filming and editing work. This
way, the programme is less likely to be perceived as uncool
because of its factual content. We are aware that retailers often bundle inappropriate content
together with material channel-owners desperately need, in order to hike up
the selling-price. By dealing directly with independent producers such as ourselves, programme controllers can request content which
is tailor-made to their particular needs, and for this advantage pay
substantially less than they would have had to through a generalist retailer.
Perhaps our most impressive USP is the inherently multi-lingual and
multi-cultural aspect of our output. Equally, however, our package can easily
be repurposed for specific demographic or geolinguistic
market sectors; the degree of globalisation reflected by our content will
ultimately depend on how, when and where it is screened. As an example here,
one broadcaster might show a programme on Prague, one on Paris, then one on
Rome etc., each supported by a 'no comment' sequence (no dubbing), rounding
off with a location-specific travelogue-style music video, where another
might prefer to mix shorter, faster-paced snippets from a dozen cities with a
pop video shot in Rome, Milan and Bucharest. Whichever choices a broadcaster makes, there can be no escaping
the surprises and occasional headaches brought about by convergence,
and the seemingly inevitable gradual annexation of television by
the computer industry, and in terms of both platform ownership and
digital technologies, world telecommunications. MTV believe that
60% of its global audience surfs the web, often at the same time
as watching TV and talking over the telephone. eSCape TV™
subscribes to the view that such multi-tasking is likely to be instrumental
in generating new, repurposed formats of what most people think
of as television, and like most innovative content producers, we
hope to pre-empt what some of these might be. The issue of TV on
demand, or virtual TV on demand, or whatever it is that makes the
BBC decide to lay off ten per cent of its workforce and relocate
key programming to a more affordable operational hub is not really
our priority, however. It is the content hub - whether domestic
or on-the-move - which interests us, and mobile phones, PDAs,
laptops, Wi-Fi and musically, iPods
etc., are all things which concern us just as much as the televisual
transmission of our output. We are creating a flexible product which
does not need to be stripped across consecutive nights at the same
time, or indeed any other kind of appointment with the consumer
through scheduled programming, in order to remain 'sticky' in a
niche, or cult environment. But that does not mean we can take over
the world by spreading our content thinly over the entire planet
under the global branding of eSCape TV™. Rather, with each
step away from base we shall strive, hopefully in co-production
with local producers and networks, to provide content which feels
as close as it looks distant. |