I have been driven into the online course market creating my “online TV course” as a creator rather than a consumer. It is a covid thing, no international travel is an issue if you work as an international consultant. It is also something i have been thinking about for a while now.
But It’s a process full of decisions all of which seem quite daunting, so it is easy to procrastinate and spend all your time reading reviews and using free trials.
Do I go it alone, I can build Websites programme HTML and CSS? Do I use one of the big two ready made builders Kajabi and Thinkific? I am very clear about what I am going to offer, developing formats for audiences, now note my use of words, I didn’t say developing TV Formats. What do I call it has stopped my in my tracks and i need help? Is the noun television relevant any more?
Is the word “Television” relevant
Here is my fundamental dilemma, no one under 26 watches TV. I taught and University this year and I can confirm that between the students and my own teenage daughters, no one watches TV, or at least realises they are when they watch Love Island. They of course watch endless tictoks, youtube and stream Netfilx or any number of online sources. This is all done on mobile phones, laptops, gaming PC’s or perhaps the smartTV.
At university we had a robust conversation about what to call the TV production course moving forward.
“Television” sounds like a Jules Verne vision of the future from 1897.
“Content Creator” sounds like a person in an averagely lit bedroom in-audiabily rating on about minecrafts lack of updates.
“Digital Media” well what is that?
When we are trying to attract the crews, producers, writers and directors if we ask, in our excited dinosaur voices “DO you want to work in TV?” I suspect the answer would range from. what’s TV, through, Never watch it to a flat out NO. Its all I ever dreamt of but the last two projects I developed were “digital first” (online only) I used all the same skills and techniques as developing for TV, even in overcoming the unique non linear element of online media. What was I doing, how do I describe it. The market understands TV Format, but search but “TV” as an adjective seems to need expanding. Look, I am a TV director, then we have theatre directors, company directors etc. But what now describes a director working, asking people to point cameras at things for TV, or streaming or online events. Search media director and you will get a myriad of different sectors. I need to know what sector I work in in a single punchy everyone gets it way.
What is my online course?
This I can obviously answer, my “online TV course” is…
I want to help people format their ideas for content into a recognisable pitch for a buyer.
I want to help people format those ideas into what we now call stories, be that a story of a person winning a talent show, gameshow, or selling a thing or culture.
I want to help people who want to direct – “ask people to point cameras things creating shots” and then to “string those shots into something that tells the story”
I want to let people know what a fantastic industry camera pointing and show stringing is with opportunities for many skills and jobs, super technical to arts and design.
I want to help people fill up blank sheets of paper with great new ideas that will entertain, educate and inform.
But I don’t want to put off a new excited cohort of talent by calling by a name of a device no one watches.
Help me out
There we have it, I need help. What do we call this fantastic industry that takes a wildly talent group of people from every socio economic background, using every pronoun in the dictionary from a thankfully ever more diverse group of cultures and abilities, and as always from every educational mark on the scale. The common purpose, the capture, events, stories, concepts performances for anyone to experience through a screen, anywhere. Just writing that excites as much as the first day I walked into the industry on the Muppet Show and Digital/New Media doesn’t hack it. Wjhat do I call my “online TV course”