Intensive Day

 

Unfortunately I missed the Intensive day due to medical reasons but after watching the videos of the lectures Serena Cullen brought up some interesting points that got me thinking about my professional career.

Firstly she talked about target audience specifically but not only about identifying them but how we should use this to sell an idea for a TV show. Essentially she says that it is all well and good saying that this is the target audience but it is another thing determining whether the target audience will actually watch the TV show. From this comes a number of questions concerning production and broadcast which will be vital in pursuing a career in scriptwriting.

“Every solid audience profile starts with a fundamental understanding of who your audience is. Demographic profiles are limited in their potential to uncover motivations and buying patterns. But they’re a great launch point for any discussion.” – DeMers 2013

The above quote explains the nature of reaching a target audience and it is this idea of “motivations” and “buying patterns” which is fundamental when selling an idea. Will the target audience you are going for actually want to watch your show. This is when ideas of production and broadcast enter as you need to know what your target want in a TV show in terms of character, arena, storylines and much more. If the target audience are not able to relate then it is futile. Also what time is the show being broadcast as this will have a huge effect on who watches it. Post watershed are more adult TV shows where as Daytime TV will be more for mothers and young children.

Something else I found thought provoking in her lecture was when she compared Art-house movies and online products and said that people today want to watch more content online than go to the cinema and watch an art house film. She then elaborates more on the emergence of online content and says that it is not the end of TV but maybe the end of TV scheduling and that the Cinema experience cannot be replaced. These are interesting points as online content can be seen as more dynamic than TV and cinema and maybe something I want to consider in my professional career. Many TV shows have experimented with online an example being Eastenders which created an online series specifically tailored for a teenage audience. This allowed for Eastenders to maybe reach a different target audience and maybe expand their fan base. From a production perspective it also allowed for emerging writers, directors and actors to gain some experience in one of the longest running soaps in the country.

Online content is something I may want to think about because with the emergence of on demand providers such as Netflix and Lovefilm everything shown on television will eventually be shown online giving the audience greater control of what they want to watch and when they want to watch it. As well as this content made specifically for the internet is becoming popular as it is easily accessible and free to watch. For the producers it will have very low production costs and can be produced independently.

DeMers, J., 2013. 6 steps to decoding your target audience [online]. USA: Forbes. Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/08/27/6-steps-to-decoding-your-target-audience/ [Accessed 1 December 2013].