CMU School of Drama


Friday, March 06, 2020

Coronavirus Sparks Virtual Innovation Across TV Industry

Variety: With French events organizer Reed Midem pulling the plug on MipTV for the first time since its formation in 1964, the realities of keeping businesses ticking in the face of a potential global pandemic are quickly emerging for the TV industry, with a range of contingency plans furiously in the works, including a drive towards virtual meet-ups and digital rights platforms.

5 comments:

Margaret Shumate said...

As grim as it is, it's not hard to imagine that this virus could be a useful wakeup call telling the entertainment industry (and other industries) they need to adjust a lot of long held policies. A lot of industries have conferences, but it's easy enough for most to cancel or delay their gatherings until after an epidemic has passed. The entertainment industry, maybe more than any other, is built around people gathering together. To stay resilient in the face of events like pandemics, entertainment needs to have solid backup plans. 'Screen to screen' conferences are a start, but obviously not an ideal solution. As an industry, we need to figure out a better way to connect and experience accross distances. Incidentally, it could improve the industry's impact in other ways too. If a good way to experience a presentation, a rehearsal, or a performance could be devised, it could cut down on how much designers travel, and therefore on the environmental empact of that travel.

Margaret Shumate said...

As grim as it is, it's not hard to imagine that this virus could be a useful wakeup call telling the entertainment industry (and other industries) they need to adjust a lot of long held policies. A lot of industries have conferences, but it's easy enough for most to cancel or delay their gatherings until after an epidemic has passed. The entertainment industry, maybe more than any other, is built around people gathering together. To stay resilient in the face of events like pandemics, entertainment needs to have solid backup plans. 'Screen to screen' conferences are a start, but obviously not an ideal solution. As an industry, we need to figure out a better way to connect and experience accross distances. Incidentally, it could improve the industry's impact in other ways too. If a good way to experience a presentation, a rehearsal, or a performance could be devised, it could cut down on how much designers travel, and therefore on the environmental empact of that travel.

Unknown said...

As grim as it is, it's not hard to imagine that this virus could be a useful wakeup call telling the entertainment industry (and other industries) they need to adjust a lot of long held policies. A lot of industries have conferences, but it's easy enough for most to cancel or delay their gatherings until after an epidemic has passed. The entertainment industry, maybe more than any other, is built around people gathering together. To stay resilient in the face of events like pandemics, entertainment needs to have solid backup plans. 'Screen to screen' conferences are a start, but obviously not an ideal solution. As an industry, we need to figure out a better way to connect and experience accross distances. Incidentally, it could improve the industry's impact in other ways too. If a good way to experience a presentation, a rehearsal, or a performance could be devised, it could cut down on how much designers travel, and therefore on the environmental empact of that travel.

Reesha A. said...

I think it has only been in the past few weeks that I have realized the impact that corona virus has had on the world as a whole, impacting social, political and economical aspects.
Starting as something based in a one country, the disease has now spread to other parts of the world, as more and more cases are being reported elsewhere in the country.
Because of all of this, it makes all the sense to me that people across the world are trying to help stop the spread of the disease, using innovative techniques.
This article talks about how the TV industry is trying to come up with innovative methods of creating a virtual platform of television streaming and content development, and honestly speaking, the ideas that have been presented for the same seem like they could be effective methods to the problems that they industry is facing in the wake of corona virus.

Cecilia S said...

Every article these past two weeks seems to be about the coronavirus...while it’s really upsetting to see so many creative business struggling and events being cancelled, it is shocking how unprepared we are for disease outbreaks. You’d think we would have good relief policies toward outbreaks like this because we’ve been through many, but we don’t. I heard this from a lecture but all of this chaos is really a testimonial to how we don’t take diseases seriously. While there’s only so much we can do, governments and people could have taken more measures to prevent this virus from turning into a pandemic.

I am happy to see that the TV industry is adapting its traditional rules to our need to self-isolate right now. Like deals are being made virtually instead of in-person which was the usual code. I think it’s so important for these changes to be made right now especially in the theater/TV/film industry because the work we do requires people to gather/come together. But the bigger problem is really shows getting cancelled and movie release dates getting postponed to we don’t know when.