Manchester can sell its creativity to the world - not just London
 
MANCHESTER’S creative and media industry can look well beyond London to sell its content – according to media entrepreneur Alex Connock.

Speaking at a future pro.manchester event this week, he suggested Manchester creatives avoid prejudice against Northern creativity in some parts of the press – by directly targeting growing opportunities in the US and Asia.

Connock, who co-founded award-winning TV and education production group Ten Alps, shared his enthusisasm for Manchester’s creative potential to an audience of professionals and creatives at The Hive in the Northern Quarter.

“Post-industrial Manchester, like post industrial everywhere else, needs to be re-invented.  We need to make more stuff the world wants to buy – and creativity in content is a big part of the answer.”

Looking back at the ‘gold standard’ TV programmes Manchester has created over the years - such as Cold Feet, Coronation Street, Cutting It, Life on Mars, Phoenix Nights and Shameless – he said the region has always been a strong creative hub, but this will accelerate as major infrastructure such as MediaCity UK, the Sharp Project and Oxford Road Corridor come on stream.

But Connock, who is also a governor of Manchester Metropolitan University and Chairman of the Royal Television Society in the North West, argued that there is major work still to be done by the City’s finance and government communities in putting the same investment into ideas as buildings.

“At the moment, the region’s creative sector has received enormous hardware investment in the form of property.  Now is the time to find the same cash for software: actual creative businesses, ideas and individuals.  That’s more risky, but the returns from a global hit could be much greater.”

This year there could be an additional 2,000 media-based jobs in the North West through the BBC’s move. Alex encouraged Manchester creatives to make the most of this higher profile.

He also encouraged creative entrepreneurs to take advantage of the marketing opportunities social media provides.

“If an aspiring film maker wants to get noticed, they should have a YouTube channel and showcase their work.  They can interact with the industry through free platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Co-founded with Bob Geldof, Ten Alps makes TV programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and other broadcasters through Blakeway, Films of Record, Below the Radar and Brook Lapping, plus education and corporate responsibility output through its agency dbda and science channel Newton TV.  Connock also plans to start an entertainment TV formats venture called Pretend, based at MediaCityUK, later this year.

future pro.manchester represents the interests of tomorrow’s leaders in the city region. The event was part of a series of events accompanying the Professional Innovator Challenge. You can find out more about the challenge by visiting www.futurepromanchester.co.uk/professionalinnovator