You are invited to submit a pitch for the inaugural edition of Reflections: A TV Foundation Review, the new publication produced in collaboration with The TV Foundation, the Edinburgh Television Festival charity, and Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow. The Review aims to develop a new space for thoughtful, creative responses to the year of television. This edition will be published online and in print in August 2023 for distribution at the Edinburgh Television Festival. Contributors are invited to produce pieces of reflective writing (750-1500 words) with additional scope for original formats e.g., illustrations, poems.
The purpose of Reflections is to build on existing dialogues on television undertaken primarily in industry and academic spaces. We want to use the Review to bring the intellectual depth of these conversations into a shared writing platform that bridges insider/outsider engagements with broadcasting. This is an opportunity to bring together diverse perspectives on the year’s key television debates, in styles of writing that bridge the gap between academic and journalistic discourse on television. In doing so, we aim to create a new platform for the exchange of ideas, networks and practices that will contribute to progress and collaboration across television devotees.
Themes
We welcome pitches for all forms of reflection on television. The ‘year-in-review’ considers the time elapsed since the last Edinburgh Television Festival, 24-26 August 2022. The subjects addressed at that Festival may be used as a jumping off point for response pieces, and indeed the 2022 sessions are available On Demand via the Festival web portal for pass holders.
Subjects for pitches may include but are not limited to:
- On the present and future of public service broadcasting
- How online streamers impact British television
- Where the Scotland, the UK fit in global markets
- The function and pleasures of entertainment programmes
- What role terrestrial television still plays
- Representing the climate crisis in broader discourse
- Mental health on screen
- The power of news coverage in domestic and international crises
- Diversity in industry, on and off screen
- Spotlights and fandom of shows / channels / talent
- The shifting role of indies in the market
Contributors
Pitches are sought from contributors across all aspects and career stages of television, academia, and journalism.
Pitches are particularly welcomed from postgraduate students and early career researchers and industry professionals. Submissions are encouraged from those of all backgrounds and identities. This is an innovative space for dialogues on television, so perspectives that might not find homes in existing outlets are especially of interest.
Renumeration
Through our collaboration with the TV Foundation, we are pleased to offer academic contributors to the final publication a fee of £50 per 1000 words, and a pass to attend the Edinburgh TV Festival in August 2023, where Reflections will be distributed.
Submissions
Your pitch should consist of:
An Abstract (max. 250 words) – Please identify your topic, reasons for selecting it, and how you plan to critically engage with it in reference to the television ‘year-in-review’ theme(s). Please consider why the proposed piece is original and relevant to the festival.
A Short Bio (max. 100 words) – This should include your education, employment, recent publications (if any).
Please combine the pitch abstract and bio into a single Word attachment to your email.
If you are interested in contributing in a different format, the Review welcomes pitches along the lines of illustrations, poetry etc. Please be clear in your pitch what you intend to produce, and comparable recent work would be a useful reference point.
Submit your pitch to Matthew Floyd at tvfoundationreview@glasgow.ac.uk by Friday 27 January 2023. Please use this subject title in your email: ‘Pitch: Reflections 2023: A TV Foundation Review’.
All applicants will be notified by Friday 10 February 2023. The deadline for submitting the accepted written works will be Friday 31 March 2023.
Editorial team
Matthew Floyd is a doctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow working with the TV Foundation to build a history of the Edinburgh Television Festival, focusing on its keynote MacTaggart lecture. For the 2022 Festival, Matthew was the Session Producer for the MacTaggart Legacy panel featuring Jack Thorne, David Olusoga, Dorothy Byrne and Armando Iannucci in conversation with Advisory Chair Afua Hirsch. This publication is the next step in the ongoing partnership between the Edinburgh Television Festival and Glasgow University.
Campbell Glennie is the CEO of the TV Foundation and the Edinburgh TV Festival, the UK’s leading TV event and home to the MacTaggart Lecture. Previously he has held senior management roles at Sheffield DocFest, Future Shorts/Secret Cinema as well as owning and editing Fest, Edinburgh’s independent Fringe guide. As a freelance writer and producer, he has worked for the BBC, The Guardian, ITV Studios, Banijay and Global.
Amy Holdsworth is the current Head of Film & Television Studies at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of On Living with Television (Duke University Press, 2021), Television, Memory & Nostalgia (Palgrave, 2011) and has recently joined the editorial board of the journal Screen (OUP).
Lisa Kelly is Senior Lecturer in Television Studies at the University of Glasgow. She has published on TV sitcom, factual entertainment, regional production hubs and talent development, and is currently developing a digital health & safety platform for the screen industries.
