14/05/2008

Celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, and comedy writer, Armando Iannucci, have been lined up to give keynote speeches at this year’s Edinburgh International TV Festival, which has just announced the bulk of its programme.

The festival, sponsored by the MediaGuardian and taking place in August, also sees Dr Who executive producer, Russell T Davies,  and Heroes creator, Tim Kring, signed up to conduct masterclasses.
 
Oliver will give the Richard Dunn Memorial Interview, while Iannucci will deliver the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture, a platform that gives media visionaries the opportunity to present an inspirational view of the broadcasting future. In previous years, speakers have included Vint Cerf, Al Gore and James Murdoch.

Iannucci promises to deliver “an optimistic and uplifting view for people creating high quality programming, a ‘Yes We Can’ speech for the many talented creatives in the industry”.
 
American writer, consultant and academic Clay Shirky is also confirmed to present this year’s Futureview Address.  Shirky is a highly influential commentator on the web, social media and how society is adapting to new technologies, writing for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review and Wired. His speech will be based on his recent book, ‘Here Comes Everybody’, which explores how simple social technologies are creating radical changes in society, politics, media and culture.
 
As previously announced, director of Television at ITV and former BBC One Controller, Peter Fincham will give the MacTaggart Lecture.
 
Controllers from all the major channels - including Peter Fincham (ITV1), Jay Hunt (BBC1), Ben Gale (Five), Danny Cohen (BBC3), Richard Woolfe (Sky), Julian Bellamy (C4), Angela Jain and Peter Dale (E4 and More 4) and Zai Bennett (ITV2) - will be discussing their channel highlights and looking ahead tonext year.
 
One session sure to set the agenda is a live debate on the subject of Public Service Broadcasting, with both Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel 4, and Jana Bennett, Director of BBC Vision, already confirmed to speak.

For the first time, the festival is introducing its own ‘Dragon’s Den’ sessions, offering producers the chance to pitch for real development money. Once registered, delegates, will be able to apply for one of the 12 slots (four per genre – formats, comedy and entertainment and factual/docs), with the best being selected for a live pitch.

The festival is taking place between August 22 and 24. Visit www.mgeitf.co.uk

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