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The Edinburgh International Television FestivalHome > Festivals > The Edinburgh International Television Festival
The Edinburgh International Television Festival, founded in 1976, is held annually over the British August bank holiday weekend at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The Festival runs two talent schemes, The Network and Fast Track, aimed at helping individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds gain knowledge and experience of the industry, supporting them in the early stages of their career and giving them access to valuable workshops and masterclasses. Whether you have been in the business since the Festival was founded, or you are just starting out, The Edinburgh International Television Festival is for you. The Festival gives you a chance to talk telly with the best in the business, at an event full of opportunities for all. If you want to get into the industry, but don't know where to start, The Network is for you. Already got your foot in the door? Fast Track is for you if you have 2 - 4 years' experience and are looking to take your career to the next level. Been around longer than that? Then the three days of Festival sessions, keynote speeches and social events should give you something new to talk about.
Featuring prominent television industry voices and sessions covering pertinent issues facing the future of broadcasting, the Festival is best known for its keynote address; the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture. This was named in honour of the writer, producer and director who died in 1974. The lecture features prescient speeches from controversial and powerful media figures that reads like a who's who of British TV over the last couple of decades. In recent years this has included Greg Dyke, John Birt, Mark Thompson, Tony Ball, John Humphreys and in 1989, Rupert Murdoch. One of the best remembered speechs was given by an ill Dennis Potter in 1993 who attacked the chairman and director general of the BBC of the day by saying; "you cannot make a pair of croak-voiced Daleks appear benevolent even if you dress one of them in an Armani suit and call the other Marmaduke." John Birt, one of Potter's targets, returned to give the Lecture in 2005. The ex-ITV plc Chief Executive Charles Allen gave the 2006 lecture. Jeremy Paxman gave the 2007 lecture, using it to criticise what he saw as a loss of purpose and moral direction in the industry. Immerse yourself in TV and join the debate in Edinburgh this and every August, at the industries most vibrant, welcoming, inclusive and thought provoking weekend. |
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