If it isn’t broke don’t fix it

This Saturday sees the return of the X-Factor to our screens in the UK. After many seasons of the same format this year the producers have made a range of changes including auditions now being held in front of live audiences instead of just in front of the judges to name just one.

Using the same format the X-Factor has been a hit in the UK for many years now but this is the first time the producers have played with the format. I’m not sure if this is because they are scared about viewing figures or people just want to make change for change sake.

If something is successful or you are successful you should keep doing things the same way as yes a change could make you even better but there is a risk if you change things up for no reason that it could make you less successful. If you are going to make changes there should be a purpose behind them and they should be well thought out.

It is hard in today’s world to find a winning formula and with things like TV programmes the viewers obviously like the programme for a reason and if you change it you may alienate those viewers that liked the programme before you changed it.

In a fast changing world there seems to be this atmosphere and culture of having to change to keep up with the times and for entities to keep evolving but I think it is important that we don’t go blindly in to this cycle and sometimes fight the urge to change some things.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Never Giving Up

After the outcry last year from the UK over the Eurovision song contest the UK came back with a bang going from a year after year of languishing at the bottom to finishing in the top five. After last year there had been cries from the UK people for the UK to withdraw from the competition due to the perceived less than impartial voting going on fearing that the UK would never get a fair chance of winning.

This year however Andrew Lloyd Webber came to the rescue helping the country to find our act and then writing the song for them. Even with all this many in the UK were still skeptical about our chances of success and still were questioning our participation. People had regularly tuned in to Eurovision to watch the UK do terribly and to listen to Terry Wogan’s commentary in the past but this year we had neither.

Looking back at our success you can start wondering if it was Andrew Lloyd Webber who got us there or if the voting has changed and if anybody could have gone up on stage and got the same votes. This we will never know but last Saturday proved a great point. The point being that no matter how aggrieved you feel about injustice in competitions the only way to change or improve the system is to stay involved in the process and not give up. Giving up is never an answer that will change things. I think the outcry from the public did make people take notice of the situation which was great but it was only that it was twinned with our continued participation which is why we got the success we did.

Andrew Lloyd Webber instead of worrying about the voting was proactive and looked at ways he could change things like with our act Jade Ewen touring the voting nations on a PR campaign. When you come up against problems you need to look at all the different ways there are to get around it and not just give up when you encounter it.

As a viewer I thought that this year was not perfect but it was closer to being a song contest that it ha ever been and it was great to see so many young and talented people representing their nations. Who knows what will happen next year? If we will see a return to the voting of the past but this year has given me great heart for the future of Eurovision. People just need to remember that votes doesn’t always equal talent, just because you may not get many votes doesn’t mean that a song or performance isn’t any good and we can’t lose sight of this.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

I'd Do Anything!

I’d Do Anything is a line normally used by people who want to get something or achieve something but I am not talking about that in this weeks blog. Of course I am referring to it as the line from Oliver and the title of the new BBC Saturday night talent search programme which if you live in the UK you will have probably heard something about or seen some of the shows.

The series is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s third attempt to find a star of his latest musical production after two successful runs finding talent for The Sound of Music and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. This time he is looking for people to fill the two roles of Oliver and Nancy in Oliver The Musical. This series is different to previous years as they are looking to fill two roles instead of one but the big twist this year is that the competition for the first time has been opened up to children in order to fill the role of Oliver.

Last year X-Factor lowered their minimum age to 14 to audition and now with this series it raises the question of should young children be allowed to participate in TV talent programmes? I know this isn’t the first time children have been allowed on talent shows as many years ago it was common place on shows like New Faces and Opportunity Knocks as well as the American Star Search.

Talent shows use to have much higher viewing ratings back in the early days of this programme genre but many of these episodes featuring young people have been forgotten, lost or not easily accessible. This isn’t the case any more as although these type of shows are viewed by less people they can now be posted on sites like YouTube for people to watch, comment on and save for years to come. Add to this the celebrity / paparazzi culture we live in with thousands of news reports happening around the globe on just one episode of a TV show adds to the crazy amount of pressure put on the young people featuring in these programmes.

The bosses in charge of I’d Do Anything have made the step to not have the young aspiring Oliver’s up for a weekly public vote and for their fate to rest solely with the judges. Now I’m all for young people being given the chance to display their talents and get recognition for their achievements but this shouldn’t be done in a situation which puts young people at the risk of happenings that hinder their progress or development towards their full potential.

On the flip side I do believe that young people need to be challenged and learn how to deal with pressurised situations, I am not in favour of a world where there is no competition. So in my personal opinion I don’t think there is a one size fits all answer to the question of whether young people should be allowed on TV talent shows. I think decisions on whether young people or a young person should be allowed to go on a TV talent done on a case by case basis with the young persons needs put first and not the needs of a TV show that needs to get ratings.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you agree with young people being scrutinised by judges and the public in TV talent contests? Should there be a minimum age limit? Let us know you thoughts by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=404

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack

Over the last 10 years our TV screens have been bombarded by reality TV shows and TV Talent contests. The names of the programmes have changed and the situations the contestants on these shows have changed over the years but the formula has never changed.

Times are changing though as now the guys behind the TV series ‘Big Brother’ have come up with a new concept titled ‘Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack’. The show is due to air in early 2008 instead of the usual yearly celebrity Big Brother series.

This time round they are asking not for the most outrageous young people like they usually have in the regular Big Brother series but instead they are asking for young people with talents and young people with inspiring stories to come on the show.

What the show will entail is still under wraps but this is one of the biggest opportunities given by a reality TV series for young people with talent to get some major prime time TV coverage. I take my hat off to the guys behind this programme as this is just what we need. If you read my blog I wrote about Big Brother on the first week of the last series you will see this is exactly what I was calling for.

People in the past have played around with the Reality / TV Talent show idea in the past like Fame Academy on the BBC but that was first and primarily a talent show with the reality side of it just being a side point. It is completely fresh for a TV programme to focus on the reality side first with a talent element involved. As Endemol have proved with Big Brother that you can get some get incredible ratings and gain national interest through reality TV and if they can use that expose talent to the nation then it should make for a brilliant programme. At the end of the day regardless of the format it is about getting the most people possible tune in on the TV to watch these talented young hopefuls as it is only by getting a lot of people watching that they will have a chance to launch their careers.

It’s going to be brilliant to see a reality TV show which isn’t about people who want to be celebrities and famous just because they were on Big Brother but instead talented people who want to use the Big brother experience to showcase their talents to the world.

If you are aged between 18 and 21 and want to apply go to:

http://www.channel4.com/bbhijack

If you want to talk about this show or Talent / Reality TV join in our topic of the week on our forums by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=215

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Eurovision Song Contest

Did you join the ten million people in the UK who watched the yearly phenomenon that is the Eurovision Song contest? Again the competition was filled with unusual costumes, routines and presenting but most importantly an array of talented young people. All of this was of course coupled with a vote which was based more on geography, history and politics than the talent they actually saw on screen.

In a fair and just world it would be the most talented act that would win every time but the voting you see on the programme represents the state of the world, where it's not always the best people that win or get the best rewards. The world would be a great and easy place if it was always the most talented and deserving people that finished first all the time but that doesn't mean that talent and belief can't get you to where you need to be in the world.

No matter how fair or unfair the world is no one will ever know if they are the most talented person in their field or industry. The pop act that are number one in the charts are the act that have sold the most singles or downloads that week. The world’s fastest sprinter is only the world’s fastest sprinter because someone was there with a stop watch and recorded it he didn’t beat everyone in his division in a race. To add to this you have to think about the people who haven't got recording contracts or haven't competed in an athletic event as there are many people with amazing talents who either don't get the breaks at the right time or pursued their talent. Then there are the people who have talents that they don't know about.

After reading that you may be feeling a bit of doom and gloom but to be armed with this information is a positive thing as by knowing these facts you should start pushing harder not just to be better than the people you are in competition with but to have your own personal competition to keep bettering yourself and to not stop. You should always be looking for new challenges and not stay in the box in which you or your industry has been defined.

Going back to the Eurovision there has been a lot of press this week saying that countries should pull out of the competition because it is deemed not winnable. Now yes granted the competition isn't based on talent but it doesn't mean we should pull out of it. I think instead we should enter talented young acts that need experience of working in front of a crowd or being on TV. UK's entry Scooch may have come back home with an appalling point score but they have gained the experience of performing at the competition, been seen by millions around the world, are now featured on a Eurovision CD and DVD and have had major press attention in the UK. Before the Eurovision it may have been Scooch who but they now have a platform to do even greater things from.

Even if you think you have no chance of winning a competition or you think that the competition is not winnable you shouldn't not enter. The entering of the competition and the experience of competing is what we gain from it. A lot of the time we learn more from losing than winning. If you feel like you can't win then start competing with yourself and pushing yourself to give the best performance you can and to learn as much from the experience as possible.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com/