By Simon Baker, The Stage Awards winners 2021, achievement in technical theatre
When I started in live streaming, I wasn’t sure of the steps, and I wasn’t sure if it would work or even if there would be an audience. I really did start from a blank page.
What would we make? How would we stream it? How would we market it? Who would watch?
Looking back, my workflow was erratic. It had no neat order. Finding the right camera(s) had equal weight to finding the correct type of paywall and platform. I wasn’t even sure what those two words meant.
There was no linear list to follow, no easy steps. Imagine the worlds craziest mind map with “we must do something” circled in red in the middle of the page and everything else haphazardly scribbled around it. To settle my mind and pitch my ideas, I wrote a manifesto of what a live stream could be. The contents and ideals won’t sit well with many organisations, but I knew they would work for the ones I was involved with, and the spirit of that manifesto gave the team and me the motivation to recognise the fear and go for it regardless.
Here’s the final paragraph of that manifesto:
This way of delivering a live event isn’t Netflix or Amazon. This isn’t OB trucks lining the pavement. No. This is Pirate Radio, Guerrilla TV, Punk Rock for a digital era.
This process gives the creative control back to the artist. In these extraordinary times, this process has the ability to connect the artist directly to the audience by being simultaneously a one-on-one experience and the feeling of community.
Live streams of live events are often some people sat at home witnessing loads of other people having a great time and wishing they were there. This proposal turns that idea on its head. The audience is at home. They can’t come to you, so you’re going to go to them. Now that’s pretty special.
I can’t give you a step-by-step approach to live streaming your event, but I’ve summarised five things to think through when thinking about what a live stream might be.
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