Presentation used for Turning Fact into Fiction Training Course

1. Turning Fact into
Fiction
ENGAGING THE BROADCAST MEDIA

2. Run Down
 Introductions
 Session 1: 09.45 -11.00
 What is a Media Advice service? Why it matters that fictional accounts are realistic and how well-loved soap characters who
are exposed to issues can benefit your charity. We will explore why soap and drama teams love working with charities and what
is in it for them.
 11- 11.15 Break
 Session 2: 11.15 – 12.45
 How to set up a Media Advice Service we know that different charities will have varying resources and senior buy in so this
session will be a practical look at the different elements of the service. From online resources to finding out who and how to
approach teams, this can be scaled up or down as appropriate.
 12.45 – 13.45 Lunch
 Session 3: 13.45 – 14.45
 The Business case with so many charities and so much noise out there how can a fictional storyline bring in value for the
charity? We will explore the reach and brevity of the storylines and discuss any costs associated.
 14.45- 15.00 Break
 Session 4: 15.00- 16.30
 Getting the most out of any opportunity if you do manage to get a story on air how do you then make the most of the
opportunity? We will look at building a media plan in partnership with the show, the power of case studies and ideas to turn
this into an awareness raising or fundraising opportunity.
 16.30 Action Planning, Questions and Reflections

3. About Me.

4. Learning
Outcomes
 To understand what media
advice work is
 To find out why it is important
 How to set up a media advice
service for your own charity
 What the business case is
 How to make the most of any
work you do with the broadcast
media
 Action planning

5. Getting to
know you.
 Who are you?
 Tell us about your charity.
 What is your role there
 Have you any previous experience of working
with drama and soaps?

6. Quiz
Name the
show
Name the
cause

7. Any more?

8. For
Supporters
 25% of people with mental health problems sought
help after seeing a character with similar issues
 A quarter contacted a friend or loved one with a
mental health problem after seeing storyline
 12% were prompted to call a helpline following a
drama or soap

9. Impact
After an EastEnders storyline the number of 18 to
24-year-olds calling a mental health helpline
seeking help for bipolar disorder doubled from 400
calls a day.
When Steve’s story in Corrie was shown with a link
to Mind’s website, there were 78,668 views to our
information pages

10. Brainstorm
Why may soaps and dramas
want to work with a charity?

11. Why do
soaps and
dramas like to
work with
charities?
Editorial – stamp of
approval
Fresh perspective, new
ideas, new point of
view
When charities have a
system in place it is
easy for them to get
facts checked without
having to spend hours
on research
Increased coverage –
when working with a
charity there is the
opportunity for
partnership PR work.

12. What do shows want most out of working with charities?
 Impartial, expert advice. They want to be able to ask anything
without offending anyone or feeling stupid.
 Working with a charity, especially with a case study really helps
to get inside what the character is thinking and how they feel.
 Understanding they are a drama not a documentary. They may
have some ridiculous storylines but charity input should support
the facts not try to change the story.
 Fulfilling public service broadcasting. Allowing a drama with a
serious message.
 Approachable and knowledgeable team. Shows want to be able
to pick up a phone and ask any question.
 They want charities to have understanding of how TV works.

13. What Execs Want
Working alongside a charity generally ensures that a programme is editorially robust,
creates the best show possible and ensures there is no damage done by a programme.
Kate Oates, Exec Producer Eastenders
From charities we want flexibility, credibility, support and co-operation and an
understanding that shows will work to ensure that the end goal is completed without
allowing charities to change the structure or creativity.
ITV, Drama Exec
Having a close working relationship between the charity and the show is incredible,
quite often when charities get involved it is for a short space of time and is limited to
fact checking. I love the aspect of including media volunteers in our work and thinks
this is what really makes us stand out.
Bryan Kirkwood, Exec Producer Hollyoaks
Channel Four were overjoyed that Drama Republic had such good links and support
from a charity and we were often told by the compliance team to get certain parts of
the scripts checked by charities. In my mind Channel 4 gave much more weight to
charity advice than independent expert advice.
Roanna Benn, Exec Producer, Pure

14. What are the biggest misconceptions
and stereotypes about the cause or
conditions your charity supports?

15. Case Studies – Mind

18. Hollyoaks – Alfie
 Reach
 Hollyoaks average viewing figures sit below a million, however this doesn’t take
into account viewers watching on demand (figures not available).
 According to the show Hollyoaks reach to young people (taking in digital) is bigger
than Bake Off and X-Factor
 With this storyline Mind were very involved in coverage, policy and digital
campaigning. Our Head of Media took part in a Facebook Live that reached 383k
people across their Facebook/Instagram/Twitter.
 and our team accompanied the show to the House of Commons for an event about
Media and Mental health. The team also won the ‘Making a Difference’ award at the
Media Awards this year which shows the impact of a soap working so closely with
the Mind team.

19. Hollyoaks Tweets
 Alfie saying “I’m never gonna get better” just broke my heart cause that’s one of the thoughts us people
with mental illness battle with every day #Hollyoaks #DontFilterFeelings
 feel like the Alfie story line in hollyoaks portrays mental health and how unaware people around you are
of what you’re coping with really well, certainly hits home
 #Hollyoaks As a woman who suffers from severe mental health Alfie is hitting me like a ton
of bricks.. Amazing acting by @septamus .. And thank you so much for your outstanding work on this issue
which is taboo for so many
 Im sobbing my mf eyes out poor Alfie :-( I’m so glad there’s actually a good job portraying mental health
issues and displaying the harsh reality without being graphic/disrespectful. Shit’s breaking my
heart ily Alfie #Hollyoaks
 #Hollyoaks really hit the nail on the head with this Alfie storyline! The acting was perfect! He really did the
role justice. Well done hollyoaks for bringing awareness to mental health in a heart felt and realistic way!
 Have to say I applaud #Hollyoaks for Alfie's schizoaffective disorder storyline. It's one of the least talked
about and most misunderstood mental illnesses out there.
 Marnie being a proper mum to Alfie is making me cry @Hollyoaks portray mental illness perfectly every
time and include every struggle and triumph in amazing detail it’s clear to see the dedication and research
that goes into it exceptional acting too of course @chezLysette

20. Finding a
show which
fits your
cause
 Exercise:
Practical activity:
Each identify a current soap or drama and a character.
Write a proposal of a condition/ issue you would like to
see covered and which character would take the lead.
 Think about why it is newsworthy?
 Does it fit with any current policy for the charity?
 What would you like to get out of it? (raised
awareness/ people seeking help/ donations/
government change)
 Write a scene for this character – how it feels for
them

21. Session 2
How to set up a
media advice service

22. What does a
media
advisory
service look
like?
Online support for soaps
Media guidelines for Drama – the do’s and don’ts of showing
your charity message. You can get help from supporters for
this. What have they seen that they have liked?
Workshops – key to realistic storylines using case studies
Script Advice – How to do this, what is the process?

23. Exercise – Script Advice
 In your groups read through the script you are given:
 Is there any language you would change?
 Are there any facts you would change?
 Is there a way they could have made the character
more believable?
 Would you have changed the scene in any way?
 Re-write the scene to fit with a cause of your choice?

24. Exercise – Assessing your resources?
Draw a mindmap with your charity
in the middle. What resources do
you have available to you to
support drama and soaps? Is
there a way of accessing more?
For Example this could involve,
policy, information, media or
supporters.

25. Timeline of a storyline
Story conference
Story producers write up
story idea and story arc
with input from research
team
Story given to writers Researchers look at facts
Workshops may be
organised for actors and
production team
Generally 3 scripts are
written so there is plenty
of opportunity for
feedback and changes
Sometimes dramas and
soaps will ask for an on-
set consultancy
Scenes will shoot around 3
months before soap
broadcast, can be much
longer for dramas

26. Opportunities
 If you can, a subscription to Broadcast magazine is really
useful as it will tell you which dramas have been greenlit.
 Keep an eye out for media and TV magazines, they will often
speak about a storyline in advance.
 Sign up for press releases from the main channels, again they
will tell you when shows have been commissioned or when
big soap storylines are due.
 Knowing the research staff on each show is the real key to
getting involved, they are the ones who will use your services.
This can be as easy as watching a show and noting down the
names.
 I can also provide you with the contact details of all the exec
producers. Make yourselves known. Offer them a package
and what they can get from you.

27. Session 3
The Business Case

28. The Business Case – Social Impact
 Use a case study to demonstrate how your impact: Include information, for example, on where a
person was before the intervention and what changed afterwards. Focus specifically on how the
programme brought about change and remind the audience how things may have been if the
organisation hadn't been available for the person. Present a combination of facts: what improved and by
how much, how people felt, the change in their lives – to capture the hearts and mind aspects of impact.
Finally, include people's voices, as quotes or videos or podcasts.
 Involve service users: It is important to plan what value you expect to have created and work from
there. You could start by getting the people to whom you are delivering products or services involved.
This will help you gain a proper understanding of the value of what you are doing to improve your
services.
 Start small: One of the biggest challenges of social impact measurement is understanding the long term
impact and claiming appropriate attribution for your programme or intervention. You need to start small
– understand the immediate impact of your work and be sure you are robust on how you collect data to
demonstrate it.
 Planning is essential: Impact measurement can be made significantly cheaper if you plan from the
outset. You must know what change you wish to achieve and understand the outcomes and outputs
necessary to achieve your goals.
 Keep it manageable: Ensure that impact measurement becomes a means to an end rather than an end
in itself. This means that you must build impact measurement into your everyday work rather than
viewing it as an unhelpful add-on, or something that comes at the end of a project or at the convenience
of your funder.

29. Measuring Impact
Before you start to do any media advice decide on how you are going to
record and evaluate this work. Will you measure potential reach?
 Do you measure potential reach through audience figures?
 Mentions of the charity connected to the story on social media?
 Polling viewers before and after storylines to see changes in
awareness and attitudes?
 Measurement through media coverage

30. Audiences
 Average viewers for Coronation Street 8.m
 Average viewers for EastEnders– 6.6m
 Circulation for The Guardian – 136k
 Circulation for The Sun – 1.4m
 This means that when there is a dramatic storyline the potential reach to
the audience is far greater than a news story. The way that storylines in
soaps work is that viewers are generally very invested in the characters and
storylines will play out over many weeks. This along with press, soap
magazines and social media means that a single storyline can
have far more reach and impact than a news story.

31. Activity
 Working in pairs think of a media campaign you have worked on. How did
you measure impact?
 If this campaign was portrayed through a drama how would this change
the way you measure and evaluate?

32. Session 4
Getting the most out of your
media advice work

33. Media Planning - Brainstorm
1. Background
2. Organisational
strategic objectives
3. Key messages
What do you want to get out of this campaign? Is it
an issue or a condition? Why is this story important?
What are the facts about the condition/ issue?
4. Media
objectives
To generate awareness about the work we have done
with the programme
5. Audiences
6. Tactics
This is your opportunity to discuss the approach that
you will take and to give the rationale behind your
decisions. You should select the PR tactics which you
believe will be most effective at reaching your target
audience and will provide the most newsworthy
results.

34. Getting the most out of any storyline
 Activity: Pull together a
media campaign based on
your fictional storyline. Who
are you appealing to? What
is the key message you want
to convey? How are you
going to do this?

35. Fundraising
opportunities
‘Over several months, Rob Titchener increasingly
undermined, controlled and isolated his wife Helen,
with the story reaching a violent conclusion after the
abuse became psychical. It made for uncomfortable
listening, but the storyline made a tangible difference
for real victims of abuse. Dismayed by the plot, Archers
fan Paul Trueman set up a fund in February 2016 to
support the “real-life Helens”, raising over £100,000 for
charity Refuge in just two months.’
 This was done by a fan but could just as easily be
worked into a fundraising plan for a charity. After
the Stacey storyline there was a surge of ‘Real life
Stacey stories’ that did so much for raising
awareness between different charities but there was
not a fundraising strategy linked to it.

36. Exercise
 Pick a storyline from the ones given.
 Is there something in the storyline which lends itself to a fundraising
campaign?
 For example is the character unable to access treatment or
equipment?
 We know that people often think of soap characters as real people
(think‘Free Deidre campaign’!) so humanising the cause through a
soap character can bring in support.
 Write a few bullet points which could help turn this story into a
fundraiser.

37. The Action Plan
How can you make media
engagement and advice work
for your charity?
Write an action plan including:
What are the key messages
you want to convey
Are there any particular soaps
or dramas who may fit the
condition or cause you are
trying to communicate?
What your media advice
service might look like?
How can you ‘Sell’ the service
to the charity?
Which resources can you bring
in from other areas of the
charity?
How will you make the most
out of any opportunity?