To the uninitiated Wales is often not top of people’s minds when you think of the predominate hubs for media and entertainment, when in fact some of the biggest productions of recent years have been filmed and produced in this nation. As Manchester has grown with broadcasting moving outside of London to Salford, similarly there is evidential growth of the creative industries outside of Cardiff.
For us Radical Movers, we often have to travel to attend events outside of Wales, particularly in the M&E sector, so just like buses (perhaps not in Wales) two events came up this month that I attended to see what was happening in the creative industries and sustainability in production in Wales.
The Summer Meet Up organised by Creative Wales’ West Wales Network was hosted at Canolfan S4C Yr Egin in Carmarthen for a full day of networking and insightful panel sessions featuring names from across the broadcast and creative industries spectrum.
Sarah Thomas
Marketing and PR Account Manager, Radical Moves Ltd
While the event treated us to some interactive sessions generating our own AI prompt images in ‘AI & Creativity: For better or worse’ by Robin Moore of SHWSH, and an insight into the world of ‘The Role of the Creative Agent’, it was the opening panel of the day that drew the most interest for me.
Land of my Mothers, not just my Fathers
The first panel ‘kicked off’ the day by discussing women in sports broadcasting ahead of the UEFA Women’s Euros 2025, marking the Welsh women’s team’s historic qualification in a major tournament for the first time. The panel featuring Carolyn Hitt (BBC Cymru Wales), Carys Owens (Whisper Cymru) and Geraint Evans (S4C) started by discussing how women are shaping the narrative in sports media, not only in front of the camera but also behind the scenes.
The discussion chaired by experienced athlete and presenter Angharad Mair addressed representation, the cultural change in the industry and explored the opportunities available to women to develop successful careers, secure contracts, and lead in this competitive field.
During the honest, inspiring and timely conversation, these were my key takeaways:
A pivotal moment
Listening to Carolyn reflect on her early career as a Welsh sports journalist it seems unthinkable that writing about women’s sport – even a woman writing about men’s sport was something that was unheard of only a short time ago. It was assumed they should be writing about cross stitch not rugby.
With the Welsh team representing Wales in a major tournament for the first time, women in sports broadcasting has reached a pivotal moment not just for Welsh sport but for Welsh society. The visibility of women on screen, gives young girls something to look up to. What we need now is more women behind the screen making production decisions. This is now something that is evident at Radio Wales with more women in senior positions and on the management team, a far cry from Carolyn’s early days where she recalled there ‘being more Gareth’s than women’. Similarly, at S4C, Geraint has seen more women in the board room and as part of the senior team with a greater push to see more females in sport. Carys from Whisper Cymru is also pleased to see a greater push for training and ways of getting more women in the industry. Ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup this August and September the production team covering the event is split 50/50 male female – ‘but getting to that point hasn’t been easy’, added Carys.
Education is holding girls back
It was interesting to hear the panel’s perspective on the popularity of women’s sport and how schools could be holding girls back by not encouraging them to play rugby or football, playing netball instead. This could correlate with the lack of presenters and commentators we’ve seen on screen, particularly as sports pundits. A presenter’s gender shouldn’t matter; women commentators should just be seen because of the knowledge they have.
There is now more enthusiasm in the women’s game since the Women’s England Team won the Euros in 2022, which has increased audience curiosity and is driving an increase in live production of female sports such as rugby and football. Carolyn believes commentary is the final frontier for women in sports broadcasting that proactively needs ongoing training and development.
Future talent beyond London and Cardiff
To continue the momentum, it is important to bring new voices together and to plant the seed for young people about the variety of opportunities available in broadcasting, and with the advent of remote production to edit and cut anywhere in the world, increased connectivity and increased training the media hub outside of Cardiff is now a realistic prospect. The panel also acknowledged a change in how content is consumed needing to be considered when recruiting future talent. With the growth of digital platforms, youngsters are watching sport differently, with many following players on social media – a changing landscape that is important to understand and react to – as is the advent of AI opening up the increasing use of virtual sets.
There is a new era of democratized content creation, which only highlights that talent is everywhere, what isn’t is access for all. Across S4C and Whisper Cymru for example that is changing with programs aimed at developing women behind the camera and academies to encourage mature students into the industry, which can only benefit from the diversification of skills from accountancy into media, for example. Improving representation from all backgrounds only makes the industry better.
Having been a media studies student myself, I wasn’t blessed with having these opportunities on my doorstep and so I had to study further education in London, which is where I started my career. While nothing can replace industry experience, it is wonderful to see the growth of opportunities there are now for retaining talent in Wales to support the growth of the creative industries sector. It is commendable what industry and academia are doing to grow and nurture the talent Wales has to offer, we just need to keep the drive going to ensure everyone can access it.
Revenue generated by women’s sport in the UK has the potential to hit £1bn a year by 2030, so closing that visibility gap on and off the screen is critical for sports broadcasting in and outside Wales.
Embracing new technologies for production sustainability
Having previously reported on The Screen New Deal Transformation Plan for Wales, next on my Welsh adventures was the ‘Production Sustainability in Wales’ event organised by The Production Guild of Great Britain’s (PGGB) Welsh Committee, Creative Wales, Media Cymru and Ffilm Cymru Wales, and hosted at Great Point Studios, Cardiff.
In one of the large studio spaces in the depths of Great Point Studios, formerly Pinewood Studio Wales and known for producing popular shows like Sherlock and Havoc, there was a buzz of activity among the 24 exhibitors.
After making my way through a maze of studio spaces, which at times felt like I was in an escape room, I meet some interesting companies based in Wales offering technology and services to help the film and TV industry become more sustainable.
It was interesting talking to Media Cymru about the challenges and opportunities in the industry for the newly trained Sustainability Coordinators. Driven by a need for a more sustainable approach to film and TV production in Wales, the second ‘Sustainability Coordinator Training for Scripted Productions’ cohort is open for applications until 24th July. Skills and training needs in sustainability were also echoed by the team from Screen Alliance Wales and Wolf Studios Wales.
Among the many energy and power saving offerings on display, the mobile wind turbines from Bridgend-based Infinite Renewables caught my eye. We’re all aware of the growth of remote production and the sustainability credentials this can offer, but for live outside broadcasts for festivals such as Glastonbury there is still a need for OB trucks and crew on site to get the music performances into our homes. Wind turbine specialists Infinite are use to providing wind turbines for commercial clients, but the mobile versions offer a renewable power system to replace activities that historically have been powered by diesel generators. There is even a containerized option that can be stored and transported in a 40ft shipping container with this then acting as the foundation.
And when it comes to sustainability Ecoleg get my vote for something that perhaps I hadn’t considered more closely, but does have an important role to play and that’s ecological consultancy and protecting habitats and species that occupy locations crews might want to use for a new production. It also had the cuteness factor on its stand with images of the dormouse, so it was impossible to walk by.
