OKRE Launches ‘Development Rooms’ for Screen and Audio Entertainment Creatives in Partnership With BFI, BBC and UKIE

The first event, OKRE Development Rooms: Planet, Perspectives, Plot will be hosted by Head of Talent, BBC Content, Donna Taberer

The cross-sector collaboration charity OKRE (Opening Knowledge Across Research and Entertainment) has today launched OKRE Development Rooms, a brand new programme of talks and roundtables presenting fresh ideas and perspectives from academic research and lived experience for creatives in the screen and audio entertainment industries.

The online series is free to attend and is run in partnership with the BFI, BBC and UKIE. It welcomes all those in film, TV, interactive and podcasting who seek inspiration to develop new content across all genres for high impact audience engagement.

Each Development Rooms event will explore a major social and scientific theme from unexpected angles with experts from around the world, featuring keynote speakers, breakout Rooms and virtual networking.

The theme for the first OKRE Development Room is Planet, Perspectives, Plot, offering a lateral look at climate change research, personal lived experiences and sources of funding.

Says OKRE Director Iain Dodgeon: “OKRE’s mission is to further cross-sector collaboration between the entertainment industries, academic research and the social impact sector. We’re delighted to partner with BBC, BFI and UKIE on the OKRE Development Rooms, which will bring diverse creative minds together for an energising and inspiring experience. Now feels like an invigorating and urgent time to be collaborating with communities from all over the world, so I’m really excited to follow the connections that result from these events.”

Says BFI Senior Production & Development Executive Lizzie Francke: “OKRE Development Rooms will provide a welcome space for creatives in the screen industries to engage with experts to inform their work and enable them to interpret important issues in accessible, informative and entertaining ways for audiences to enjoy. We’re delighted to be supporting this programme.”

“The BBC is pleased to partner with OKRE, the BFI and UKIE in this initiative. Bringing together academics and creatives to explore the key subjects of our age such as climate change is critical. I’m delighted to be able to host OKRE’s first Development Room: Planet, Perspectives, Plot to see how we might make these subjects engaging for all audiences.” Donna Taberer, Head of Talent, BBC Content.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, said: “We know that games are an incredibly powerful medium for stories and ideas, and an important way for people to understand sometimes complex topics. We have also seen what can happen when the science community collaborates meaningfully with game developers to create impactful stories as well as in harnessing player attention to work through complex data sets and problems. This initiative will support more collaborations and will help games achieve real social impact.”