Welcome to the weekly Wrap from How-Do - media news for the North West.
The Wrap's guest editor this week is Alex Connock
Cristiano Ronaldo can’t manage to decide if he’s playing at Old Trafford any more. But he can manage a global media brand. On a Majorca beach this summer, he was making money in Japan.
Just across the canal from Old Trafford is Media City. It’s looking good. Now it needs a few Ronaldos of its own.
To make sense, Media City needs global hits - TV, film, games and websites. It needs to make money in Japan too. Can North West media deliver world-beating entertainment?
In TV – Red and Paul Abbott are standout choices. Every drama they do has the universal touch. And animators Cosgrove Hall have been doing it for years.
In games – Rebellion (Runcorn) have Alien vs Predator, The Simpsons, Miami Vice, Rogue Trooper....I’d give them any incentive to move into Media City.
Manchester’s online firms are booming. MC2 are polishing their credit cards to buy them. But global online brands like Flickr or Facebook? Not sure yet.
For Media City to work, it doesn’t need boutique firms - it needs big media companies with horizons beyond Britain. To bring them in, the NWDA should put in loads more cash, because Manchester has too many hotels, shops and flats already. It should change its rules to only back repeatable projects which can make big money internationally, and ban one-off film investments. Manchester’s banks should be cajoled into financing a £100m equity fund to grow local media firms.
And Peel? Fair play - they’ve made Media City happen. Now to make it work, give free offices for two years to anyone doing ambitious projects. If you build Old Trafford, you’ve got to stump up for the Cristiano Ronaldos of this world.
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