InCahoots (formerly Television Junction) has built its success on education in the broadest sense, developing from a production house that crafted BBC and C4 Schools television programmes to a business that now embraces all age ranges, genres and new media.
The Birmingham-based company was established in 1997 by co-MDs Paul Davies and Yvonne Davies, both of whom began their careers in teaching, pursuing television careers with Central and Carlton TV as producer/directors. Since then the business has picked up a BAFTA as well as two nominations and numerous Royal Television Society Awards for both drama and documentaries: Hiding Place was an original children’s drama set in occupied Europe during the Second World War for BBC; Karl's Story documents a day in the life of a cerebral palsy boy.
In the last two years the company has broadened its remit to win commissions encompassing online and print as well as television, and to expand the audiences it reaches. Digital Development Producer Rebecca Cadwallader said: “We’ve built a reputation around programmes for and about education, mostly targeted at children and young people. More recently, we’ve been gaining commissions for general audiences, such as The Way We Were and Extra Tonight for ITV.
“But at heart we’re content providers, so we’re excited about the new digital opportunities opening up. We have the technical abilities – we can shoot, produce, edit - but our real skill is in story telling, providing the narrative that really gets the messages across to the user.”
A major success of InCahoots research for new media and audiences will become apparent in early 2010, with the launch of WeVee (in collaboration with Clusta) – a website that will give users online access to a moving image archive shot in the West Midlands over the last century. WeVee allows users to edit footage and create short ‘mash-ups’ to music.
Rebecca Cadwallader said: “We’ve been working with partners like Screen WM and Clusta to create the site. It’s not just for historians - it’s a way of engaging a new audience of young people who are less likely to be interested in archive material. It’s using our expertise in a new and exciting way to make learning exciting and engaging.”
For more information on InCahoots, visit www.televisionjunction.co.uk