Creative Industries Festival:Importance of Writers, Publishers & Broadcasters for Democratic Society
Literary agent Julian Friedmann ponders what it means to live and create in a "democratic society", how publishers, broadcasters and writers see Internet's potential for open access, and more!
Do we live in a democratic society? In many ways we do not. Publishers and broadcasters are the gateways to the widest dissemination of information. But the web and internet are close behind. For younger people the web is the dominant source of their information and is hopelessly unregulated although, paradoxically, it offers optimum democratic access to anyone. Publishers and broadcasters do not offer open access to all writers. Which means that it is ultimately up to writers and activists to give us the truth, to take on the establishment. But unless they tell important stories in a way that successfully engages the hearts and minds of the audiences, we will go on allowing our mainstream politicians to over-promise (i.e. lie), under-deliver and deny us true democracy. So, for the sake of democracy we need to look at how writers can actually engage hearts and minds. This is the ultimate mystery of storytelling. Julian Friedmann is co-owner of the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency and was the publisher of ScriptWriter magazine, which became the online resource for writers at TwelvePoint. He represents both book and scriptwriters and also acts as Executive Producer for and with clients.