Electric Robin on bringing TV and YouTube creatives together for its ‘most ambitious lockdown project yet’
Tomorrow afternoon, Electric Robin will co-ordinate Big Narstie, AJ Pritchard and his brother Curtis for a four-hour YouTube live stream for the indie’s “most ambitious” lockdown project yet.
With just two-and-a-half weeks to organise YouTube Originals’ Stream #WithMe charity event, the indie will be co-ordinating 12 different live streams from 4pm today for four hours, as a different creator serves as host, completes a challenge and checks up on YouTubers that are doing similar challenges in their own homes.
Kevin Batchelor, stream director and ESG-owned Electric Robin’s chief executive, described it as the outfit’s “most ambitious project” during a lockdown period when it has also amassed a production credit for BBC1’s Big Night In.
“The stream will have a broad appeal,” explains Batchelor.
“We’ve got creators that are loved by audiences, who are going to come together and deliver the same message.”
During each hour of the stream, creators will helm the challenges and also be giving the audience tips on lockdown activities, alongside pre-recorded segments.
“There’s going to be a sense of unpredictability that really works on the platform and an excitement that comes with a live broadcast that feels slightly anarchic, like an extravaganza that would have been made in the nineties,” adds Batchelor.
“This is hugely ambitious project and that’s something that really excites me, I feel like in this period of time it is one of the most ambitious things we have worked on.”
Electric Robin was chosen by YouTube because of the work it had been doing with traditional broadcasters, including last week’s Big Night In, for which it worked on some of the VTs.
The producer also has a pre-existing relationship with the Google-owned platform, having produced Lewis Capaldi-helmed music documentary Birthday Song, which has amassed 4.1 million views in just over a month.
“We needed a company that would think outside of the box and could work through the challenges,” YouTube Originals’ international production chief Kelly Sweeney tells Broadcast.
Sweeney positions the stream’s planning phase as a “technical jigsaw puzzle”.
While many of the creators have their own set ups, the quality of kit and internet connection varies heavily.
“We needed to figure out where we needed to give support, or where a booster was needed to create a more stable internet connection, for example,” she goes on to say.
Electric Robin will use 60 4K and remote-controlled hothead cameras for the event, with Batchelor overseeing the livestream from a control room in his home.
“It’s not a broadcast telethon,” stresses Sweeney. “We wanted it to have the YouTube grammar of fun and fast pace. It is from the YouTube community to the YouTube community.”
YouTube in lockdown
The idea was developed by the YouTube Originals’ team in the UK, which is helmed by Sweeney and EMEA chief Luke Hyams.
“We spent the beginning of lockdown mitigating against what we couldn’t do and started thinking about what was possible,” Sweeney explains.
The event also has a charitable purpose, raising money for NHS Charities Together, an idea that Sweeney says was a key part of the development process.
“We have colleagues in the US producing originals during this time and there’s going to be a live stream in India on the same day - we thought about what is uniquely British and it’s the NHS,” she explains.
Stream #WithMe is one of a number of lockdown productions that were announced by YouTube Originals last week.
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