New York Festivals Television & Film Awards Grand Jury 2020 Interview profiles prominent award-winning Broadcast executives from around the globe. As industry leaders, they understand the elements that go into creating compelling award-winning nonfiction content.

Celia Jaspers is a passionate TV Director, Producer & Editor. Over 1100 hours of Director credited programs spanning 25+ years of experience across many genres. Specializing in quality television production services from documentary content to reality and scripted format programs. International productions for BBC, HGTV, Animal Planet, NHK, Channel 7, Foxtel, CNN to New Zealand networks, TVNZ, Maori Television and Prime TV.

NYF: How do you think being an award winner yourself will help evaluate this year’s submission?

Celia Jaspers: Critique and awareness of the market is really important; we often work in a vacuum and even within our own countries it can be a vacuum also. So, the global awareness of other work in different genres is really important to evaluate yourself against. Seeing what content gold winning standard was is something we all strive for. As a content producer myself I can be specific in my critique and see the challenges and innovations that other content makers may have overcome in creating their project. I want to raise the bar too of course! Striving for excellence is behind everything I do. 

NYF: Where do you see the industry evolving in the next 5 years?

Celia Jaspers: The platforms our content is broadcast on is already changing, I feel we will see more blurring of the lines between broadcast/webcast/online content. Our users don't differentiate, but the industry still does. Funding and financing projects across those different spaces is going to be a big shift in mindset.

NYF: What are the biggest challenges facing content creators in today’s world?

Celia Jaspers: Standing out from the sheer volume of content that’s now created. Finding an original idea and executing it well before anyone else does! And funding across multiple platforms is a challenge for traditional content makers and perhaps the up and coming ones too.

NYF: What would you love to do as your next project?

Celia Jaspers: After 25 years in factual television, I’m really excited by the opportunity to do drama either long form tv series drama or feature project for cinema. I have a short and a feature in development but am very open to opportunities in this space!

For more information or to enter the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, please visit: www.newyorkfestivals.com/tvfilm/ or view the 2019 Winners Showcase.