“Salford is a beacon in the North West for creativity” – The streaming project supporting young filmmakers

A pioneering free video streaming project has made a beeline for Salford to support young filmmakers.

The free streaming service Paus TV worked with Salford students this week to film a campaign video.

Its founder and CEO Rishi Kapoor said: “Salford is a beacon in the North West for creativity.

“This is where the next generation of filmmakers is going to be.”

He created the streaming service because young, new filmmakers struggling to get exposure needed a platform to share their passion.
Mr Kapoor said: “For us to be able to give students a platform that shows off their talent, in a way that financially rewards them as well is important for us.

“We want to be the place where we can give them a leg up in the industry.”

According to a report in 2018, 85 percent of jobs in 2030 do not have a name yet, with the demand for some jobs reaching 400 percent.

Mr Kapoor commented: “It’s really important for students to know that if what they want to do isn’t on a current job spec on LinkedIn, that’s not a problem.”

Due to the pandemic, more people have been consuming more content, making streaming services more mainstream, meaning online creators have a better reputation than usual.

“Cinema is dying,” Mr Kapoor said. “Virtual experiences provide a social element that is on par with going to the cinema for some people… and I think that’s where the future of media is going to be”

Paus, established in 2018, came to MediaCity to work on its campaign video with Salford university film students.

Mr Kapoor emphasised how start-up companies constantly have to innovate and change to keep up with rapidly-changing media dynamics.

“Who knows what the next five-to-ten years of media are going to look like – but we want to stay ahead of that curve, for sure,” he said.

Paus focuses on half the film, and half the filmmaker, emphasising the importance of that balance.

Mr Kapoor said: “If you came to us, and you were really passionate about the content you’d made… I’d choose you rather than someone who’s up for a Bafta.”

But he wants to create what he called a “circular ecosystem”.

“If you start from scratch every time, with no money in the bank… it’s not sustainable – we want to shift those dynamics,” he said.

Mr Kapoor want to create an environment, where people can earn money from their published projects in order to start building on their career stemming from passion and creativity.

He commented on how so many editing tools and software that would have cost so much a decade ago are now free and readily available for so many people.

He said: “This is the best time to be a filmmaker, this is the best time to be an online creator, your smartphone has the same technology, or better, than what most cameras had five or ten years ago.”