The global conference features ideas worth spreading in technology, education and design. Where does film fit in this equation?
Since its first event in 1984, the TED franchise that started as a single showcase has exploded into a lucrative, influential global series. By now pretty much everyone knows TEDs drill: Its 18-minute talks focus loosely on big ideas -- "ideas worth spreading," per its motto -- in technology, entertainment and design, concepts from which the acronym TED is derived. If you cant make it to the flagship conference each year in Long Beach (or next year in Vancouver, host of TEDs 30th anniversary conference), then consider TEDGlobal, TEDActive, or TEDMed, TEDSalon, or one of hundreds of TEDx satellite conferences licensed for locales near you.
Out of more than 80 speakersinvited to present at last months TED conference in Long Beach, only one arrived having made a movie.
You might be on your own, though, for big ideas in film.
Well, not totally on your own. TEDs had big names in film, which naturally connotes some worthwhile insights from James Cameron, J.J. Abrams, Jeff Skoll, Andrew Stanton, Elizabeth director Shekhar Kapur and other luminaries featured in TEDs highlights from past years. (They are conveniently gathered for your browsing pleasure in a TED playlist called "The Power of Film.") But for every radical TED lecture on education or sociology, its hard for even casual film enthusiasts to single out an equivalent covering the worlds universal art form. If you want to know how Brad Pitts face was grafted on a wizened CGI body in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, then there is a TED talk for that. If you want to know how mainstream Hollywood economics have imperiled these innovations -- in turn affecting storytelling itself -- then TED has some catching up to do.
Even James Camerons TED talkexplainsleveraging the success ofTitanicto do somethingotherthan filmmaking.
Out of more than 80 speakers invited to present at last months TED conference in Long Beach, only one arrived having made a movie: Martin Villeneuve, the graphic novelist who adapted his Mars et Avril to the screen in 2012. (Neither his speech nor its specific subject is yet online.) Google co-founder Sergey Brin dropped by to show off Google Glass, the camera-equipped headset whose filmmaking applications we can only deduce from this and other brief demonstrations. Otherwise, the vicissitudes of how movies are financed, developed, made, shared and exhibited in 2013 went unrepresented.
Why? TED representatives didnt respond to my request for comment, but I have a few guesses:
1. Hollywood is out of ideas. TED is hardly some unimpeachable bellwether of genius and prescience (particularly in light of the recent, clumsy kerfuffles involving the disavowal of controversial speeches by Graham Hancock and Rupert Sheldrake), but the organizers know to think twice about involving an industry that spends half its waking hours persuading adults to believe that this summers superhero blockbusters are sophisticated grown-up filmgoing and spends the other half attempting to woo a few thousand Oscar voters to one movies camp or another. This is not exactly creativity.
2. The actual ideas dont translate. I love Beeban Kidron evangelizing for young peoples cinematic communion, or Rob Legatos wry, winning riff on awe and memory at the movies. But when it comes to the big ideas fueling our understanding of economics or education or the environment or even movies themselves, cine-wonks too often come at topics with a single-mindedness that might not be compatible with a general-interest crowd paying upwards of $6,000 per ticket in part to hear Bono breathily expound about Africa (again). Even James Camerons talkexplains leveraging the success of Titanic to do something other than filmmaking. Of course, maybe that just shows the limits of TEDs own imagination. An offshoot of this might be
3. TED has ceded the conversation. A festival like Tribeca, SXSW or Sundance can pack in standing-room-only crowds all week to hear experts discuss the evolutions of media, craft, business and distribution. Everybody (hopefully) leaves stimulated and curious about whats next and where they fit in the shifting system -- if they fit at all. These are perfectly valid and worthwhile conversations to have -- and some may even prove in years to come to have been watersheds -- but we have built entire ecosystems over the years for those conversations to thrive. Does make them ghettoized? No: It just means a market other than TED has the conversation cornered.
4. The talks are there theyre just hiding. If youve seen the eye-popping climate-change documentary Chasing Ice, then youve seen portions of nature photographer James Balogs appearance at TEDGlobal in 2009, where he unveiled his time-lapse footage of disappearing Arctic ice sheets. Its unquestionably powerful and most definitely filmic, but its not filed with Cameron et. al. in the "Power of Film." The same goes for Karen Basss talk about her mind-blowing nature cinematography from the mountains of Alaska to the jungles of Ecuador, which summarizes the harnessing of new technology to capture unseen species and phenomena. This is what I think of when I hear "future of film" -- curiosity, invention and revelation. So what if theyre nature shooters? Ultimately, arent all filmmakers nature shooters?
5. Were running low on visionaries. When a writer-producers multimillion-dollar crowdfunding campaign to adapt his TV show as a feature film is viewed as some kind of milestone in the development of contemporary cinema, then you know your creative form is in trouble. (NB: Rob Thomass projected relea
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
The global conference features ideas worth spreading in technology, education and design. Where does film fit in this equation? 
