E3 Group

The E3 Group is planning to open its own stage school, the E3 Academy, in 2009. The first Academy will be launched in Brighton and Hove and will provide training in drama, dance and music. The E3 Academy will also offer film training, both in acting and production, as most traditional stage schools steer away from this area which has a huge appeal for the technology savvy youth of today.

Thomas Cook, The E3 Group’s largest client and global tour operating giants have decided to roll out the E3 Academy to its overseas properties as part of their 2009 entertainment proposition. Initial trials will take place in July to September of 2009 at three carefully selected resorts, with the intention for full resort roll-out to a number of properties in 2010.

The aim for the Academy is to be more than just another stage school started by an individual or a group of individuals with a passion for entertainment. Though there is nothing wrong with the traditional stage school (the E3 Group has supported many in the past such as K-Bis), having the full force of an entertainment production company behind the academy will inject real production values into the curriculum and offer students the chance of a clearly defined, entertainment career path through E3 Production and E3 Artists. With the success of British Artists during the current, busy awards season, it would be great to think that E3 Academy students may be the ones picking up these gongs in the future!

The E3 Group will ultimately franchise the Academy so children around the country will have the opportunity to learn with the high standards of production expected for professionals working in the fast-paced entertainment industry.

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The E3 Artists and E3 Events team recently put together an evening’s entertainment for business, technology and outsourcing giants Capgemini. The company held a belated Christmas Party at the China Palace in Worthing and the E3 Group provided vocal duo Silhouette and comedy ventriloquist Gareth Oliver to supply the entertainment culminating in a successful evening overall.

Ryan Curtis, E3 Entertainment Agent, was on hand to provide event management with some unexpected results. Ryan had a hectic night, leaving the event to pick up a mike stand from Brighton, before travelling back to the Worthing in the nick of time! This ensured that the celebration went without a hitch, so much so that all those dancing at the end of Silhouette’s final set were left clamouring for more.

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In this busy awards season, the Brit Awards have often been perceived as a more light-hearted musical ceremony than its counterparts across the pond. The Grammy’s are often mocked in certain circles in America, but they seem to carry a gravitas which the Brit Awards have been lacking in previous years. With the current perceived revival of British music, lead by the likes of Coldplay, Duffy and Adele, this notion is slowly starting to dissolve and the Brit award is becoming a prestigious accolade for any mantelpiece. Coldplay have referred to the Brits as the ‘Musical Olympics‘ and the Ting Tings, a band portrayed as quite edgy and perhaps even anti-establishment, claimed that “it’s a bit stingy to accept all the free champagne and accolades and then just spend the rest of the night taking the p**s out of everyone else”.

As the Brit Awards reputation as a prestigious musical outing grows and grows, the impact of being a Brit award winner is growing too. The cost for hiring a top end celebrity musician, like those nominated at last night’s Brits, is always very costly. But what impact does a win have on these prices? A great deal is the short answer. Much like when a film receives an Oscar, the marketability of that film increases tenfold. It’s the same deal with the Brits as record companies now have artists endorsed and recognised by their peers, industry professionals, and that most important of groups, the music buying public. Hiring a band or solo artist who has won a Brit could set you back ten or twenty thousand pounds more than their cost prior to receiving the gong. The price increase could be even more dramatic if the act picks up more than one award, as Duffy did last night. Even a Brit Award nomination can be touted as a reason for a substantial price increase in famous band or musician booking fees.

If you want the notoriety that having a Brit winner at your next event would bring, you will have to pay for it! Alternatively, you could hope for your chosen act to have a catastrophic fall from grace as their fee would fall accordingly. But you have to ask yourself, would I still want the celebrity to perform at my event? Probably not I imagine.

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The E3 Group has forged a new relationship with Danny Foster, one fifth of the record breaking pop group Hear’say. Danny is looking to explore new avenues of entertainment and to bring his talent to a whole new audience. Ryan Curtis, E3 Group Entertainment Agent met up with Danny and after the meeting, Ryan told me just how enthusiastic the guy is about entertainment and in particular, singing live. With performances at The Royal Variety Show, The Brits Awards, The National Television Awards, Top of the Pops and Party in the Park already under his belt and an army of fans on Youtube commenting on Hear’say’s music videos, reminiscing about how important the band were to them growing up, its easy to see that Danny’s appeal is as strong as it ever was.

In my opinion, Danny and Hear’say were victims of their own success. They were the forerunners to what is now a multi-million pound industry; the TV talent show business. Without the likes of Danny, there would be no Girls Aloud, Will Young or Leona Lewis. Hear’say proved that bands or artists formed through this process could be successful, hugely successful in fact as Hear’say’s double platinum album Popstars demonstrated. Now, there is a huge support network and thriving industry surrounding TV talent shows where as Danny was navigating uncharted waters back in 2001 and it seems that the industry support for the group was less than impressive.

With the advent of the new generation of talent shows, namely the X Factor, the public is keener than ever to engage with talented solo artists like Danny. He has already proved he can win outright a show like the X Factor, so you would be quick to forgive him if he was bitter about his past in the Industry. Amazingly, Danny is anything but bitter. He is looking forward to upcoming projects, preparing to branch out into new entertainment avenues and has these words to share with all his fans, “I am thrilled and grateful with the projects that I am working on. It is amazing to know that the support is still there. I would like to thank everyone for their kindness, letters, emails and website messages. Thank You!”

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The E3 Production team has been getting things ready for the coming holiday season, ensuring that all entertainment in Thomas Cook holiday properties is up to the standard their holiday makers expect. A whole host of entirely new additions and tweaks to the existing programme have been made and here are just a few of the things to look out for on your travels.

This year will see us produce brand new, Dizzy & Shades production shows, including 12 new Dizzy & Shades disco formats. In one of the shows we see Dizzy & Shades attending a kind of underwater, Harry Potter style performing arts academy and in the other show, our characters encounter some friends from an alien world who they then take on holiday! To supplement and improve the daytime interaction between guests & entertainers, the entertainment teams will take on the guise of various comedy characters, including the comedy cleaners, a group of outrageously dressed cleaners who are more interested in a gossip and ogle by the pool than doing any actual cleaning. A new voice-over package is being provided across all of the entertainment hotels and we have just agreed a deal with the UK’s most famous voice Peter Dickson the voice of E4, Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor. Peter will be providing the voice over and introductions for all new production shows.

We will also be introducing a new and exciting game show format called the Holiday Rollover and this will run at the end of each evening, giving the guests an opportunity to win some exciting cash prizes. We have already had a specially designed large scale prop produced for this format which will give it some real production value. These are just a few of the things the E3 production team will be implementing in 2009 to raise the professionalism and the interactive element of resort entertainment.

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February has been a huge success for British entertainment following the BAFTAs and Grammys. Those nominated racked up an impressive 12 BAFTAS and a staggering 14 Grammys, 26 awards in all. You may be forgiven for expecting the BAFTAs to favour British talent, but as the ceremony grows in stature as it has done year on year, the judges are loath to show any kind of favouritism. In many people’s eyes, the BAFTAs are now second only to the Oscars in standing and it is a testament to the talents of the likes of Kate Winslet and Danny Boyle that they scooped their prestigious awards. Slumdog Millionaire is now widely tipped to pick up a good Oscar haul while Kate’s odds to grab the Oscar for one of the two roles she has been nominated for have shortened dramatically.

The British success at the Grammys was slightly more surprising, not because those nominated did not deserve their plaudits, but because you would expect the American ceremony to favour home-grown talent. Robert Plant, Coldplay and Adele were the big winners with Estelle and Radiohead putting in a good turn. On this evidence, it would seem the future is distinctly bright for British entertainment and hopefully, this recognition of a dynamic and evolving British entertainment industry will inspire future generations to collect many more of these trophies as time goes on.

Check out the list of British talent who picked up prize at this week’s ceremonies below:

BAFTAs:

• Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
• Best British Film: Man on Wire
• Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
• Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Soundtrack: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Editing: Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Costume Design: The Duchess
• Best Sound: Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Short Animation: Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death

Grammys:

• Album of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand
• Record of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Please Read the Letter
• Best New Artist: Adele
• Best Rock Album: Coldplay, Viva la Vida
• Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Rich Woman
• Song of the Year: Coldplay, Viva la Vida
• Best Alternative Music Album: Radiohead, In Rainbows
• Best Pop Vocal Album: Duffy, Rockferry
• Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Coldplay, Viva la Vida
• Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, Chasing Pavements
• Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Estelle Featuring Kanye West, American Boy
• Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Killing the Blues
• Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand
• Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: In Rainbows

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UK holiday park operator Pontin’s has announced the creation of around 2,000 new jobs to be staffed in the coming year. The new posts will include catering, retail and bar staff as well as the all important entertainment providers, the Blue Coats. These new appointments will coincide with a proposed expansion of Pontin’s existing holiday parks as bookings for the Easter and summer seasons sky rocket. Here at E3 we believe a number of factors are contributing to the surge in entertainment jobs on offer at Pontin’s.

The weakening pound is encouraging savvy holiday makers to look closer to home for quick getaways. Last year and during times of more economic good fortune, families would often take two or three holidays abroad a year. Now, these same families are looking to substitute one or two of these trips abroad with holiday destinations closer to home. During the economic downturn, entertainment is proving a great form of escapism and the creation of these new entertainment jobs is a great sign for show business in general during these difficult times

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E3 Costumes managed to deliver a large volume order of costumes to a very tight deadline earlier this month. The Department has prepared, packed and are in the process of delivering over 5000 costumes and props. The last batch will be sent out on friday the 20th of February, completing months of hard work. The costumes and props are heading for all Thomas Cook and Hi! Hotels properties around the world. Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Cyprus, Mahon, Turkey, Tenerife, Costa Del Sol andPortugal to name but a few.

All the costumes and props will be involved in the daytime and evening entertainments programs for both Thomas Cook and Hi! Hotels, consisting of shows such as Popstars!, Carnival, Lost in Oz, yes sir I can boogie and Razzle Dazzle. Completing this order put the costumes team miles ahead of their progress the same time last year.

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E3 Group enjoyed a successful close to 2008 by finalizing a five year entertainment outsourcing deal with Thomas Cook. The contract was signed on 9th of December during Thomas Cook’s Annual VI Conference, held this year in Antalya, Turkey. Signing for Thomas cook were Chris Medd, Head of Overseas Support and Jackie Stevenson Director of Overseas Operations. Representing the E3 Group were Managing Director Jane Maguire and Group CEO David Hill.

After ten successful years working with Thomas Cook, the E3 Group will now recruit and train all of their overseas entertainment staff. As well as exclusively managing Thomas Cook’s overseas entertainment programmes, E3 will also be responsible for all creative content, including cutting edge production shows and light entertainment concepts.

Speaking about the new deal Jackie Stevenson said: “We want to place even more importance on the entertainment we provide in our hotels in 2009. We believe that forging an even closer partnership with E3 will help us to achieve our ambition of providing the very best in entertainment for Thomas Cook customers.”

On the back of the huge popularity that the BBC show enjoys, many of E3’s key clients are requesting Strictly Come Dancing shows of their own for use at corporate events. Strictly Thomas Cook Dancing was produced by the E3 Group for Thomas Cook’s annual VI Conference held in Antalya, Turkey December 2008. Thomas Cook employees auditioned for the show with celebrity and professional dancer Anton Du Beke presiding over the audition process. The successful contestants were then partnered with professional ballroom dancers and trained in preparation for the live show.

The final performance included video diaries from the contestants and their professional partners, a panel of judges and even a green room, which was broadcast on widescreen, really recreating the feel of the original show. The audience were then able to purchase votes for their favourite contestants, with all proceeds going to the Antalya Forest Fire Relief charity. The overall winners of the competition received holidays in Brazil for their efforts, the Latin dance capital of the world.