Restless Films delivers interviews for Special Olympics

Restless Films produced over 800 interviews for the Special Olympics last month, sending the content out to 55 nations.

Taking place in Berlin, the event saw 6,500 athletes take part in the competition for those with intellectual disabilities from 17-25 June.

Restless Films, run by former BBC staff Stuart Pollitt and Phill Smith, provided a 12-strong team of reporters, camera operators and editors to deliver more than 800 interviews and edited competition highlights before then distributing it to media in competing countries. This equated to more than 24 hours of tailored ready-to-broadcast footage, and included a dedicated social media reporter creating content for Instagram and TikTok resulting in hundreds of thousands of views across Special Olympics Europe Eurasia’s channels.

It was the first time Special Olympics Europe Eurasia had partnered to directly distribute rights-free news material to broadcasters from a World Games. The partnership was enhanced by assistance from the European Broadcasting Union, who had a team of editors and reporters in Berlin and helped to distribute the footage to their partners across Europe.

In addition, SNTV were provided with a daily highlights offering from Restless which was made available on their platforms.

Pollitt said: “We are so proud of our amazing team who delivered some great moments across Europe and Eurasia.

“To be able to tell the stories of these amazing athletes and bring their achievements to a wider audience in their home countries is a great honour.

“It was particularly rewarding to be able to deliver footage to places like Ukraine where the stories of their athletes will mean so much during a challenging time for their nation.”

Smith commented: “It was our biggest technical production to date. We had to rapidly deliver several hundred broadcast-ready items to 55 countries. Content was filmed and edited from 10 sites across Berlin. This huge source of media was updated hourly and made available to hundreds of broadcasters.

“This made it easy for media to use the material and helped to expand interest in, and knowledge of, Special Olympics.”

David Evangelista, president and managing director of Special Olympics Europe Eurasia, added: “This collaboration marked an innovative and fresh approach for us- as we joined forces with Restless at a World Games.

“Together with Restless, we aim to unleash the continued untapped potential to inspire millions while championing the remarkable abilities and aspirations of our athletes from around the world.

“Thanks to our partnership with Restless, along with the significant efforts alongside EBU and SNTV, we successfully expanded media coverage across Europe and Eurasia. We are eager to further enhance this platform for change at upcoming local, regional and international Special Olympics events.”