Often overlooked at the TV Festival is its younger sibling TVYP, a five-day festival attended by 150 kids looking to get into the media.

The itinerary comprises a series of workshops from everything on TV production to presenting, alongside "masterclasses" from big wigs looking to pontificate on their own successes.

This morning Joanne Oatts and I have been sitting in on some of the sessions in advance of the festival proper. I've just come from the session with Richard Woolfe, director of programmes at Sky One, Two and Three, who educated his group of teens on the way to "win Baftas for digital channels".

Case in point, Ross Kemp On Gangs, which returns for a new series in October, cunningly teamed up with the recently-acquired Prison Break on Monday nights. The session was mostly spent dissecting the ingredients that made the show a success - "personality", "real life", "shock factor" - or, as I sheepishly put it: "Ex-EastEnder Ross Kemp travels round the world... looking at gangs."

On producing the show, Woolfe described the process as a "fucking nightmare" - hey, he's down with the kids! "It's not like booking The Nolans to come on your chatshow." Okay, maybe not.

On his own success, Woolfe - a winner of the "industry player of the year" award at Edinburgh in 2005 for his work turning around Living - advised the budding programme-makers to "make a TV show that people love or detest. Make sure you get a reaction."

Check back shortly for more from the TVYP sessions - plus exclusive one-on-ones with Woolfe and ITV's head of entertainment Paul Jackson.

Young persons aged 18+ who wish to register interest in attending TVYP 2008 should visit tvyp.co.uk.