Improving the quality of video drama for learning.

Author of Watch & Learn:

Designing, writing, commissioning & producing effective video drama for learning.

About

Tom Hickmore

Tom Hickmore began making corporate video in the 1980’s and has specialized in video drama for learning since 1996.

In 2021 he suddenly understood how he could improve the quality of drama in learning, so he wrote a book and began a conversation.

‘As much as our learners like to relax with a box set or blockbuster, drama can also be an impactful way for them to learn. Tom’s guide is the perfect tool for learning designers hoping to use this medium to its fullest potential.’

Charlotte Iwanejko

E-LEARNING DESIGNER

‘Videos are one thing, videos for learning are another. Tom is the best I know in the business as he understands both the craft and learning theory and practice.’

Donald Clark

CEO at Wildfire Learning

Author of

Watch & Learn

Everything you need to know to produce great video drama for learning, in one short volume.

'This is written by someone, with the experience and background in learning videos, to stop you making the rookie errors. Tons of stuff on process but it's the advice on dialectical storytelling, building character and scripting that pay back dividends. Best book I've read on this subject.'
Amazon reviewer

VIDEOS

What Can TV Teach L&D?

Tom Hickmore presents What Can TV Teach L&D? Die Hard
Specials
Just in time for Christmas 2022 here’s a video about the classic movie Die Hard. Is it a Christmas movie? I suggest it is, and spend the video in a humorous analysis of the themes of the movie to prove the point.

December 19, 2022

What Can TV Teach L&D? - Star Wars
Specials
I’m giving a talk about drama in learning at this year’s Learning Technologies event on May the 4th. so of course I had to reference Star Wars!

April 26, 2022

Series 1
In which I reflect upon the anthropology of storytelling: how it functions to hold together large groups,how we see this demonstrated in Gogglebox and how we can apply this in the world of learning and development.

April 21, 2022

Read my

Latest Articles

Last Tuesday night, my party stepped into the Leonardo Royal Hotel near St Paul’s Cathedral in evening wear and high spirits – and walked away with five Learning Excellence Awards, three of them Gold. An astonishing result. Though perhaps not so surprising when I stop to consider the quality of the projects we’ve been lucky enough to be involved with. All five awards were for work that draws directly on our Drama for Change methodology—an approach I’ve developed over the years to turn fiction into a catalyst for real-world behavioural change. I’m proud of the work, of course, but even more so of the organisations who commissioned and co-created these remarkable initiatives. These awards are shared wins, and richly deserved.

April 26, 2025

Recently, I was invited to speak to a group of change consultants and change managers. Now, I’m not a change consultant myself – I’m a video maker. But, having spent my career making films for learning and development, “…I’ve ended up specialising in something that’s very much at the heart of their work: behaviour and culture change. I shared the story of how I developed Drama for Change – a method that uses video drama to shift behaviour in organisations – and why the science behind it is relevant far beyond the world of film…

April 9, 2025

By now, most people in the UK are aware of the Netflix drama Adolescence, which explores the harrowing subject of online male radicalisation and violence against girls. Writer Jack Thorne said he and co-writer Stephen Graham wanted the programme to be a piece of work that “causes discussion and makes change.” This, of course, is exactly the aim of my own Drama for Change methodology – though within a workplace setting – so I feel compelled to report on the project…

March 26, 2025