Media Parents

I have been in British Television for over 20 years and in that time I have been lucky enough to work on programmes as diverse as Peter Kays Phoenix Nights, Cold Feet and Dragons’ Den to the multi award winning “Ups” documentaries, writes Editor Ian Brown.

Editor Ian Brown : https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/11059/ian-brown

As a well respected finishing editor and colourist, the majority of my career has been spent working out of the regions’ top post facility houses, usually in big air conditioned rooms with fancy sofas and hot and cold drinks on tap but after the birth of my twins in 2012, I began to wonder if we could do things differently?

My youngest son Thomas has Cerebral Palsy and it became clear that if I could build a finishing suite at home, I would be able to have far greater control over my family’s work life balance.

A traditional finishing suite can easily set a facility back six figures but they all have one thing in common, without a skilled operator, they are worthless. I had the skills, I just needed to find a way to build a reliable home system.

In 2013 I began to forge a relationship with Matt Aindow at Scan computers in Bolton. As my plans progressed I spent time meeting the back room boys at Scan in their labs. Using a mixture of professional and gaming components we began to realise my dream of a facility class home finishing system. We added a Tangent wave control surface to give my system world conditions and it came up trumps.

Within days of me getting it home in February 2015, I was called on to grade a rock promo for Sitcom Soldiers, then edit a number of charity films, content for art exhibitions and a 5K grade on the British feature film “Off Piste”. It also allowed me to work from home whenever I was called on to edit TV programmes. Large parts of ITV’s Unbelievable moments Caught on Camera, Les Dawson Forever and Britain’s Darkest Taboo’s were cut in a cellar in Bromley Cross on my 3XS system.

Tom

Too often the demands of  working in Television combined  with the pressures of raising a young family lead to a talent drain out of the industry. I am reluctant to commit to working long unsociable hours especially when you add in a commute but as television fragments into more of a cottage industry I think this kind of home working is the future.

Send me a drive, discuss the brief and I can edit, online and grade around the needs of the schoolrun by picking up extra hours once my children are asleep. With high speed broadband, it is easy to do approvals over the internet. I consistently bring in my jobs on time and in budget whilst enjoying seeing my children blossom.

The way the team at Scan have worked hand in hand with me to see through my dream has been faultless and I am now often in the enviable position when I do go into town, of working on kit in high end facilities that cannot touch my home system for speed, grunt and reliability.

Yet much more important than that I am able to keep my skills as a high end finishing editor in the market place whilst juggling the family life balance that comes with having a child with complex special needs. Thanks to scan I am able to work on your project when you need me

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/11059/ian-brown