Media Parents

Jules lives in Shepherds Bush with his wife and has two daughters aged ten and seven. He is in the TALENT section of www.mediaparents.co.uk

After directing World’s Scariest Near Misses for Series One,  through Media Parents for Mentorn Media, I was delighted to be invited back to work on Series Two.  The film I made, World’s Scariest Weather, TXes this Thursday 10th May at 8pm on Channel 5.  Making it took me into a world of tornados, dust storms and flash floods.  

Because of the nature of the subject matter - UGC (user generated content) on weather – there was a huge amount of material out there, but getting hold of the combination of footage, interview and story,  proved to be difficult.  Extreme Weather is a competitive area, and finding original stories and footage we could afford wasn’t easy.  Luckily I worked with a very talented team:   Researcher Sophia Lightfoot tirelessly chased clips and stories, AP Faye Gilbert (also from Media Parents) added her shooting and directing skills, and Alison Hunt seamlessly put it all together in the edit. 

We ended up with a set of strong stories and heart stopping footage featuring some of the most visceral and damaging weather events ever captured, plus Japan’s worst natural disaster, last year’s tsunami. 

Sophia managed to track down a fantastic and untold  story of a couple who survived  a devastating Tornado that hit Joplin, U.S.A.  Producer/Director Jim Shreim shot a great interview with the couple involved which brought the drama and horror of the event to life.  It shows how we all had to work well as a team and trust each other in order to complete a demanding world-wide filming schedule in a short space of time.

After a short break I’m about to embark on something completely different - a  Celebrity Antiques Road Trip for BBC2. Diversity is the spice of life, and in many ways this is what makes production work so attractive, it’s good to be faced with a whole new set of challenges. I’m sure it will be a whirlwind trip and very busy but I’ve worked with some of the team before and feel confident that we’ll be able to pull it off. 

It’ll take me away from home for most of the eight week shoot, but I’ll be back in time for the family summer holiday to Cornwall, where hopefully the Weather won’t be anything like the sort I’ve been witnessing over the last few months!

Jules Seymour is a PD in the TALENT section of www.mediaparents.co.uk