I was delighted to have been accepted on the Media Parents Edinburgh Back to Work scheme. I dearly want to return to the job I love and, in time, move up from Producer Director to Series Producer without feeling somehow apologetic that I have commitments outside the office, writes PD Josie Besbrode. And this is the start of that process. I’m pleased to say that thanks to Media Parents social media coverage I’ve already had an offer of flexible work, and although it was too soon for me to take it up, I hope its a sign of things to come.

Having spontaneously shared my cab from Edinburgh airport to the TV festival with Natalie Hill, an Exec from Hello Halo who was very encouraging about working parents and generally just fun to chat with, I was feeling buoyed. I headed straight in to meet Talent Managers, Victoria Goodwin from the BBC, Simon Wright from Elephant House Studios, and Sallie Leak from True North. It’s been easy to stay within a familiar network circle and it felt good to start expanding that.

I also met up with Development Exec, Morgana Pugh from BBC Studios, who made me feel excited about upcoming projects, which was a welcome reminder of my continued love of the job. Head of Development at Sundog Pictures, Nicky Huggett, also praised how supportive the company is towards staff and freelancers; another cheer. I heard quite few times, in fact, that contrary to my fear, working mums are welcomed. Not only because 50% of factual TV is directed by women and some of them will inevitably procreate but also because they get s*!t done on time. I’m yet to confirm or deny this but pleased to have the reputation.

Nicky Huggett Head of Development, Sundog Pictures with Josie Besbrode PD

A great highlight was meeting Pat Younge co-founder of Sugar Films who was brimming with useful advice. He said to set goals 6 months ahead to avoid being overwhelmed. Books he recommended include Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family, Wild Courage (Elle Harrison) and Strengths Finder (Tom Rath). We also talked about stepping up and how useful it is to be supported through that process.

Which brings me neatly on to Warner Brothers who I am very pleased to be mentored by. Meeting Lisa Cox from Ricochet, who champions working parents, was a delight, and am very excited to continue that relationship.

It wasn’t just networking and free bacon sandwiches, however.  Jon Snow humbled everyone during his MacTaggart lecture when he implored us to open our ears and arms to those beyond the TV elite. David Attenborough talked, need I say more?  Actually he did say, there’s people all across the country capturing fantastic imagery of wildlife in their gardens and local area and therefore the broadcasting of natural history footage should be shared with the audience, which really stuck with me.

Sir David Attenborough in session

Ben  Frow ‘in therapy’ session gave a refreshingly candid account of both himself and Channel 5′s achievements. The day he was sent to boarding school as a young boy was the worst of his life, what proceeded shaped him into the determined, inclusive but also shy and rejection fearing man he is. He likes the production process at Channel 5 to have as little interference from himself and commissioners as possible and confessed when the ratings first came in for their hit show Rich House, Poor House he thought “‘Oh I better watch that”.  And on that note, so must I…

I am exploring job sharing as a possible way ahead – if you are interested please get in touch via events@mediaparents.co.uk and watch this space.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/10764/josephine-besbrode

Sugar Films MD Pat Younge with Media Parents Back to Work winners Josie Besbrode and Emma Sayce

Media Parents HETV Drama and Children's Return to Work programme is open for applications until Wed 27th Sept, scroll down this blog for details. Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Flexible working champion Media Parents is delighted to be partnering with Creative Skillset to provide FREE Return to Work Training for eight production freelancers in High End TV Drama and one from Children’s TV, from early October.

Media Parents Back to Work Team 2017 at Edinburgh TV Festival

Freelancers who have taken a career break for childcare and would like help to return to work in High End scripted TV or Children’s TV should contact www.mediaparents.co.uk for an application form before September 27th. Roles covered include but are not limited to :

• Producer
• Line Producer
• Production Manager
• Production Coordinator
• Production Assistant
• Production Secretary

The course offers paid returnships, mentoring, job-specific refresher training, confidence and presentation coaching, and free attendance at an industry conference, beginning with the Broadcast Commissioning Forum. Building on five years of success of the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme, this course offers all the tools needed to return to work with confidence in High End TV Drama or Children’s TV.

The first course will take place in early October in Bristol and London, preference will be given to regional applicants. Applications close Sept 27^th and successful applicants will be informed on Sept 28^th or sooner. Two further courses will follow. Please keep an eye on this blog for further details.

We welcome applicants who have taken a career break due to childcare responsibilities and who are now ready to return to work. Inclusion is important to us, we encourage applications from those currently under-represented in the industry, including women, black, Asian and minority ethnic, and disabled people.

The Media Parents Return to Work in High End TV Programme is supported by the High End TV Levy Fund, managed by Creative Skillset.

Creative Skillset works with the UK’s screen-based creative industries to develop skills and talent, from classroom to boardroom. The High End TV Levy Fund, overseen by the High End TV Council, ensures a sustainable funding legacy to develop industry skills to support the next generation of High End TV drama talent.

Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Thanks to Media Parents Back to Work Scheme and sponsorship from Endemol Shine, I headed for the Edinburgh TV festival feeling daunted at the thought of rubbing shoulders with many of the most important people in the industry, and having to sell myself in a way I hadn’t done for a long time, writes Edit Producer Emma Sayce.

The theme of the festival was set by Jon Snow, who declared, in his MacTaggart lecture, that the UK TV industry is dangerously disconnected from huge chunks of the population. “We must examine ourselves”, he said, “and ask why we missed the story of what is happening in social housing before the Grenfell disaster struck, and why we got both Brexit and the general election so wrong. We are still made up”, he added, “of a ‘London elite’, and we desperately need to welcome into our ranks people from diverse geographical, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.”

Along with most of the audience I cried, and cheered, as he spoke. And, as a working mum (let’s not forget, another under-represented group in TV), I felt emboldened by his words, and ready to throw myself into the festival.

Princess Talent Manager Melissa Clay Peters with Emma Sayce

I traipsed up to the ‘speed-dating lounge’ where about 20 top talent managers were seated at single tables, offering 15 minutes of their time to anyone brave enough to sit down with them. I booked in with Melissa Clay Peters from Princess, and Caroline Carter and Julia Bird from the BBC. I ended up having three very relaxed chats with three very helpful women. Melissa was particularly generous, offering up contacts and introductions, and reassuring me that “we talent managers are not put off by big gaps on a CV – the vast majority of us are mums ourselves.”

Amy from Media Parents had set up a meeting via Twitter @mediaparents with Pat Younge, Creative Director of Sugar Films. Pat asked me about my previous experience and future plans, before offering really tailored advice and encouragement. I felt comfortable enough to admit that while I have ambitions to move into Series Producing, and Exec’ing, the ambition that underpins all of that is to find a way of working in the industry I love without making too many sacrifices on the family front. He recommended some reading which you can see in the @mediaparents twitterfeed. Pat’s key tip was to be bold, and to request longer, non-project-specific contracts from the companies I work for regularly. He also cautioned me against a dramatic change of direction (e.g. a move into digital, off the back of my social media work), and said I should build on the solid programme-making experience I have.

Emma Sayce (far right) and fellow Back to Work Winner Josie Besbrode with Sugar Films MD Pat Younge - as seen in @mediaparents twitter feed

The geography of the TV festival (all in one circular venue) meant that, in between meetings, it was easy to bump into people I had worked with/for in the past – Tim Carter, CEO of Twenty Twenty, and Sam Lawrence, MD of Monkey Kingdom (an advocate of flexible working). I also caught up with Anouk Berendsen, Talent Manager at All3Media (an old friend from Granada days) and Anna Bonnadio, BBC Talent Manager, both of whom are very supportive of the Media Parents mission.

BBC Talent Manager Anna Bonnadio (left) with Emma Sayce

I was glad to sit down with Bella Lambourne, Global HR Director, Endemol Shine (my sponsors) for a glass of Bucks Fizz. She told me that they employ many working mums as EPs, SPs and Creative Heads and are trying to make it easier for mums to work as PDs.

Then, there were the ‘sessions’ – an opportunity to listen to, and be inspired by, some of the most brilliant talents in the industry … Charlie Brooker, Sir David Attenborough, Russell T Davies and Simon Chinn, not to mention the Youtube star Vuj who I’d never heard of, but who was fascinating and hilarious! I made a point of going to the key Channel Controller sessions and came out feeling on top of who’s who and what they are looking for.

Emma Sayce with Endemol Shine Global HR Director Bella Lambourne from @mediaparents twitter feed. Emma used social media to generate job opportunities whilst at the festival

I left Edinburgh with contacts made, CVs requested, meetings and introductions offered, and enquiries to answer about availability for specific projects. I have several leads to pursue, which I’m confident will lead to work in the next few months. Incidentally, two of those leads were generated by the tweeting I did during the festival.

I came away feeling that the TV industry is one ready to welcome back working mums, even if, like me, they have had a sizeable chunk of time out. The next test will be the work itself – and whether I can do it while still being the main presence in my children’s lives. I’m hoping that careful decisions about the jobs I take, and the path I follow, combined with a lot of self-discipline, will make that possible.

Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk

The Media Parents Back to Work Scheme 2017 winners – Emma Sayce, Josie Besbrode, Kate Cheeseman and Nicola Kingscote have been making the most of the Edinburgh TV Festival’s opportunities to network both in person and on social media. Here follows a quick blast through their experiences with a bit of twitter knowhow on the side. Emma Sayce used her mat leave to upskill in social media (you can learn at home, online, for free) and now it’s a useful free tool for both TV companies wanting to increase audiences and for all freelancers wanting to make connections.

Scripted Director Kate Cheeseman, SP Nicola Kingscote, PD Josie Besbrode and Edit Producer Emma Sayce skyping Media Parents Director Amy Walker at Edinburgh TV Festival

Because the Edinburgh TV Festival offers such a great opportunity to meet many programme makers in one place, Kate Cheeseman @kmcheeseman began using twitter to network before the festival began – as soon as she knew she had won her Media Parents Back to Work Scheme place courtesy of Channel4′s Spotlight on Directors 2017 initiative.

Announcing her attendance at the TV Festival c/o the Back to Work Scheme Kate tagged in the handles for both @mediaparents and @EdinburghTVFest in order to be seen beyond her own feed. This can be done using individual addresses or hashtags – anything tagged with #channel4 is immediately posted in the feeds in the lifts at Channel 4′s HQ – at the festival #edTVfest is a useful hashtag to find and follow other TV production people. Having seen the tweets by Kate and @EmmaSayce, tagging in her sponsor, we @mediaparents looked up the active people using #edTVfest. (twitter posts are read from the bottom up).

Who should we spot online tweeting about #edTVfest but @tcmbigcheese – Sugar Films’ MD Pat Younge. As Pat has been supportive of Media Parents Back to Work Scheme in the past we sent a closed tweet (using Pat’s handle @tcmbigcheese at the start of the tweet so that only people following Pat and media parents would see the tweet in their feeds) asking Pat to meet the #backtowork team at the festival. Pat replied with another closed tweet that you can see in our feed above, asking us to DM (direct message you can send if you both follow each other on twitter) so that he could share his contact details privately in order to meet the team.

It worked!

PD Josie Besbrode @Besbrode took the opportunity to thank for the meeting Pat by tagging him in a photo with her fellow #backtowork winner Emma Sayce, and also to publicise a tip from Pat. As did SP Nicola Kingscote:

Nicola’s tweet was retweeted by @mediaparents with an extra tip – and you can see above @NicolaKingscot1′s tweet that several people followed @mediaparents after that interaction – harnessing the networks of the TV Festival, Pat, Media Parents and Nicola to gain a wider audience. Knowledge from the sessions shared by the Back to Work team was also helpful for TV people who couldn’t attend the festival – and it’s worth knowing that twitter and all social media is seen and read by a much greater proportion of people than those who interact with it.

You can read the takeout from the sessions tagged in the @mediaparents feed on Twitter, and our Back to Work Team will be blogging their best bits here over the next week. Below Emma Sayce is using photos to give atmosphere and context to her tips and also opening a tweet using a . in front of @versharma’s handle, to increase its potential audience rather than closing it with the handle at the front.

Tweets are read, liked and retweeted and can spark debate.

We did a shout out to ask people to meet the Back to Work Team which really worked – letting people know where you are physically can lead to useful meet ups.

Letting people know that the Back to Work Team were at the TV Festival’s first night party certainly had results.

Emma Sayce met Bella Lambourne, Endemol Shine’s Global Director of HR. Huge thanks here to Bella for sponsoring the Media Parents Back to Work scheme for everyone of it’s five years, it makes a massive difference to talented people on their way back in. Emma used the opportunity to promote Endemol Shine’s support for flexible working. As did the team when they met Sam Lawrence, MD of Monkey. (Who I didn’t realise was a woman until now).

Good job the Festival organisers publicised their own photo booth…

Thanks for responding ladies…

Well done to the whole team on making the most of this opportunity to network and connect. The Back to Work team will soon be posting their own blogs here, followed by creating their individual back to work plans for use at their mentoring sessions. Please follow them on twitter and here to hear more about their journey.

Congratulations to the Back to Work Winners, wishing you all the greatest success on your way back in

Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Huge thanks to all those talented people who applied for the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme this year, we will be celebrating all applicants with drinks in the autumn. We are also grateful to our sponsors Channel 4, Twofour, Endemol Shine and Warner Bros for supporting this years winners back into work via Edinburgh TV Festival. Meet the winners:

If you are at Edinburgh TV Festival this year please say hi to the Back to Work Winners

Thanks to everyone who has taken time out to meet the team in Edinburgh so far, it’s great to hear they have been making new connections. If you would like to make contact please email via www.mediaparents.co.uk contact page.

Emma Sayce, Edit Producer

Emma Sayce, Media Parents Back to Work Scheme Winner 2017

Prior to taking a career break, Emma spent over 8 years working as a PD, mainly in Science, History and Popular Factual programming, on such series as Child of our Time (BBC One) and Mary Queen of Shops (BBC Two). She went on to work as a Senior Producer and Edit Producer. Her career then had to take a back seat after she had extremely premature twins. She balanced looking after them, and their medical needs, with occasional Edit Producer contracts on series such as The Great Interior Design Challenge (BBC Two) and Inside The Factory (BBC Two). With both children now healthy and at school Emma now wants to return to more regular work via the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme, initially as an Edit Producer, with a view to working her way up to Series and Executive Producer roles. Emma is being sponsored by Endemol Shine.

Josie Besbrode, Producer Director, Factual

Josie Besbrode, Media Parents Back to Work Scheme Winner 2017

Josie is a shooting PD with pre-mat leave credits on BBC One’s The Met, The World According to Kids, Saving Lives at Sea and The Bank for BBC Two. She has worked at The Garden, Raw and Blast! amongst other indies and is returning to work after a one-year mat leave. Josie is being sponsored by Warner Bros and hopes to use the mentoring part of the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme to work towards her ambition of series producing. Josie’s sponsor is Warner Bros.

Kate Cheeseman, Director, Scripted

Kate Cheeseman is a Director in scripted. Kate Cheeseman’s directing work won her an RTS Award and a BAFTA in children’s drama, and saw her directing Grange Hill and Family Affairs. She was selected for the DirectorsUK mentoring scheme, hopefully the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme will help her to find work. Kate is being sponsored by Channel 4 as part of their Spotlight on Directors 2017 initiative.

Nicola Kingscote, Series Producer, Bristol

Nicola Kingscote, Media Parents Back to Work Winner 2017

Nicola Kingscote enjoyed an 18 year career at the BBC as a director and latterly as a Series Producer before taking redundancy. Her career has been primarily based in Bristol and she has worked across many of BBC Bristol’s best known series. The Antiques Roadshow, Fake or Fortune, It’s Not Easy Being Green and James Martin’s Home Comforts are among her credits. Her application for the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme is due to career breaks spent looking after small children and her recent redundancy. She is really looking forward to getting back to Series/Edit Producing and managing teams again. Nicola is being sponsored by TwoFour’s Cardiff office.

Follow their Edinburgh experience and their progress back into work on this blog and on twitter @mediaparents.

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We hope to see you this evening if you’re on the esteemed guestlist below for the Media Parents Summer Drinks. Held in a Bloomsbury garden, fear not there is also wet weather cover!

Media Parents Summer drinks will be attended by more than 30 companies!

An informal affair, Media Parents Summer Drinks are hosted by Clear Cut Pictures and sponsored by Cornish Insurance. Here’s some info about their company, thank you Cornish for enabling the event to go ahead!

With over 35 years broking experience providing advice to the Film, Media and International Transport Insurance sector, Cornish Insurance have built an enviable reputation for the development of innovative bespoke insurance products.  As Lloyd’s Coverholders we are able to discuss our customer’s requirements direct with the underwriters themselves.

In a rapidly changing world it is important that cover can be adapted to encompass areas of conflict; Cornish Insurance have proved, time and again, that speed of response is the key to a successful partnership with its clients, leaving You, the customer free to fulfil your commitments.

We are currently developing a streamlined media product designed to let YOU choose what cover is and is not required.   Unlike many of the existing bulky contracts you will pay for, and receive, only the covers you really require.   Any changes of cover, documents, account queries and claims processing will be handled by an online App providing worldwide access 24/7 but all backed by your account handler’s mobile telephone number and live chat, ensuring you have full underwriting advice and support when it is needed.

Enquire within : http://cornishinsurance.co.uk/enquiries.asp

Guestlist for tonight :

See you there!

Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Congratulations to Media Parents Composer Isa Suarez, who has just been awarded The Agadir International Film Festival ‘Prix du Jury’ for her film Just Gone, which is now premiering at Cannes Film Festival. The film was directed by Sophie Austin, and the DoP was also female, Lynda Hall.

Isa writes : Following the film award - Prix du Jury -  for Just Gone at The International Film festival of Agadir, this short film, directed by Sophie Austin, is now going to be at the Cannes Film Festival  2017. Original Soundtrack by Isa Suarez. Lynda Hall shot it beautifully, and I was asked to compose the soundtrack after its initial release last year.

Isa, who has scored programmes for betty and Talkback Thames, has also recently composed original music for an oral history mobile app called A Hackney Autobiography.

Composer Isa has also been recently awarded an Arts Council grants to compose Nocturnes Wonder. It will be new music  composed for a choir, a female beatboxer, piano and electronic music. The final pieces will be a suite of free downloadable pieces to listen to on  mobile phones while walking at night, or at home. Launching at Camberwell Arts Festival  in June 2017, Nocturnes Wonder is an open invitation to join us in a musical journey that runs through the night. You can enjoy Nocturnes Wonder at night, wherever you are in the world or during Camberwell Arts Festival.

http://http//www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/12898/isa-suarez

Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Perhaps it is in the nature of being a documentary maker, but I frequently feel passionate about the subjects that I make films about, writes Media Parents Producer Director Zan Barberton.

PD Zan Barberton's film was supported by the Heads Together campaign, The Duchess of Cambridge introduced the film at its premiere. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are spearheading a new campaign https://www.headstogether.org.uk/ in partnership with inspiring charities, which aims to change the national conversation on mental wellbeing. (Photo by Nicky J Sims/Getty Images for Royal Foundation)

Perinatal Mental Health (affecting the mother in pregnancy and after childbirth, family members and the baby itself) is one of those subjects. It seems that more and more people are beginning to understand the importance of this issue, which affects nearly 2 in 10 women and has been calculated to cost the country around £8 billion annually.  I have been working on a film about Maternal Mental Health for 3 years, and I’ve been staggered by the amount of ignorance, silence and fear surrounding it. So it is wonderful that the young Royals – The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry – have brought their significant influence to raising awareness of the subject.

Last week the Duchess of Cambridge made a speech to introduce a film I have worked long and hard on:  “If any of us caught a fever during pregnancy we would seek advice and support from a doctor” she said “getting help with our mental health is no different”. It feels like a tipping point. Slowly, slowly, the silence is lifting and this important subject is getting talked about.

The project is led by charity Best Beginnings, the brainchild of Alison Baum, a former BBC producer herself, and a bit of a force of nature. She is passionate about finding innovative ways to communicate health information and is a huge cheerleader for the power of film. I could probably write a few pages about Alison (she just got an OBE) but I suggest you go to their web site!

The series of 8 films is called “Out of the Blue”.  I filmed, directed and edited 3 of them. The idea is to allow women to speak openly about their experiences, breaking the silence and reducing stigma. It is an unusual type of filmmaking: obs doc in style, with high production values, but at heart informational. Every film had to hit specific “learning points” and was viewed and reviewed by a whole team parents, frontline healthcare professionals, Royal Colleges and other professional bodies so that it would provide proper, medically-checked information. This was a painfully slow process and meant that the project took around three years from start to finish – the gestation of a baby elephant.

PD Zan Barberton works flexibly on the film around her two children.

The production company was Heirloom Media, run by the talented Jacqui Smith, an executive producer on science programmes for BBC Scotland. A working mum herself, she allowed me to arrange my shoots and editing around my availability – which really worked for this project. I was honest about the time I spent on it and invoiced accordingly, and this meant that I was able to spend time with my family, or work on other projects during the slow periods. This way of working has meant that I have been able to regularly shoot – a part of filmmaking that I love.

Structuring this sort of film presented challenges. We decided from the outset that it would all be told in the past. On a practical level, consent could be tricky if we were filming present-tense stories with women suffering from mental illness. Aside from the practicalities, our target audience was potentially vulnerable new mums, so we wanted the film to be as reassuring as possible. A key message is that you can and will get better – so it helps to see healthy people on screen. We were lucky to have some wonderfully grounded and articulate contributors who carry the films with style and even humour. I am always humbled by the courage of people who choose to share their most painful experiences to help others… it is part of the privilege and responsibility of documentary work.

The films were of course made in close contact with the contributors, who viewed it regularly from the rough-cut stage, and whose feedback was taken extremely seriously.  One of the characters was shown coming very close to suicide in the film and I wondered about whether it was too raw an experience to expose an audience of vulnerable mothers to.  After she had seen the film she said something that really convinced me: Seeing her story on screen had allowed her to understand that her experience was a symptom of an illness rather than an act of selfishness. She said that she finally forgave herself.  Just hearing that made it all worth it.

The Out of the Blue series is available online on the Best Beginnings web site, and is also on the Baby Buddy App. Looking after your mental health is important even if you are well…and especially if you are a parent. So show it to your friends with babies!

Zan Barberton gets her hands on the ProMotion kit at a Media Parents event. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/3078/zan-barberton

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/3078/zan-barberton Zan Barberton is currently looking for PD work or edit /edit producing. Find her CV on the above link at Media Parents.

Media Parents - join now for brilliant jobs and events at www.mediaparents.co.uk