It was February 2020, and it was Prince Harry’s final engagement. With Lewis Hamilton, HRH was set to open a motor museum before a new life awaited in America. For me it was the shoot that would be the final tick in the box for my development to get its long-awaited greenlight, writes Media Parents Producer Jodie Chillery.

Development Producer Jodie Chillery works on access to Prince Harry.

Two years I’d been working on access to secure a new series that would see me directing shoots at the Isle of Man TT, the Silverstone GrandPrix and Manchester’s Parklife Festival. The positive parley with Prince Harry’s people to allow me to cover this event was definitely going to guarantee 2020 as a career highlight…

…And then it was March 2020.

The green light turned to amber.

The amber light has since dimmed so much it’ll require more than a battery change to resurrect the pitch.

Today, I’m teacher to a 9 year old boy who, for the most part, is more intelligent than I, loves a debate and is very strong willed in working on doing his own thing in his own time.  I don’t have the relevant qualifications, patience, resilience, willpower, skill, experience or desire to be a teacher.

Despite my obvious love for all things filming and TV, I’ve grown to hate You Tube and its inane content with such ferocity that most days I come close to doing a Kirstie Allsopp and threaten to smash any screen that dares to air its jaunty little red and white logo.

If you thought two years for access was a long time, that was a doddle compared to the two and a half hours to complete one 12 X tables worksheet. I cried. He cried. The video wouldn’t play. The printer told us to f*ck off. He demanded 84 counters so he could work out how many times 12 goes into 84. I dutifully cut up and coloured 84 tiny, floaty, bits of paper only for this unintentional confetti to end up under the bed, behind the cupboard and in my underwear. Ultimately I screamed “SEVEN, it’s seven!”

This was not the career highlight I had been hoping for.

Producer Jodie Chillery at the TV day job that's definitely easier than homeschooling!

For respite, we make a regular trip to the pharmacy and paper shop for a shielding neighbour. Over the months, we’ve watched a Barn Owl nest, hunt and hope to spot its owlets fledge. We’ve watched the trilogies of Back to the Future, The Karate Kid and Short Circuit. And when school was briefly open I coached a teacher in basic camera skills and edited his footage for a Remembrance film and their Christmas performance.

Isolation, sickness, death, the darkness of winter, the 12 times table, fronted adverbials and what the Vikings at Lindisfarne ate will all, I‘m sure, make me a better producer, and a more grateful workmate.

It’ll soon be March again. March the 8th precisely (International Women’s Day!), I’m led to believe is when I’ll be available for work. Give me posturing princes, apprehensive police officers and sensitive scripts any day, I’m more than ready to take them on!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/4945/jodie-chillery

If you’re looking for work after homeschooling join us for How to Ace a Job Interview Online.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Face any online interview fearlessly with Media Parents Director Amy Walker’s TV industry tips at Media Parents’ February event.

Get Prepared, Feel Confident. See the Media Parents watercooler for tickets. (Photo: Clare Lawrence http://www.loveseen.co.uk/)

Join us from 12 – 1pm on Friday 12th February 2021 for an interactive online workshop: How to Ace A Job Interview Online. Sign up for your ticket via the Media Parents watercooler or non-members click here to email us for details.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

I drifted into user research from my media work, writes Media Parents’ Jonathan Richardson. Back in the day of BBC iPlayer’s launch I gathered feedback and worked with the development team to prioritise improvements and test new ideas.

Since then I’ve been working on a range of websites and services to uncover audience insights. While I’ve mainly worked in government and academia, I’m looking to pivot back to focus on media organisations. There’s a clear opportunity for organisations to get into user research to understand their audiences.

User research is a mix of roles: combine journalism with anthropology, academic research and a lot of project management. And it makes for a highly interesting job.

I ensure that organisations understand their audiences by creating research to understand user motivation and behaviour. Once we have a good working knowledge I then lead teams to create new designs to determine if these improve the user experience.

This can be making a website be clearer and flow better. For example, so students find the right course for them. Or I map out journeys and processes to understand where the pain points and opportunities are.

My work has mainly been remote based, even before lockdown. I can spend most of my day interviewing people then documenting and analysing it. Interviews can be like therapy to some as I listen to them vent or talk their troubles out. My journalism background definitely helps with interviewing.

User Researcher Jonathan Richardson https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/16592/jonathan-richardson

I also combine my freelance work with my own start-up plans for a remote writers’ room using Agile project management methods. I’ve been running this for the past year and we recently completed our goal of having a proof-of-concept that shows the process works.

I’m fortunate in that my wife was taking 2020 as maternity leave for our daughter so we haven’t had fights over who got to use the home office. Our son started school in September and we’re thankful that he’s enjoying it and is back with friends.

The amount of work has reduced slightly since Covid but there’s still plenty of demand. I use any free time to work on my own projects and train others in user research.

So if you’re looking to find out more about working in Agile and user research, or want to let me know about problems in your organisation, do get in touch. Likewise connect if you want to find out more about the remote writers room.

Get in touch here or via Media Parents https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/16592/jonathan-richardson

Steve Wynne, MD of  production company Strawberry Blond, winner of Broadcast’s Best Place to Work in TV 2019, is compering a Christmas Quiz on December 10th – so join us! The quiz supports Mental Health Resource charity, and costs £10 per family. It starts at 8pm on December 10th so mobilise your team and sign up below: www.mentalhealthresource.org.uk/event/christmas-quiz

Thanks to Steve Wynne for supporting Media Parents over the years!

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

I would love to call on your help, writes Exec Producer Meriel Beale.

I’ve recently become the Anti Bullying and Harassment officer for Bectu Unscripted. I’m putting together an awareness raising campaign for anti bullying week (16th November) and I’m asking for stories of bullying & harassment in the TV industry.

I have already been sent many stories, sadly, but it would be good to have some more.

If you have an experience that you would be happy to share, you can do so anonymously without identifying any parties, via the form below.

Your testimonies will form part of the campaign from Bectu and the Film & TV Charity under the hashtag #UnseenOnScreen, so you should be aware & happy that your anonymous experiences may appear on social media.

The idea is to show how many people are affected by bullying and harassment, and to reinforce that we are stronger together.

This is the first step in the campaign, more will be revealed to try to deal with this industry-wide issue.

I hope this is ok, many thanks for your help.
Meriel

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjVtiDlaE_uRbYe-P8VG7XX7w4LfEVnwT-KgvEpDWxpLf1Kw/viewform?fbclid=IwAR14VkUyuCBFibQkk-kEOZQuYZjw45b3tLMLgJ69kcLhUHnzkKqx-VxxjGo

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/10695/meriel-beale

Meriel Beale (centre)

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

Returning PD Kate Dooley writes: Art imitates life imitates art. Having had a baby in February, Kate is now looking for a job share partner as she returns to work. Her latest series Becoming You, narrated by Olivia Colman, TXes tonight, 13th November on Apple TV. Read on…

I’m great in a pub quiz (remember those?). It’s down to years of working on tv shows about anything and everything. Scouring the internet for surprising yet accessible take home facts and stories which can visually delight and emotionally entertain both an exec and a viewer.

When was the first 747 flight? I filmed aboard the pilot 747 plane in Seattle. Which is the only British Town with an exclamation mark? Shot there for Escape to the Country. Why are humans the only mammals with visible eye whites? Edit produced a show on child development.

PD Kate Dooley at work

But this information has never been truly useful until now… On Friday 13th November “Becoming You” will air on Apple TV+ https://tv.apple.com/us/show/becoming-you/umc.cmc.2eln6544k8wo99s3vrdl5amwf . An epic documentary following children around the globe grow and develop from birth to age 5. Beautifully shot, sweet and informative – even more so for me as I gave birth to my first child just after working on the show.

8 months later and I’m still looking back at my research notes to help guide and inform me, by which I mean not spend hours googling things which tell me I should take my child to A&E immediately. The most useful info for having a baby in the age of covid-19 is understanding why after months of lockdown baby’s first reaction to her grandparents was fierce tears when before lockdown she was all smiles with any old Tom, Dick or Harry.

It turns out babies around 8 months develop the capacity to compare faces to the handful of people they know. If they don’t recognise them their developing emotion of fear kicks in to let them know this person might not be safe. Of course stranger danger is a hugely important development step but it’s very comforting to know her reaction to her grandparents is perfectly normal and can be reversed with time spent together.
This fact is illustrated in the show in a scene with a cute Mexican boy which I edit produced. The children in the series are real life examples from across the world of the amazing steps in development we all go through, but it’s not often that my real life then imitates my job!

I’m now looking to return to work perhaps through a job share and the series has helped me here too by working with a range of inspiring mums.

With ex Channel 4 head and ex BBC controller Jay Hunt as the Apple TV+ commissioner, talented MD of Wall to Wall Leanne Klein to guide us, knowledgable Edit Series Producer Helen Sage and ever hardworking producer Victoria Weaver to help find the amazing characters that were featured. Working on this doc has shown me that it really is possible to have children and keep producing exciting programming and progress my career.

So if you’re interested in job sharing or forming an unbeatable pub quiz team let me know!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/16924/kate-dooley

PD Kate Dooley

Pub Quiz Answers:
1969 though Pan Am only starting flying them commercially in 1970.
Westward Ho!
Human babies are born with poor eyesight so eye whites help them make eye contact easily. Eye contact triggers the release of the love hormone which helps to bond parent and baby.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

If you’re looking for ways to extend the summer, artist Ben Fenton’s coastal works are reasonably priced and will lift a room. Currently exhibiting at the Electric Palace Cinema in Hastings, Ben also sells paintings and commissions direct from his facebook page and website.

“I grew up in Dungeness, and Greatstone, and Rye, and Winchelsea Beach, writes Ben Fenton. I grew up on and beside the Romney Marsh. My father was a fisherman and I was putting to sea with him from the age of four. I grew up with the sound of saltwater dragging shingle away to someplace else. I grew up with the weight of an uninterrupted sky pressing down upon me. I grew up in a land that had been borrowed from the deep. A land that built structures from wood, and stone, and concrete to celebrate it, and to keep from giving it back. I am now returned to the coast of Kent and Sussex and I am painting the souvenirs of my past.”

Artist Ben Fenton, originally from Dungeness, has forged out a successful career in London for more than 12 years, but wanted to return to the Romney Marsh to get away from the distractions of living in the capital and seek new inspiration and challenges for his work. Ben’s stunning paintings can be found in private collections all over Europe and the UK and he continues to exhibit in diverse spaces in London, Kent and East Sussex.

http://benfentonartist.moonfruit.com/

SOLD OUT: Join us for a spot of networking and to hear Channel 4’s Rowena Cordrey and Fiona McAllister deliver their hour long ‘Ultimate Legal & Compliance Masterclass’ for Media Parents on Tuesday 21st July. 4′s legal team will be helping you to navigate the tricky world of legal and compliance and giving you their dos and don’ts for staying on the right side of the law.

Join Media Parents for Channel 4's How Not to Get Sued session, see link below for zoom details

Rowena Cordrey

Ro is a Senior Lawyer in Channel 4’s Legal & Compliance team, which is renowned for its enabling advice as part of the Channel’s unique risk-taking remit.  She provides legal, compliance and ethical advice on all aspects of television programming – broadcast and online – before and after broadcast, including its promotion and marketing.

Ro trained and then qualified as a media law solicitor at Farrer & Co in 2009, principally advising tabloid newspaper clients as well as magazines and regional publishers.  She worked for the BBC in their Litigation team before first joining Channel 4 for just over 4 years.  Ro was Deputy Head of Compliance at ITN (which produces the news for Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5) working across news and on a number of high-profile undercover investigations, including the award-winning Cambridge Analytica (C4 News) and ‘Gay Conversion’ Therapy (ITV News) investigations.  Ro then worked at Viacom before returning to Channel 4 this year.

Fiona McAllister

Fiona is an experienced media lawyer currently advising production companies and Channel 4 both pre and post-publication on legal, regulatory compliance and ethical issues which arise in the making and broadcast of programmes, online content and marketing campaigns on all Channel 4 platforms. Fiona focuses on all content-related matters, including defamation, privacy, contempt and fairness issues.

Prior to joining Channel 4 she spent around 12 years in private practice – based at leading media firm, Simkins LLP, generally advising Claimants (individual and companies) on media related issues and acting against the media. Prior to that Fiona was with a Scottish firm, Burness Paull LLP where she advised BBC Scotland and regularly provided programme legal advice on all aspects of media law affecting BBC output. She is dual qualified and admitted to practise in England & Wales as well as Scotland.

Amy Walker

Amy will be hosting the Channel 4 session on behalf of Media Parenst. She champions diverse creative talent, and set up Media Parents ten years ago to facilitate that. She is a factual TV Series Producer and Talent Exec and has just completed a 2-year EMBA sponsored by Channel 4. Her most recent series for Channel 4 was BAFTA-nominated. She lives in Hastings. https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/

This event is now SOLD OUT. To support Media Parents and join our future events please join us here.

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

About me, writes Celebrity Producer Justine Sullivan:

Female in my late 40s

Live in West London

Mother of two boys aged 8 & 11

Kids’ father has Asperger Syndrome, so lockdown has been tough (although social distancing and isolation are two of his favourite things!)

Pretty much single parent the children

Work in TV as a Celebrity Producer/Celebrity Consultant – no work at all since lockdown. Furlough not much help as we are both directors of Ltd company so we are on the absolute minimum pay!

So, back to home school then after the weekend.

For the millions of kids not yet physically back at school and for those not fortunate enough to be at a school providing on-line teaching, this is probably how home schooling is going for them. Well this is how it is in our home.

7:30am Get up. Come downstairs and empty the dishwasher and set the table for breakfast. 

Call the kids to come down and have breakfast. Call them again and again and again and again. Resign myself to eat breakfast alone whilst continuously phoning the kids, repeating the words ‘Can you come down? What are you looking at? Why do you think you can just go on my phone and watch Youtube?’
Finish breakfast and yell upstairs again ‘If you don’t come down for breakfast, you won’t be able to game later (too late as they’ve already done so on the phones)’

Kids finally come downstairs and have breakfast. Bailey wants yet another pyjama day and Ruben wants to read. Fair enough on the reading front, but it would be easier for everyone if he just stuck to the schedule and maybe, just maybe we could all read at the same time thus encouraging Bailey to read more??
11am: Bailey still rolling on the sofa and Ruben has disappeared upstairs to get dressed.
11:45: Bailey finally picks up his laptop and logs onto the school files. Says he can’t see any new work, despite an email from school saying new files are there.  Nothing apart from a message from his teacher saying she’s been catching up on boxsets.  Bailey loses interest.
11:45 Bailey logs onto BBC Bitesize.
11:50: Bailey says he’s finished his first lesson and now it’s break time and he wants a snack as apparently, he’s hungry. Not sure that’s actually possible as he only had breakfast an hour ago.
Midday: Ruben logs onto his computer. Reads a headline on Youtube that LazarBeam has died of Coronavirus. Bailey jumps up from the sofa and goes over to Ruben saying ‘Oh let’s watch that!’ I say ‘I don’t care about bloody Coronabeam’ and could he just log onto to his school files!! (NB LazarBeam is safe and well)

Ruben logs onto his files and says he can’t write on any of the worksheets and wants to print off yet another 30 page document.

Logs off school files and logs onto BBC Bitesize.
15 minutes later says he’s done English, History and Maths and has learnt so much more from BBCBbitesize than the rubbish files school send over that don’t work.

I stupidly take a phone call for 20minutes and take my eye off the children. Both have now logged onto YouTube. Bailey tells me he’s doing Science – I’m not sure ‘How to make a party watermelon’ or ‘How to throw an egg in a bag of popcorn off a bridge’ constitutes a science lesson. Anyway, lunchtime.

As an accomplished Celebrity Producer / Consultant I’d appreciate a call to take me away from all this. My credits include six years on Top Gear, BAFTAs, GQ Men of the Year and several comedy shows. My greatest TV moment has to be spending a whole day with Tom Cruise on the Top Gear track, followed by a hand written Thank You note from him. Yes. It’s been framed!

Justine Sullivan is available now: https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/10118/justine-sullivan

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk

As we came out of a quiet February, which included me promising to finish all those jolly DIY jobs I’d been so looking forward to doing (!) a different major concern hit, writes Peter Chipping. So major it shut down all the DIY and builders’ merchant stores, leaving the promise of me completing those DIY jobs to later.

As a father my immediate concern was the safety of my grown-up children, one of whom had just started working at a care home and caught “something” there. Without testing being offered we couldn’t confirm the exact nature – but insisted on self-isolating her anyway. Meanwhile, the missus and I volunteered with the GoodSam / NHS volunteers app. (June update: Both children are well and the care home worker beavering away. COVID testing was undertaken 2 months later, but nothing on anti-bodies – so we can’t be sure what happened.)

Peter Chipping remote working on a script

While waiting for the app to ring, I went back to the drawing board. Literally, and started writing. It felt good to be doing “something” TV related. It felt like work too.
One such job I’d always promised myself to do was to rewrite a medical thriller movie.

Easy-peasy, right? All I ever needed was the time – but it kept getting put off. It sat in a bottom drawer knocking on the handle wanting to be let out. The time was right and off I went. Slowly. Very slowly. How do these established writers write a movie in two weeks? Sometime later, 101 pages finally rolled out of Final Draft and has now winged its way to my script editor.

Then to a different genre. This time working in two teams, interconnected with some zoom-connected producers.  The first project was fleshing out an idea for a presenter led biography / travelogue. We had the presenter in the form of a well loved actor and hewed an angle for him. We had even shot a sizzle pre lockdown – so I just needed to edit it down.

This followed with a specialist factual entertainment idea that could be shot under the emerging post COVID guidelines. We found some experts and zoom-interviewed them. Creating glossy e-brochures followed, along with budgets and have presented to broadcasters. Of course these ideas are super-ground breaking, returnable and, of course, cost efficient!

Leading with a valuable Media Parents online CV event, I’ve also enjoyed a plethora of online zoom master classes, training courses and commissioner meetings. However, the pandemic suddenly took to a turn for the worse and my world imploded: The DIY shops re-opened and the paint brushes returned. Sigh.

Tasks completed, all I need is a commission for one of the three above please. Or the promised and evaporated TV contract coming back into play. That, and of course a barber. Then I’ll be able to remove the hat.

Peter Chipping mainly directs scripted television, read his previous blog here.

The drama he wrote and directed for Nazi Megastructures has just aired on C4, catch it here.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/15880/peter-chipping

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk