Media Parents

And here we are – at home, writes Media Parents Factual Exec and SP Jonathan Schutz. Working from home. Hmm. Let’s be honest: for most of us, even the least sniff of work has evaporated. Channel 4 has suggested it will be “reaching out” to freelancers. The BBC and Netflix have made donations to the Film & TV Charity, ITV has made a fund available for indies. It’s all very nice, though perhaps not all that useful for those of us who are just about grinding along.

Producer Jonathan Schutz in edit at home

In the meantime, some indies are helping out by rehiring and furloughing recent freelancers so they can avail themselves of Rishi Sunak’s seeming bounty. Many of us however (including those with Personal Service Companies) plummet between the cracks of the Chancellor’s help package. BECTU, Martin Lewis and some helpful MPs and journos – are making noise about this, but we still don’t know if that’s going to have any effect.

All the channels, terrestrial and otherwise, will soon be desperate for content – and not just shows about the virus. It’ll be on a budget as commercial broadcasters face a fall in advertising income, and those broadcasters who rely on ad-sales driven production will be hit doubly as sponsors retreat as well. I personally have two 6-hour series in development with interested sponsors who have gone extremely quiet!

But quality production on a budget? That’s good news: my whole business model for Curly Lizard Films is based on it. Frankly, my life – juggling Daddy Duty with Specialist Factual production – has been a bit like lockdown for some years now anyway. I was writing, developing, producing, editing and delivering productions from home long before all this kicked off. Last year’s main Curly Lizard production was a reversion of a very glossy Chinese series for NGC, all made from the spare room.

Some companies are managing to get commissions – you can watch Swan Films MD Joe Evans talking about his latest socially distanced commission with Talented People’s Kimberley Godboldt by clicking here, and your family can take part in Grayson’s Art Club here – but there are a lot more of us still looking for work.

Who are any of us really working for anyway?

So, dear broadcasters and indies – here’s a thought that could get us all busy right now. Pop down to your friendly distributor – online, of course. They have plenty on their shelves from around the world. Or see what you have in your own archive that could be repurposed. Send it over to me, and I’ll script something up and edit it together for you. And should you be up for some history – there are plenty of untouched subjects from all over the world, with archive accessible online. Wouldn’t it be a nice surprise if we suddenly developed a wider world-view while shut away in our houses?

Because when you come down to it, what’s the one thing better than setting up funds and relying on the government’s largesse? Getting productions started again and getting us all back to work. So now: over to you!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/14396/jonathan-schtz

On March 8th Media Parents will be celebrating International Women’s Day by supporting a festival of short films made by local women at the Kino-Teatr in St. Leonard’s on Sea, Sussex. Click here for the IWD Media Parents Event Film Programme, and see below for biogs. Click here for tickets.

Lisa Harmer

Writer / Actor Lisa Harmer has curated this collection of films by women filmmakers for IWD.

Lisa has curated the films for Sunday’s event. She has worked as an actor since her late teens, having trained at The Anna Scher Theatre and Actors Centre, London.  She has appeared in various continual dramas such as EastEnders, Casualty, The Bill and can also be seen on All4’s repeat showing of the iconic drama Metrosexuality, playing Peggy.

Her film Lady What Does, co-written and directed by Sara Jordan, is a dark-comedy short exploring the great bond of two Women in their 50s who, despite their differences, share a dark secret and share the load when things get messy. Lisa continues to write and act and is currently developing Lady What Does as a TV series.  https://www.lisaharmer.com/

Aisling O’Connor

BBC England's Head of TV Commissioning, Aisling O'Connor (picture EdTVFest 2019)

Aisling is Commissioner for all BBC England-funded non-news TV which includes regional current affairs, and a slate of network and online content for the four BBC channels. Aisling has been a BBC Daytime Commissioner, a Music and Arts Commissioning Executive for BBC Two and BBC Four. She Executive Produced the BBC’s flagship investigative current affairs programme Panorama, and was a Senior News and Current Affairs Adviser in BBC Editorial Policy. She lives in Hastings.

Amy Walker

Media Parents Director and Founder Amy Walker

Amy champions diverse creative talent, and set up Media Parents 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/

Bindu de Stoppani

Bindu wrote and directed her first short film in 2000, THINGS I NOTICE, THINGS YOU SEE starring Michael Fassbender, followed by three other shorts including GESUNDHEIT!, THREE, and THE KISS. In 2012 she wrote and directed her first feature film JUMP (Hugofilm/Manmade Films/RSI) which won five BIFFs at the 2012 festival including Best Director and Best Feature Film. Bindu’s second feature FINDING CAMILLE premiered at the Rome Film Festival in 2017 to great acclaim and she is in now in the early stages of development on her next feature 40 AND CLIMBING (Hugofilm) which is set to shoot in 2020. http://www.bindudestoppani.com/

Calypso Cragg

Calypso is a fifteen-year-old actress, director, writer and clothing designer.  She is home educated, and lives in the South East of England. Calypso has recently released a short film called What I Saw, which she wrote, directed, edited and performed in. It has received a highly commended laurel by the Black Country Horror Shorts Film Festival and has been selected for the Lift-Off Sessions Festival.

Cheryl White

Cheryl White is a multi-award winning Writer/Director whose films have screened around the world. Her most recent film, A Lighthouse in Breaking Waves is a part-animated short which won the Fan Award 2018 at the White Whale festival (USA), and Best Sussex Short 2017 at the Crossing the Screen festival (UK).

Cheryl was a recipient of Arts Council funding for her full length play Highly Inflammable which ran as part of the Hastings Fringe Festival 2017. She is currently co-directing a feature documentary about a 92 year-old rebel and his coffin.

Claudia Kappenberg

Claudia is a performance and media artist with a background in dance, and Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton, UK. Her work has been shown internationally across Europe, the US and the Middle East in the form of screen-based work, participatory events and site-specific performance. At the heart of her practice is an interrogation into that which makes us human. Her film Honey Hat features in the IWD Making Moving Images collection.

Recent writing has been published in Performing Process: Sharing Dance and Choreographic Practice (2018), Syncope in Performing and Visual Arts (2017), The Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies (2016), and Art in Motion: Current Research in Screendance (2015).

Helen Jacey

Helen is a screenwriter, author and story consultant and the Founder and Creative Director of Shedunnit Productions, which develops female gaze content across film, TV and fiction. Shedunnit also sponsors the Women Over Fifty Film Festival Best Script Award.

Helen has worked extensively as a story consultant, working on projects with leading talent including Julia Roberts, Ben Elton, and Emma Watson. Among her many writing projects, Helen’s BBC Radio 4 Play for Today Miracle Postponed about Jean Rhys was nominated for a Mental Health in the Media Award.

Helen is the creator of Elvira Slate Investigations, featuring the first feminist 1940s detective. Jailbird Detective (which features in the Making Moving Images collection) and Chipped Pearls have been recently published by Shedunnit, and Helen is currently adapting the series for TV. www.shedunnit.com

www.shedunnit.com

Jody Sabral

Jody is an international best-selling author (I Never Lie, June 2018), award-winning crime writer (CWA Debut Dagger, 2014) and recently turned film director with her short film The Wrong Car (Oct 2018) featuring Sinead Matthews (Black Mirror, Jellyfish, The Crown) and Bill Fellows (Broadchurch, Alan Partridge, Vera).

The Wrong Car picked up second prize at the Los Angeles Television, Script and Film Festival this June 2019 and was also selected and screened at Pinewood Studios as part of LIFT OFF festival (March 2019). Jody has since written and directed her second short Helpline (June 2019). Jody is also a BBC News Editor.

Kate Grey

Writer & Director Kate Grey graduated from the London College of Printing with a BA (Hons) in Film & Video and from Goldsmiths University College with an MA in Feature Film.

Whistle…I’ll come to You is the first film in a series of short films shot in East Sussex that will form a portmanteau feature film; When Kate adapted the story for Whistle…, Kate changed all the characters to female, who, in the original short story by MR James, were men. She is currently in pre-production for the second film in this series Charlie Mawkins shooting in July 2020.

Lisa Clifford

Lisa Clifford is a British journalist and documentary filmmaker. Her film Militia Man about a Congolese warlord and his flawed trial at the International Criminal Court has screened around the world. Lisa’s latest documentary, Dad’s Coffin, is a joyful look at one unique man’s joyful stroll towards the inevitable.

https://www.facebook.com/militiamanfilm/

Nadene Ghouri

Nadene is a screenwriter, award-winning journalist and author, with two New York Times bestsellers under her belt.

When Sky Was Sea won a total of 12 festival awards including two for best drama. Https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8523740/?ref_=ttawd_awd_tt

Olga Mamonova

Olga is the creative director of Kino-Teatr and has lived in St. Leonard’s for over twenty years. She set up the cinema in 2015 with artist husband Russell Baker, and their twin daughters Dounya and Antonia are now also involved in Kino-Teatr work. A former 1913 cinema, it is now a local cultural hub.

As Kino-Teatr’s Artistic Director Olga programmes films, Documentary Festivals, Irish Film weeks, classical concerts and live theatre. A published author, Olga is also a documentary maker, and made the first documentary on the work of Russian/British artist Oleg Prokofiev, son of composer Sergei Prokofiev.

Sara Jordan

Sara has now returned to her love of the arts and is concentrating on writing and directing as well as acting after giving up a career as an actress to have a family and get a proper job.Sara co-wrote and directed Lady What Does with Lisa Harmer, and they are currently developing this film into a TV series.

Her films Pic N Mix, Planning The Funeral and The Tea Break have won awards at festivals including Best Short at the Welsh International Film Festival. The latest, Jitters, covering a woman’s struggle with anxiety, is about to hit the festivals.

https://www.flintsparkproductions.com/

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

I was directing some actors on a large day-for-night fight scene near the seaside, writes Editor-turned-Director Peter Chipping. There was a problem. It was midday in summer, and not remotely dark.

Peter Chipping directing a real blue screen scene at Pinewood

One of the giveaways of shooting this style is revealing the sky. You need to disguise the horizon. In many old cowboy films you see clouds floating in a dark blue sky. A dead giveaway. It was going to be hard to convince an audience I was shooting at night. On a camera monitor the blue sky just looked like a big blue screen. Maybe a chroma-key screen? I figured I could key in another colour – like black – and suddenly my actors would look like they were lit by the “moon” running against a night sky. It worked too. The knowledge had been acquired many years previously as I had been an editor and knew some editing trickery.

Editors often muse on how to get out of being shackled to their edit suites.  One skill editors often learn is making a story out of hundreds of hours of footage. It’s a lot of organisation. With a bit of know-how, that organisation can be applied to crews and productions.

I had learnt to operate cameras at college and after various diversions into multi camera studio directing, I gravitated towards factual. My camera and editing skills would come in handy, as what I shot actually made it through the edit. One thing that’s not taught to editors is writing. So I attended lots of courses, but what I learnt were beat sheets, inciting incidents, act breaks, inner and outer arcs. I discovered most writing is aimed at drama, not factual, but a class from the Exec Producer of The Apprentice, Patrick Uden, plus much trial and error, paid off.

I also discovered the structure of factual is often similar to drama. You still need protagonists and they still need a challenge, something to affect them and a battle to the end. It needs to be interesting with lots of “surprises”, otherwise known as: being “dramatic”. Quite often the act breaks became commercial breaks, but all those funky things such as themes, motifs etc can be used too. I learnt many mainstream directors start in factual and cross over, and have crossed back too. The biggest obstacle was convincing execs I could do it. So I wrote and shot a bundle of short dramas films. That lead to some police re-enactment videos being commissioned for The Police Federation and eventually a TV commission of documentary flanked by some drama. Fortunately, the American style drama/docs had budgets that dictated people with multi skills. The police films led to true crime that led to serial killers (In the USA, UK & Germany) and eventually war, which included another major serial killer: Adolf Hitler.

I found dealing with actors was not taught to editors either, so I took the plunge and did an actor’s class and even a stand-up comedy class. The former was helpful for more drama-centric productions, while the latter allowed me to see the funny side of my journey.

Peter Chipping’s drama can be seen this year (2020) in 4 episodes of “Nazi Megastructures: America’s War” on Channel 4, plus two episodes of “Autopsy, the last hours of..” for Potato/ITV which airs in America on REELZ.

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

Join us for Media Parents events, jobs and training at www.mediaparents.co.uk Media Parents' January event is a CV seminar in Bristol - see our watercooler at www.mediaparents.co.uk for details

I’m excited to invite you to a screening of my Oscar and BAFTA shortlisted film Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl) – it’s finally here in London! writes Media Parents PD Elena Andreicheva. Please join us this Friday, December 20th at 6pm, at The Cinema Museum in Kennington. There’ll be drinks and an informal reception, please RSVP as below, mentioning Media Parents.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/4966/elena-andreicheva

PD Elena Andreicheva (left) at Media Parents Summer Party

Elena will be available in February 2020: https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/4966/elena-andreicheva

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

Sam Jukes-Adams, Coach & NED, Emergence Films

Ex-scripted HOP and Coach Sam Jukes-Adams has been mentoring returning Director Candida Scott Knight, Winner of the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme 2019, and we are delighted to announce that Candida has secured a place on the BBC Continuing Drama Directors’ Scheme 2019, and will be directing a block on EastEnders next year. After 13 years out, and two years working with Media Parents to get back in.

Leadership, Executive and Organisational Coach Sam is a Tavistock Consulting trained, senior practitioner accredited Coach (EMCC). Sam works systemically, helping individual and organisational clients gain insight into, and address, the personal and organisational dynamics that contribute to their professional effectiveness, working one to one, in groups, and through workshops. Sam’s work spans all sectors, including Charity, Finance, Creative Industries, Property, Start Ups, Entrepreneurs and Tech, from Manager level to Senior Leaders and Business Owners. Sam works with Corporations, SMEs and Self funding clients on Integration programmes, professional effectiveness, and leadership. Sam enjoys working with people around the world, both face to face and online.

Prior to Coaching, Sam spent 20 yrs in TV Production. She has worked at the BBC, was Head of Production for Impossible Pictures, and latterly SVP Scripted Production, NBCUniversal International Studios. Working on and across development, financing, production and delivery of award winning content for both domestic and international networks (US NBC/AUS/CAN) and companies, ranging from science, (Horizon) CGI heavy Specialist Factual (Walking with Dinosaurs, Space Odyssey:Voyage to the Planets, Project Earth) and Drama (Primeval, Quacks, Camp, London Spy, Yonderland, You, Me and the Apocalypse, Glitch, Deadline Gallipoli).

Sam has always been a passionate advocate for the development of talent and teams, and is a visiting Lecturer on the Producer’s MA at MetFilm, London, and served as the Chair of the High End TV Levy Council, and on the board of Creative Skillset from 2016-2018. Sam brings this wealth of professional and commercial experience and knowledge to her coaching practice, and is constantly developing her practice, including currently completing Hogan Level 1 certification. https://www.sjaassociates.co.uk/

Media Parents Back to Work Scheme Winners Candida Scott Knight (right) and Returning Casting Producer Joanna Gretton

Candida Scott Knight, B2W Scripted Director

Since working at Channel 4 and directing Hollyoaks, award-winning short film director Candida has raised a family and moved to L.A. and back. For the past two years she has been building her skills and her intention is to direct drama again. After winning her place on the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme 2019 and attending Edinburgh TV Festival, Candida recently completed the BBC Continuing Drama Directors’ Scheme 2019 on EastEnders, and will be directing episodes in 2020.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/14731/candida-scott-knight

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

Emma Loach, Commissioning Editor BBC Documentaries

We are delighted that BBC Docs Commissioning Editor Emma Loach has agreed to mentor returning PD Laura Martin-Robinson, Media Parents Back to Work Scheme Winner from Cardiff, who is being sponsored on the scheme by Hat Trick Productions.

Emma joined the BBC documentary commissioning team in January 2017. She is responsible for a large range of output including series and singles across all the channels such as Birth, Ambulance, The Met, Nadiya On Anxiety and Stabbed: Britain’s Knife Crime Crisis on BBC One; The Baby Has Landed, Hospital, The Ethics Committee: A Life and Death Decision, David Harewood On Psychosis and Being Blacker on BBC Two; Hometown, The Left Behind, Acid Attack: My Story on BBC Three and Border Country: When Ireland Was Divided on BBC Four.

As an executive producer, Emma was responsible for helping to originate and deliver the Ambulance brand for BBC1, The Trial for C4 and a diverse range of series and singles across all the channels.

Laura Martin-Robinson, B2W PD

Laura Martin-Robinson PD (centre, rear) with talent and talent managers at Fremantle Media Parents Returners Lunch in November.

On the face of it Laura has it all – two BAFTAs and a great relationship with a production company ie ie productions (pronounced yeah yeah) that enables her to work flexibly. But she has three kids, and working part time on Welsh regional productions barely covers her childcare costs. She wants her career to be self-sufficient, full time and has network ambitions.

Read Laura’s review of Edinburgh TV Festival 2019 here: https://blog.mediaparents.co.uk/2019/10/5-minutes-with-pd-laura-martin-robinson-world-mental-health-day/

And see her profile here:

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9887/laura-martin-robinson

Join us for Media Parents' Pop Up Christmas Drinks with Take 1 on Tuesday 10th December

Helen Landeau has now found work at South Shore until March 2019.

I’m currently free so if anyone needs a Production Manager? writes Helen Landeau. It’s been five years since my return to tellyland and Media Parents were there to support me back into the cut and thrust of the production office like I’ve just come out of rehab!  Previously, I had done sixteen years at the BBC as Production Co-ordinator and got my parole via redundancy in 2006. I left to join the Filofax clan of the corporate world in the dizzying heights of the concrete jungle that is Canary Wharf but the calling to return home to TV was deafening and so after eight years, I relented. No regrets!

I’m currently free so if anyone needs a Production Manager? writes Helen Landeau. https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9357/helen-landeau

In my last Media Parents blog, I’d just finished working on the BBC One landmark documentary, ‘Stephen: The Murder That Changed A Nation’.  To date, an important documentary to me personally and professionally.  Being almost the same age of Stephen, I was there throughout the timeline of events and thought I’d known everything about this tragic event but the forensic research unearthed things that I didn’t even know!  When it was broadcasted in April 2018, me and the production team didn’t expect the reception we’d receive from the viewers and industry peers – it made the hard work so worthwhile.  However, the post production paperwork wasn’t so great but hey, someone’s gotta do it and it was muggins.

Leaving that behind, I went to Emporium Productions (part of Hat Trick) and was Production Manager on ‘Donal MacIntyre’s Murder Files’ for CBS Reality.  This series was green-screen studio with drama recon and about visiting solved murder cases with the lead detective. I finally got to meet Clive Driscoll as I didn’t get the opportunity from the Stephen Lawrence series. I worked with a cracking team especially Nick Kenton, a brilliant Series Producer.  This was the second series and it ran quite smoothly (can’t say that too often these days) and working with a pro like Donal – it was great.

After delivery of the Donal series, I stayed on at Emporium and working with Nick again on a brand-new series called ‘Talking Animals: Tales From The Zoo’ for Channel 5.  This was a bit of a challenge (which I do like) as it included working with voice-over artists and comedy writers.  What’s the problem with that I hear you cry?  Well, as a factual PM, you don’t usually work on a cross-genre programme every day.

We filmed at Jersey Zoo and it was a fantastic opportunity to go on location to visit the island of Jersey, see the animals at Jersey Zoo (created by Gerald Durrell – as in the comedy drama, ‘The Durrells’) and of course, making sure my team were okay.

Working on this production kept me laughing every day and sometimes, I step back and it’s such a privilege to be doing this job.  Keep an eye out as it’s due for TX on Channel 5 early next year!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9357/helen-landeau

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

In November, Emily Gale and Jenny Spader, Fremantle’s talent team, hosted a lunch for Media Parents factual returners which was supported by talent managers from the BBC, ITV and Multistory, Nutopia and The Garden Productions. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet, to get on the radar of different companies and to share experience of returning. Meet our returners…

Elena Mourey, Producer / EP

Back to Work Winner 2018

Elena Mourey PD (left) with ITV Multistory's TMs Ros Malthouse and Nikki Ryan at Fremantle's Media Parents Returners Lunch.

I’m an experienced producer, writes Elena Mourey, who has worked on important and emotional series like the RTS award-winning Hospital for BBC2, C4′s The Job Interview, People Like Us for BBC3 and The Undateables, C4.

With over a decade’s experience, I’ve developed the skills needed to draw the best out of sensitive contributors at extremely difficult times in their lives, in places hard to access. I have directed, shot and edited BBC one hour (People Like Us), filmed and conducted master interviews, managed teams to find the best cast and stories, filmed with contributors with complex compliance issues and gained access to hospitals, schools and council estates. In my future roles, I’m looking for more edit experience and my eventual goal is to SP.  https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/13955/elena-mourey

Fazeena Abduraman, Production Coordinator

PC Fazeena Abduraman (centre) with The Garden's Debbie Hartley and Elsa Sharp from the BBC.

I am an experienced co-ordinator, writes Fazeena Abduraman,  and have recently returned to work at the BBC after a break.  I have worked mainly in factual/ factual entertainment programmes as well worked on both live and recorded shows. I am available in the New Year. https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/10952/fazeena-abdurahman

Jenny Madalura, PC / Researcher

Back to Work Winner 2018

Jenny Madalura, PC (right) with ITV's Jessica Wilson

Since working with the BBC as a researcher I have been out of media work for nearly 10 years due to having a family. In the meantime I’ve studied for a law degree and worked part-time as a LexisNexis copywriter, whilst being a full-time parent to two kids.

I am eager to return to media work and given the opportunity I can offer a wealth of transferrable skills and life experience, together with legal, writing, business and media skills that would be an asset and benefit to any media company.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/15655/jenny-madalura

Joanna Gretton, Casting Producer

Back to Work Winner 2019

Casting Producer Joanna Gretton with Nutopia's Natalie Spanier.

My extensive media production career across Factual, Docs and Daytime has meant I can deliver the best possible contributors that the programme requires, writes Joanna Gretton. I fully appreciate the sensitivity of a story and have direct experience of working with people from all walks of life.

I am absolutely thrilled at being selected as a WINNER of the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme from a large pool of talent. I am excited about re-entering production as a job-sharing casting producer. I’ve found two potential partners and I’m approaching companies who are sympathetic to a job share opportunities – so if this sounds like you please get in touch. You will be getting two talented brains for the price of one!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/11382/joanna-gretton

Katie Walmsley (Luckes), PM / Prod Exec

Back to Work Winner 2018

Katie Walmsley with Fremantle's Head of Talent Emily Gale.

I am a Production Executive with 25 years of television experience under my belt, writes Katie Walmsley. Before my career break I worked my way up from Coordinating for the Natural History Unit in Bristol to production managing, to the role of Production Executive at STV, running and overseeing a team of Production Managers across a diverse range of programming, and setting up and dealing with major budgets and series.

Having relocated from Glasgow I took the decision to put my TV career on hold and bring up my two young daughters, however I have always missed the cut and thrust of television and am itching to get back to work. With the girls now settled and happy, my ambition is to forge new contacts and find a great company and that will recognize and bolster my skills whilst supporting my return to work part-time. Ideally I’m looking for a flexible role that can be office and home based. I am realistic and would be happy to come back as a Production Manager to show a new team just what I can do.

Laura Martin-Robinson, Shooting PD

Back to Work Winner 2019

Laura Martin-Robinson PD (centre, rear) with talent and talent managers at Fremantle Media Parents Returners Lunch in November.

I’m a documentary self-shooting P/D with 15 years experience in observational and immersive presenter-led docs, writes Laura Martin-Robinson. I worked in London in BBC Arts, then Docs and then freelanced before moving to Wales 5 years ago – where I’ve been working with companies like Indus/Folk, Twofour and now ie ie (yeah yeah) productions.

Last year I won 2 Welsh BAFTAs (Best Doc and Best Director) for a BBC1 film I made with Welsh actor Richard Mylan and his son Jaco about autism. More recently I’ve made a 3×30 obs series for BBC Wales about the Welsh Women’s Homeless football team. As well as shooting and directing these films, I also developed and got them to a commission. I’ve also worked at Blast! Films, Betty, Plum Pictures, Raw and Rare Day as a development producer/DV director.

I’d like to continue making documentaries for BBC Wales and broaden out to network commissions. I’m also happy to work on funded developments, making tasters, writing pitches and casting – especially if it’s on the film I’m then hired to direct!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9887/laura-martin-robinson

Melissa Bishop, (Shooting) AP / Researcher

Back to Work Winner 2018

AP Melissa Newbury with The Garden's Debbie Hartley.

I am an experienced AP / Researcher with a good knowledge of the production process and an appreciation of high production values, writes Melissa Bishop. I have excellent editorial skills and have worked across a wide variety of programmes, in various roles, and as a producer for Legal Television Network.

I am particularly strong with contributors. Creating trust and negotiating with people from any background, some vulnerable and in difficult circumstances. I can shoot sequences well and understand what is needed for the edit. I recently studied for a Masters degree in Documentary and Factual Programming to deepen my understanding and programme making skills.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/14397/melissa-bishop

Sheela Banerjee, PD

Sheela Banerjee, PD.

I am a highly experienced producer/director, with a 14-year track record in making programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, writes Sheela Banerjee. I took a career break from television after having my daughter and have been working as a part time lecturer and freelance journalist while she’s been young. I would love to return to work full time now and am looking for edit producing or development roles.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/14512/sheela-banerjee

Huge thanks to Fremantle’s Emily Gale and Jenny Spader for hosting this event. Our next event is our Christmas Event on December 3rd – see you there!

Join us for Media Parents' Christmas Event with YouCanFreeUs on December 3rd at the Royal Geographical Society, Kensington https://blog.mediaparents.co.uk/2019/11/media-parents-christmas-event/

Sometimes life throws a lot of things at you all at once and pushes you into fight or flight mode, making you completely readdress what you want to do writes PC Clare Lawrence. This happened to me last year and, always the fighter, I made the conscious decision to pivot into TV. I have long wanted to work in TV but had told myself that it was too late for me and that I couldn’t afford to begin as a runner with bills to pay and children to feed –  it was time to change the story! Ahead of Media Parents’ Bristol event in November, read about Clare’s success in finding work in Bristol c/o Media Parents.

PC Clare Lawrence has found work through Media Parents https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/15905/clare-lawrence

I’d worked as a freelance stills photographer for nine years with a lot of success and prior to that as a self-shooting researcher for a commercial agency, I knew I had a host of transferable skills with which to enter the industry, but no actual TV experience – yet! After working solo for so long, I also missed being part of a creative team and knew this was the right move to make.

Being a complete outsider and knowing no-one in the industry at the time, I did some research and attended a couple of Bristol networking events, feeling very green and like a fish out of water. I attended a Media Parents networking event and after meeting Amy Walker also began working for Media Parents in January 2019. For Media Parents I look after all the Bristol / Cardiff and more recently London positions that are advertised and manage the social media accounts, as well as helping to run the Bristol events. This has given me a perspective into the different routes in TV and communicate with a lot of Talent Managers and freelancers. Amy also helped me to redo my CV and it wasn’t long before I secured my first role as a Production Coordinator for Mustang Films.

Nine months later I have three good Production Coordinator credits under my belt; a presenter-led arts series for BBC World News ‘China’s Greatest Treasures’, BBC2 series ‘In search of Dracula’ presented by Mark Gatiss and a fun Channel 5 series ‘Driving Mum and Dad Crazy’. As I didn’t start as a runner, I have had to learn a lot of the jargon very quickly and there have been a lot of ‘in at the deep-end’ moments, but very quickly I have immersed myself into the roles and people have been surprised when they have learned I am fairly new to TV. Knowing a lot of the technical side of things has definitely helped me along the way and a nuance for how to run a business, having run my own for so long. Like any good PC – enjoying a colour-coded spreadsheet is a definite plus!

It is encouraging that in my mid-30s it is not too late to change career and that being highly motivated and applying yourself will take you anywhere. Attending networking events has been invaluable as has the mentoring I have received from Media Parents Amy Walker and informally from others in the industry. It is also thanks to production companies willing to think outside the box and be open to my transferable skills that I have come so far, so quickly.

As a single Mum of two children, working in production is the right balance of creativity and logistics within a relatively standard working week. I will always be a creative person and pursue photography in my own time; in production I feel part of a bigger picture and look forward to working my way up the production path. I’m excited to be starting a new PC position in October at Outline Productions for BBC2 until the end of Spring, which I found through Media Parents. I met Outline for the first time at a Media Parents networking event in Bristol, which Isa Snow Campbell also attended, so it pays to get out there…

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/15905/clare-lawrence

Kim Shillinglaw, Director of Factual, Endemol Shine

We are delighted to announce that Kim Shillinglaw will be mentoring returning Casting Producer Joanna Gretton on the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme. Joanna first saw Kim via the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme at Edinburgh TV Festival, we are grateful to Kim and Endemol Shine for their continued support for the scheme. Follow Joanna’s progress on this blog.

Kim Shillinglaw became Director of Factual at Endemol Shine in September 2016. She is the strategic lead for factual programming across the group, and has led the growth of production companies Dragonfly, Dragonfly West, DSP, Tigress and Workerbee, producers of award winning programmes for C4, BBC, ITV, Netflix, Quibi, National Geographic and many others.

Prior to joining Endemol Shine, Kim was Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four responsible for bringing younger audiences and a more contemporary flavour to the channels with shows like the award winning Muslims Like Us, Real Marigold Hotel, Exodus, Hospital, Employable Me, Inside The Factory, American Crime Story and The Super Rich Season as well as other acclaimed shows such as Mum, Wolf Hall, and Charles III.

Previously, Kim was in commissioning for many years. As Head of Commissioning for Science and Natural History she significantly increased the number of hours and her output was acclaimed as ‘a golden age for science on television’, with shows including Stargazing Live, Trust Me I’m A Doctor and The Young Ones, dramas such as the RTS-winning Challenger, the BAFTA-winning Frozen Planet, Wonders of the Solar System and Planet Earth II. She also commissioned the acclaimed Blue Planet II.  Prior to this Kim was an Entertainment Commissioner at CBBC, where she created the first series of multi award winning comedy Horrible Histories, and worked as a programme maker in documentaries and current affairs.

She is a trustee of Raspberry PI and former trustee of Nesta, and has served on committees and panels for DCMS, the Royal Society, BBC, Science Museum and many others.

Joanna Gretton, B2W Casting Producer

Returning Casting Producer Joanna Gretton, leftt, with Media Parents Back to Work Scheme Winner Candida Scott Knight

Joanna has been working with Media Parents for three years, helping other talent find gigs and return to TV so now it’s her time. Prior to working for Media Parents Joanna was a PD and caster on documentaries and cast celebrities for royal obituaries. Thanks to Media Parents’ Flexible Working Event Joanna has met one job share partner and is looking for more potential job shares as she makes her way back into part time work. Raw TV supported Joanna’s Edinburgh Festival trip, and Endemol Shine will support her mentoring.

Huge thanks to Hat Trick and Raw for making the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme possible this year, and for the support from the TV Foundation, which runs The Edinburgh TV Festival.

Contact Joanna Gretton here: Casting Producer Joanna Gretton

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