Media Parents

Congratulations to the Back to Work mums who are embarking on the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme at BVE today. Please follow and tweet us @mediaparents to connect with us at the exhibition and to follow the mums’ progress via mentoring and coaching back into the TV workplace. Go mums! STOP PRESS : Happy to report that Hazel Palmer was offered work by an old contact she bumped into when we were at BVE, and that another of our number has an interview today. Fingers crossed!

Alison Willett, Drama Development Exec

Alison Willett, Drama Development Exec

Drama has always been one of my passions:  theatre, television, film.   Watching and making. And then came my children!  Three whirlwinds who rushed into my life and turned it upside down.  When my first two were born I returned to the world of television drama pretty sharpish.  The professional and personal co-habited fairly harmoniously and I loved the contrast and inspiration that each world brought me.  However when my third little girl came along the logistics of being a working mother became that much trickier and I decided to take a career break.

Fifteen years earlier, my first foray into television was in the world of arts documentaries, where I worked on the BBC’sArena strand for a number of brilliant years.  When an opportunity arose in the BBC’s Fictionlab – a satellite operating within the drama department – I seized the chance and made my move.   It was fantastic training on the job.  I produced the BBC’s first live drama for over twenty years and immersed myself in the world of small budget/big ambition pieces.  After the birth of my first daughter I spread my wings to gain experience in the independent sector.  Working as a script editor and a development producer I managed and generated a bold and diverse slate of programmes, working with writers who inspire and ideas that excite.

This is the area that I would like to return to.   My aim now is to find a position that allows me to balance my home and professional life.  The Back to Work Scheme run by Media Parents offers a unique opportunity to face up to the challenges that a three year break inevitably brings and tackle them head on. The ideas are flowing, I’m ready to return to the coalface and can’t wait to get stuck in!

Ann Hawker, Development/Casting Producer, AP, PD

Ann Hawker, looking for work as a casting or development producer on her way back in http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/2741/ann-hawker

I have fifteen years experience of television production and I am really keen to put this back to use after a sizeable career break.  In the past I have worked as a producer director, for BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 on a range of top end documentaries and drama documentaries.

As a director I was known for my visual flair and sensitive handling of difficult  subjects.  My past credits include high profile  observational documentaries for ITV about bullying, IVF, and the first UK children’s fat camp as well as a Cutting Edge for Channel 4.   I have made historical and drama documentaries, including a history of polio and biographies of Catherine Cookson and Princess Margaret for Channel Four.  I have also scripted drama documentaries and written for Radio Four drama.

I took nine years out of television.   First because of my young children, then I invested in new skills. I completed  an M.A. in screenwriting, a postgraduate course in photography, and I now lecture in documentary practice to undergraduate students.

I would love to return to the creative world of television, and put all of my experience back to use. I am keen to work in either development or programme production at AP or producer level. I’m also developing my own ideas and would like to build relationships with production companies who might be interested in housing them. I’m really excited by the prospect of getting back into the cut and thrust of the television world and can’t wait to get started. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/2741/ann-hawker

Diana Hinshelwood, Producer, Children’s

Diana Hinshelwood, Children's TV Producer http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/3211/diana-hinshelwood

I  was a BBC CBeebies TV and Radio Producer, and took voluntary redundancy to go freelance in 2008 as a result of the department’s move to Salford. Initially, I had a 3 month contract to write and produce “Lazytown” for Cbeebies Radio.

I subsequently formed a production company with two colleagues, and we won an option deal from HIT Entertainment.  We developed that from 2009 to 2011.  In 2012, I re-applied for Cbeebies, and wasn’t short listed for interview.  I was told that technology had moved on, and as I hadn’t been in a studio for 5 years, I didn’t have the relevant skills.

I have found work, but not as a TV producer.  I’ve done script writing, development, and three radio shows.  I’ve also worked for Espresso Education, an on-line educational resource for schools.  I am a true 360 producer and am currently developing ideas. I hope to use the course to get back into an industry which I love. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/3211/diana-hinshelwood

Elli Josephs, Music Producer, Edit Producer

Elli Josephs, Music / Edit Producer. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/7322/elli-josephs

I am the mother of two lovely girls, but rewind nearly eight years and I was a busy and experienced Producer specialising primarily in entertainment and factual entertainment.

It all began in 1995 at the then MTV Europe, where I worked my way up from Executive Assistant and Music (celeb) Booker through the ranks of Production to Producer/Director.

After ten years and invaluable experience in everything from studio directing, red carpet producing, working on large scale live events and producing a daily entertainment news show in the hallowed halls of MTV, I decided it was time to become my own boss and go freelance, so I joined Endemol on a contract in 2006 as Producer and by the end of my contract was re-credited as Series Producer. By then I was pregnant with my first child  who was born in early 2007 and the second followed with indecent haste 17 months later, so getting back to work at the time was both physically and financially unsustainable.

Its time to go back; I miss the pace, creativity, drive and the interesting and varied people you meet and work with in television. I am open to looking at new opportunities in the world of television, both creative production and areas such as production and talent management. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/7322/elli-josephs

Ginny Bing, Factual Producer Director

Ginny Bing, far right, at the Media Parents Summer Party. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/476/ginny-bing

I spent many exciting and fulfilling years working as a Producer and Director on a whole range of factual entertainment, features and documentary programmes for the BBC and a range of indies.

My next challenge was combining working in TV with having children. In the early days I did some development work for Liverpool Street Productions – who I had worked for before.  Then I produced a one-hour documentary for Five’s ‘History Revealed’ strand: ’Secret D-Day Disaster: Revealed’.  Liverpool Street Productions enabled me to work from home during much of the production period which worked really well.  Since then I’ve had contracts on ‘Come Dine With Me’ at ITV and worked as a PD for Pioneer on ‘Extreme Homes’ for HGTV.  This involved sporadic directing work abroad and in the UK as and when it fitted in with their production schedule over two years, but I’ve never wholly managed to get my career back on track.

I would welcome advice on how best to move forward from here and am really looking forward to the opportunities that the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme can provide.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/476/ginny-bing

Graciela Watson, PD / Edit Producer

Graciela Watson, shooting PD / edit producer

Like many professional women who took a career break to have children, I have found going back to work a daunting but exciting prospect. The first three years of motherhood were a blur for me, and it has taken me 6 years for me to rebuild my confidence. I currently shoot and edit my own short corporate films but I would love to get back to the primetime shows I worked on previously.

My plan to re-launch my TV career has involved setting up meeting with lots of old connections, attending work shops for CV writing as well as interview techniques, attending networking events, and applying for courses relating to new technology used in the industry. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/3272/graciela-watson

Hazel Palmer, Camera Operator turning DV Director

Hazel Palmer, Camera Operator turning DV Director http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/95/hazel-palmer

I have juggled being a single parent with work in TV and video production since I graduated in 2000. I began as a Camera Trainee on dramas but could not take up further job offers in that genre due to childcare issues. As such the majority of my work since has been as a freelancer on a day-to-day basis. I’ve worked as Camera Operator for network TV, multi-camera live events (music, sports, theatre, corporates), single ENG camera for news and ‘behind-the-scenes’ footage, as well as being Director of Photography on several short films and videos. My daughter is now grown up so I am keen to regain some lost threads and return to a full-time career now that I have the time and flexibility to commit 100%.

I would love to make documentaries, so with the rise of Shooting PD roles this is the direction I would like to take now. I am confident in my abilities and commitment to a career in television but would like to gain more confidence in my knowledge and experience through some ‘front-line’ practice. I have gained a variety of skills over the years – multi-camera directing, editing, lighting, sound design, interviewing, storyboarding and organizing shoots. I believe I can make beautiful and original pieces of work. I have many ideas for documentaries and have started work on one by myself that would benefit from further development.

In my efforts to gain full time TV work I’ve found that despite my skills and experience I don’t have the necessary prime time broadcast credits to qualify for roles that I’m interested in. I have applied for several trainee positions only to be told that I am overqualified. I am an experienced cameraman with great understanding and care for all other areas of production and a desire to make good quality TV with interesting and engaging stories. With some guidance I am sure I could be a worthy candidate, and I see this scheme as ideal for me at this time. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/95/hazel-palmer

Melody Bridges, Writer

Melody Bridges, Writer http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9292/melody-bridges

Although I have worked extensively in factual, undertaking my film degree in New York (2009-10) was the start of moving from factual to drama. I’ve been writing plays for the past 4 years – all the time that my son has been small. I’m lucky enough to have had several plays performed and won an award too. Specifically for my writing I have been mentored by Rikki Beadle-Blair (Team Angelica) and New Writing South. Further advice mentoring, and support is needed to get me into a paid work position in television or film. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9292/melody-bridges

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our March events will be in Bristol and Manchester. Details will be emailed through the site.

Huge thanks to tech guru Alain Loliot and the ProMotion Hire team for Thursday’s tech catch up – it was a great opportunity for freelancers and Rare Day, Lime Pictures, Dragonfly, Remedy Productions, Jellyfish TV, Attaboy Productions, Riverdog Productions, Channel 5 and of course Media Parents, to get up close and PXW FS7 with some kit.

Promotion Hire's Alain Lolliot talks to freelancers at the Tech Catch Up also attended by Rare Day, Lime Pictures, Dragonfly, Remedy Productions, Jellyfish TV, Attaboy Productions, Riverdog Productions, Channel 5 and of course Media Parents.

ProMotion Hire's Caroline Bingham with Attaboy Productions staff.

Alain made short work of the Arri Amira, Sony FS7 and Sony PXW X70.

Production Executive Matt Bailey from Lime Pictures in the middle of a rapt audience.

Alain gets his kit on.

Rare Day MD Emily Renshaw-Smith, Remedy Productions' Claire Northcott, and Plastic Pictures' Ruth Oates listening to Alain Lolliot's kit expertise.

"Really helpful to have a talk-through of the cameras, especially in an informal and friendly environment. The gadgets being shown like the Genie hyperlapse gimble were a great idea - always good to know that facilities have these on offer. And OMG a waterproof LED Light Panel, rewind Christmas please….!" Matt Currington, shooting PD.

Thanks to everyone who made this such a good and useful event. Our March events will be in Bristol and Manchester – watch this space.

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our March events will be in Bristol and Manchester. Details will be emailed through the site.

TICKETS NOW NOT RESTRICTED TO MEMBERS : Back by popular demand, Media Parents is teaming up with the team at Pro Motion Hire once again for a Technical Catch Up, presented by the Head of Production’s secret weapon Alain Lolliot! Join MDs, Heads of Production, Production Execs and Production Managers from across the industry, including Shine Television, Rare Day, ITV, Remedy Productions, Sunset + Vine, Lime Pictures, Channel 5, Just So Television, Dragonfly,  Maverick, Voltage TV, CNBC, Riverdog TV, Attaboy TV, Sting Media and Media Parents’ very own Head of Production David Postlethwaite.

Reasons to be cheerful… Pro Motion Hire's tech guru Alain Lolliot will be sharing his capacious knowledge of all things kit at this FREE February event for Media Parents members.

If you want to catch up on technical developments from 2014 please reserve your place here by clicking here : TICKETS HERE We refund deposits on arrival at the event for tickets bought from now on, whether you are a member or not.

There will be networking opportunities, as well as a chance to get hands on with the industry’s current ‘most popular’ line up of Sony cameras, the Arri Amira and the lovely Alain to answer your questions. Plus we’ll have the low down on new support kit that you need to know exists!!

The event starts at 4pm in Vauxhall and runs until 6pm after which there will be open questions and networking. Alain is waiting, come and get him…

Alain Lolliot, Pro Motion Hire's technical guru.

Alain Lolliot, Technical Director

In 2006, after qualifying and working as a sound engineer in South Africa for a few years, Alain decided to expand his horizons and moved to the UK.  He joined Pro Motion Hire only a year after its founding and has been instrumental in the company’s growth and development.

Alain now holds the title of Technical Director at Pro Motion and aside from being responsible for the day to day job of managing the technical staff and all the equipment, he is also in charge of all client training, demos and events. Alain is widely respected in the industry for his in-depth equipment knowledge and his skilled technical ability.

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be a Production event on Feb 19th https://mediaparents-tech-catch-up-with-promotionhire.eventbrite.co.uk

So I’ve always thought that having a baby means the end of your TV career – how many mums have you met in production? I don’t think I’ve ever met one writes Bristol-based Emily Hughes.

Emily Hughes, shooting PD with her son Ben on location. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9465/emily-hughes

So when I had my son Ben last summer I thought it was time to put my feet up and to settle into being a mummy. But I couldn’t have been more wrong – in fact I’ve just finished my film, ‘Somerset: After the Floods’ for BBC 2. I think it’s the project I’m most proud of  in my career so far – because I made it whilst being a mother too.

It was all down to a flexible employer – BBC NI, understanding execs Sam Collyns and Simon Ford, and the devoted support of grandmothers Sophie and Pat. I went back to work when Ben was 9 months old for 2 days per week. The project seemed a perfect fit for part time work – a documentary following the villagers of Somerset for a year as they recovered from the devastating flooding of 2014.

At the beginning Ben was still pretty quiet if he stayed in the sling – and he even came down to Somerset filming with me a few times! I think that having a little baby helped – I found that my relationships with contributors became stronger, and being a mother seemed to make me less of a daunting TV person.

iPlayer link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04xnjq9/somerset-after-the-floods

Working with a baby presented a whole world of new challenges – making calls to press officers and agencies during precious nap time – or pacing around the garden with a baby in a sling while I convinced people to take part, hoping he wouldn’t pipe up at the crucial ‘yes’ or ‘no’ moment.  Work definitely didn’t fit into the neat 2 days we planned – but it meant that I had 2 days on location – then the rest of the week to think, prepare and make calls, which is a rare luxury in television. Deciding which story lines merited the 1 ¼ hr drive down to Somerset on a precious ‘work’ day was hard – and it became increasingly clear that we needed to find an excellent shooting AP to cover the days I couldn’t be there. I simply couldn’t cover an observational documentary alone.  Luckily we found a brilliant Shooting Director, Rebecca Rowles, and the team was complete.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9465/emily-hughes

Traditional childcare really wasn’t an option as I could never know which days I’d need to film (the turbulent life of flood victims didn’t fit neatly into fixed days), and added to the mix was my husband’s job – a Naval officer – which meant he was either away at sea or working away from home during the week – so couldn’t have helped with nursery pick ups or bedtime. I will be forever indebted to our two grandmothers and wonderful friends who helped out when as story I just had to film cropped up. Poor Ben was deposited many times while I flew down the M5 to catch a story – luckily he was a very genial baby.

As it was a BBC Northern Ireland production we had to go to Belfast for the 2-month edit. It sounds like a massive upheaval – but babies are very portable, and it was as easy for my husband to come to Northern Ireland as the Forest of Dean (where we live) if he had any leave. So we bundled up our lives into the car (baby, granny, cots, push chairs etc etc) and got on the ferry.

It was great to get stuck into full time work in the edit, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with my editor David Howell. We worked very hard 9-5, which meant I could be home for bedtime most nights. In many ways the edit was more straightforward than filming – Ben went to a child minder in the mornings and his granny in the afternoons – so life settled into more of a routine. The biggest challenge was finding out I was pregnant again – accompanied by very severe morning sickness! I had to go to hospital once, and it was pretty grim. I’d script write in the moments between bouts of nausea – which was quite a challenge!  Luckily I had a great editor, and very supportive production team.

We are all delighted with the final film – and the contributors love it, which I always feel is the greatest achievement of all. Most of all its given me the confidence to know that I’m just as good at my job as I was before I had children – so long as you find the right project, and employers are open to flexible working.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9465/emily-hughes

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be a Production event on Feb 19th, email us for details.

Ahead of tonight’s TX of the Vikings are Coming, esteemed documentary filmmaker Sue Bourne explains to Media Parents where the idea came from. “A director friend of mine and her partner had used danish donor sperm and that was how I first heard about it. I was amazed to discover that after beer, bacon and lego Denmark’s biggest export was sperm. Also that you could go onto the internet, browse hundreds of donors, choose your sperm, pay for it by credit card and get it delivered to your kitchen table for self insemination. That to me was remarkable. Also the fact that the biggest clientele group are now single women. Women in their thirties and forties who desperately want a baby but dont have a man. So they are, in increasing numbers using danish donor sperm to create the family they want. Have the baby first, then find the man. It really is a Brave New World.. and a fantastic subject for a documentary.”

Documentary filmmaker Sue Bourne PDed The Vikings are Coming. She can be contacted through the Networking section of www.mediaparents.co.uk

“THE VIKINGS ARE COMING is quite different from my usual films.  It was certainly one of the toughest films I have made because we were following four unfolding narratives about women trying to get pregnant using Danish Donor sperm. That is a lot of unfolding narratives if you don’t self shoot!!  It took us ages and ages also to find the women who were willing to take part in the film.

There are a lot women doing this – and growing numbers of single women – but they are wary of the press because they know there could be condemnation of the decision to have a baby on your own using donor sperm. But we got there in the end and we have some really remarkable, brave women in the film … if the film is any good its because of them.. their stories, their bravery and their quite remarkable honesty.”

It was a long long hard journey and I think/ hope the film shows just what a tough decision it is to go it alone.. and also how very very hard it is to get pregnant. I dont think any of us were really prepared for that! There is a 75 % failure rate in fertility treatment.. hard enough to go through that with a partner. Unimaginably tough to do it all alone!  I see the film as a talking point.. something that will open up the debate.. For me it opened the door into a fascinating world I didn’t know existed.. I think people will be astonished at the story we have to tell.

PD Sue Bourne. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/10222/sue-bourne

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. The Media Parents Back to Work scheme is currently accepting more applicants, please email events@mediaparents.co.uk for details. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be a Production event on Feb 19th, watch this space for details.

Simon Ardizzone tells Media Parents how he rose to the challenge of editing ITV’s latest drama-doc -  Churchill:  100 days that saved Britain – in under five and a half weeks.   The film will be aired on Sunday 25th January at 10.15pm on ITV1.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/7258/simon-ardizzone

For me, walking into an edit suite is always a leap into the unknown – it’s best that way.  I am the fresh eye, the first audience, the midwife.   Luckily, when it came to Churchill, I had stellar performances from an A-list cast (Robert Hardy, Jemma Redgrave, Phil Davis and newcomer Edwin Thomas) who had been adeptly directed by Marion Milne and sumptuously filmed by Andrew Muggleton.  Plus our archive researcher, Geoff Walton, had unearthed some gorgeous WWII colour archive.  Easy you would think….  Well, actually no.

It is a paradox that the better the material you edit, the more difficult it is.  Bad material is often quite easy – you cut out the obvious mistakes and make the best of what’s left.  But how do you make the best out of three or four nuanced options in Robert Hardy’s compelling performance?  Was Churchill a depressive? A warrior? Or a fearful old man?  It was all there in the performance and without a full script in place, it is down to the editor, director and execs to find their way through – in just five weeks.

I count myself hugely lucky.  I have had a varied telly career with work ranging from hard-core current affairs for Unreported World and Dispatches, through to factual entertainment like Bridezilla and At Home With The Eubanks, as well as plenty of specialist-factual.  Each one helps you develop a different story muscle, and when you’re trying to deliver a non-formatted doc to a demanding mainstream broadcaster like ITV1, you fall back on the lessons you’ve learned.  So what are those lessons?

Think about the story ASAP.

Seriously, don’t bimble about, don’t just try to paint pretty pictures.  We take it for granted that editors are good at creating sequences, but most of us are good writers too.  Working alongside my director Marion, we would draft and re-draft the script as well as re-record commentary every day.  You’re not just looking at structure and storytelling, the tone of the words in the commentary is really important too.  Are you using short Anglo-Saxon words (think Sun headline)?   Or are you using the more intellectual vocabulary, drawn from French, Latin and Greek?  How does the language sound when spoken?  Do you start too many sentences with “but” or “however”?  Are your sentences so long that you forget the subject by the time you get to the end?  Do the words feel concrete, compelling and accessible, or a bit vague and abstract?  And finally, do you commit that big sin, of just saying what you are about to see and hear?

Create moments.

Your audience will come away with two or three scenes in their heads.  Critics will write about them, viewers will discuss them.  Make sure you know what those scenes are.  Set up the dramatic tension, let the scene breathe so that they audience understands and feels the dilemma emotionally – and then, give a good pay off/resolution.

Use music library executives.

We had no budget for a composer so one of the first things I did was pick up the phone to Universal and EMI and commission music searches.  I always try to be specific about the emotions and atmospheres a film needs.  If you ask for music ‘for a war film’ you are likely to get something that sounds straightforwardly military.  Instead ask for composers that you like, (we ended up with a lot of tracks by Daniel Pemberton), and complex emotions like ‘fearful but determined’.  This is particularly important when you have nuanced performances, otherwise you kill your film’s greatest asset.  I always try to specify a range of instrumentation like ‘orchestral but with some non-classical instruments’.  Be patient if you aren’t getting the right tracks.  In the end, we commissioned about ten searches from each library and music was the biggest challenge of the film, but we managed to achieve a big, classy, modern orchestral feel that gave the film drive and emotional power.

Be clear what the demands of your slot are.

Working on shows like Channel 5’s Autopsy teaches you to follow the rules of your genre.  So don’t think you know best and ditch the conventions; they are there for a reason and you will soon get in to trouble if you ignore them. You might think that films like Churchill: 100 Days that Changed Britain have different, more ‘creative’ rules than other factual shows, but it’s not true.  Genre is all about the audience’s expectations and setting up a clear story is even more important with more authored one-off films that don’t have a clear story format.  Getting to the kind of clarity that will pull in a mainstream audience is hard whichever films you are making.

If it feels boring you probably don’t have the most vivid facts.

It is not called factual programming for nothing, and it is amazing how you can ramp up drama with a few well-chosen figures or factoids.  The Battle of Britain is much more exciting when you give the actual number of downed Allied planes versus the number of German planes.

Use your execs.

They want your work to be better.  We were lucky to have Ollie Tait as our exec at Shiver and Jo Clinton-Davis as our commissioning editor, both were very demanding and very supportive.  We all have horror stories of interference from our higher-ups, but when you are really pushed for time, they are a valuable resource – men and women who have seen a lot of programming and know what works.

And finally,

you have to give yourself time and space to enjoy your material.

It can be hard to sit down and try to see the film afresh after a hard day’s work, but that’s what your audience is going to do.  I feel very privileged to have worked on Churchill: 100 Days that Changed Britain.  I hope you enjoy the film too.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/7258/simon-ardizzone Simon is an award-winning shooting PD and editor.

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. The Media Parents Back to Work scheme is currently accepting more applicants, please email events@mediaparents.co.uk for details. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be at the end of Feb, watch this space for details.

We’re delighted to be hosting drinks next week, kindly sponsored by Procam Television in Central London. We’re celebrating 2015 with a talented bunch of commisisoners, employers and freelancers, including the brilliant ladies on our Back to Work Scheme. Amongst others, we’ll be welcoming back Discovery’s Director of Factual Programming, Helen Hawken, and Channel 5′s Head of In House Production, Andra Heritage, pictured below.

Discovery Commissioning Editor Helen Hawken with Channel 5's Andra Heritage. Pictured at Media Parents' October event, they will be joining us in Soho next Wednesday.

We’ll also be welcoming Channel 5 Commissioning Editor Michelle Chappell and National Geographic Executive Producer Carolyn Payne, both mentors for the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme, amongst others. You can see the full guestlist here media parents guestlist. The guestlist is currently full but we’re hoping to release a few more tickets before Wednesday so watch this space. Look forward to seeing you there!

Media Parents' Kerry Jones and Amy Walker will be at the party on the 21st of Jan, accompanied by David Postlethwaite.

This event is being hosted by Molinare and sponsored by Procam Television who will be joining us on the night, so please meet…

Andrew Black, Procam's Director of Client Relations.

Andrew Black, Director of Client Relations, Procam Television

Andrew has  over 20 years of experience in the broadcast industry in both production and broadcast hire. He has produced numerous DRTV commercials and has extensive experience in broadcast hire, supplying kit and crew to several shows including Red or Black for ITV, The Great British Bake Off, Last Man Standing, to name a few.

Paul Sargeant, COO, Procam Television

https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/paul-sargeant/63/b36/b31

Anushka Ayaru is no longer able to attend.

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. The Media Parents Back to Work scheme is currently accepting more applicants, please email events@mediaparents.co.uk for details. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be a drinks party for members on January 21st.

Five minutes with director David Pearson on making swans act

David Pearson with Nadia Serantes and Jon Cleave on location for Black Car Home. David is in the TALENT section of www.mediaparents.co.uk photo : Jimmy Edmonds

The sound coming from the white van as it pulled up was muted, but unmistakable, writes David Pearson. Like a trumpeter on steroids playing after a rough night out in Soho being arrested.  This was the “swan truck” and Lloyd Buck, expert bird handler, warned me the director of Black Car Home that none of the four inmates might play ball, “as Henry is a bit grumpy.”

Jon Cleave and Olive in Black Car Home. photo : Jimmy Edmonds

Welcome to the world of animal actors and my first time directing a fiction film intended for the cinema and showing at the BAFTA qualifying London Short Film Festival this week. Although I have previously successfully directed many TV documentaries, short dramas and bits of comedy, produced or inated ed ought ct ors, bird and human with respect and care. iosn to it. www.blackcarhome.com  . He asked to see texecutive produced for TV and cinema; won awards and been Oscar shortlisted and BAFTA & Emmy Nominated, here I was in sub-zero temperatures trying to get an animal to act with humans for “Black Car Home”. Must be mad I thought, comforting myself that at least I hadn’t written any child characters into the script.
I watched the van’s tailgate open. Had Henry alienated them all?  It was Olive who came gamely waddling down the ramp.  Lloyd gave me the thumbs up. She was soon in position on the set with DOP Ian Salvage and go to bird camera operator Mark Payne-Gill in position with their Alexa cameras, and actors Nadia Serantes and Jon Cleave rehearsed and ready to go, watched by a nervous crew of 30.

The crew of Black Car Home. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/1453/david-pearson. photo : Jimmy Edmonds

My approach to film making is to be well prepared, be clear, have back up plans and get great people working with me, and Lloyd and his wife Rose were no exception. But a Plan B for climatic scene with a swan is difficult, if no swans cooperate.

I asked Lloyd how close to the script Rose could get- not expecting miracles. “Oh all of it as intended,” he said”, with luck.”

Gently shepherded by Lloyd and his wife Rose we started and I found myself asking a swan to, “please go again”.  Would she mind walking closer to Nathan, played by Jon Cleave, to show intimacy?  With Lloyd’s expert help she did. What a pro performer! Then she had to fly off on cue. It was all achieved and the shots by Mark and Ian look beautiful. Finely edited by David Thrasher, and with music and sound added the scene makes its mark.

Cinema audiences have gasped and after screening audience questionnaires cite the scene as one of the most memorable and striking scenes in the film- well it is the climax!
All my previous directing experience proved useful transitioning to make this darkly comic fiction film about an illegal immigrant being rescued by a homeless man. So what did I learn? That like your crew, directors must treat all actors, bird and human, with respect, care and understanding.  www.blackcarhome.com

You can judge the result at the film’s showing in the BAFTA qualifying, London Short Film Festival on the 14^th January at 1845 as part of a programme on REFUGEE, ASYLUM & GLOBAL MOVEMENT tickets here.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/1453/david-pearson

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. The Media Parents Back to Work scheme is currently accepting more applicants, please email events@mediaparents.co.uk for details. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be a drinks party for members on January 21st.

I’ve had a great career working as a self-shooting documentary director making children’s documentaries for Channel 5. I set up my company, Flying Elephant Films, the week before my daughter was born, got our first commission to make a 26 part series the week after.

Preeya Nair's work with Art for Change. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9186/preeya-nair

Breastfeeding made travelling all over the UK a possibility. The early years were amazing, I produced my husband’s first feature film which we made with money we earned from making children’s programmes. We bought a camera from an Italian director on the internet, filming on a remote island in India. It packed up as soon as the shoot was finished. The film won Camera D’Or at Cannes.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9186/preeya-nair

We made the decision a few years ago that we wanted our two daughters to experience life in India. Our commissioning editor was really understanding, since we travelled all over the world making programmes for him, it did not matter where we were based.  All went fine, I got a BAFTA nomination for a film I made about a little girl who was forced to work for a living. It won many awards, but the most important thing was that I managed to get her back into school.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9186/preeya-nair

We went to the Himalayas, did a road trip across north India in a camper van. Then our commissioning editor at Five was given early retirement. We were in India with kids settled in school and no work from the UK. Fortunately we had the features as well, and Virgin Goat where I was a production designer, was purchased by Channel 4 and Arte.

Preeya Nair's work with charity Art for Change. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9186/preeya-nair

We set up our own Charity, Art for Change, teaching film to people who don’t get access to the media, and worked with local NGOs. Over the last 3 years I have taught documentary to gypsy women, storytelling to orphan children from SOS and helped them make a short fiction film. Earlier this year I taught Muslim girls in a slum, who had never in their lives been further than their street, to make films. I followed  a group of  young Muslim women  who had never stood up to domestic violence, going door-to-door to empower other women. I travelled to a remote village in the Terai in Nepal to teach a group of women how to use cameras. Their menfolk had all left to work abroad, the village was being run entirely by women. Ten years ago the women were veiled and not allowed to walk the streets alone. Now they were handling cameras and interviewing each other. It was exciting.

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9186/preeya-nair

I grew a lot during my years in India. I learnt a lot about people and seeing things from different points of view. Six months ago we decided to come back to the UK to improve our chances of getting work. Now I’m back in the UK and  I’ve been sending my cv around for 5 months. Things were pretty quiet, I made a little film about a children’s  park we always went to with the kids by the Thames, which was going to be demolished, and helped win that campaign.

Nothing happened workwise ‘til the BAME event at the BBC where I met Amy, and Carrie Britton, a Talent manager at the BBC who has been helping me to re-write my cv and is sending it out for me. Its very scary sometimes, to realize we have two kids to support in this very expensive country. But I tell myself that if I have survived sixteen years as a film-maker, then I will find a way to carry on. I’ve had a fantastic life, brought up two girls who are very close to me and met many amazing people. I’ve seen people survive with practically nothing and learnt that one actually needs very little to be happy!

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/9186/preeya-nair

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. The Media Parents Back to Work scheme is currently accepting more applicants, please email events@mediaparents.co.uk for details. www.mediaparents.co.uk Our next event will be a drinks party for members on January 21st.

Media Parents Networker and Cocaine Unwrapped Producer Katherine Eisner writes about funding from non-broadcast sources.

To contact Cocaine Unwrapped Producer Katherine Eisner please go here: http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/9944/katherine-eisner

Funding is often what stops a great idea in its tracks.

Over the years I’ve solved this by using alternative sources to top up money from broadcasters or finance films from scratch.

Who Will Finance Projects?

A range of organisations will put money into the right kind of project.

• Non- Governmental Organizations (NGO’s)
• International Agencies like the UN
• Private Foundations
• Government Ministries

Example:

I raised additional money from a Danish NGO for a film about the collapsing Chernobyl sarcophagus (commissioned by Swedish TV) and co-produced with Cicada Films. This enabled us to spend longer time filming at the Chernobyl site.

Katherine Eisner raised funding for Collapsing Chernobyl, produced with Cicada Films.

How much can be raised?

• The amounts of money vary from £3,000 to £5,000 to one- off amounts of  £20,000.
• Finance can mount up with clusters of funders attached to one project.

Example:

• For the cinema documentary, Cocaine Unwrapped (Dartmouth Films) extra money was needed to film this ambitious story, about the impact of the drugs trade on communities in Latin America and the US. I raised production money from a Dutch NGO and funds for the outreach from the Boell Foundation.

Still from Dartmouth Films' Cocaine Unwrapped

Outreach

• Outreach is important since funders want films to have impact and reach out beyond the TV, cinema screen or website.
• Example:
• A film about chemical pollution in the Arctic commissioned by NRK (Norway) and co-o financed by environmental groups was also used by Scandinavian educators in classrooms and by Arctic research institutes in their outreach.

Is it only Documentaries that could be funded in this way?

• This approach could also be used for dramas and drama docs.
• It depends on the story, treatment and factors like timing.

Katherine Eisner Bio

Katherine has spent the last 15 years producing TV news features and short documentaries.

• She has filmed stories from the collapsing Chernobyl sarcophagus to an interview with and profile of Oscar Niemeyer, the great architect.
• Commissions include C4 News, BBC World, SVT, YLE; consultancies include the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.
• Recent projects include the cinema feature Cocaine Unwrapped (co-producer) for Dartmouth Films.

Katherine is known for getting projects off the ground and developing innovative approaches.

• At Associated Press TV News – (Executive Producer) she developed a new market for APTN’s commercial arm bringing in over $1.2 million from organisations such as the Asian Development Bank and UNICEF.
• She pioneered co-productions between TV broadcasters and organisations (charities, foundations) attracting new audiences beyond the TV screen.
• A film about chemical contamination in the Arctic commissioned by Norwegian TV was also used by Scandinavian educators in classrooms and by Arctic research institutes in their outreach.
• Katherine developed new sources of funds for the Panos Institute (media NGO and model for the BBC’s Media Action) of which she was a founder member and Development Director.
• Over $1mliion was raised from other charities in the US and Europe for Panos projects (books, workshops, meetings).

Making international stories relevant to domestic audiences in Europe and the USA (where she lived for seven years) is key to Katherine’s approach.

• For the cinema documentary Cocaine Unwrapped she planned activities in New York, Washington DC, LA and Berlin with organisations from universities (Johns Hopkins) to grassroots groups, MOMS United Against the War on Drugs.
• She also organised briefings for specialised media in Washington DC, San Francisco and Boston for the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) as Marketing Director.

Katherine ‘s experience of international organisations includes:

• UNICEF (UN- New York) co-ordinating global media campaigns
• OXFAM (UK) managing a team of campaigners raising funds and awareness

Katherine’s corporate experience includes:

• Saatchi and Saatchi on the management side – where she began her career
• http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/9944/katherine-eisner

Please join www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, networking and events. The Media Parents Back to Work scheme is currently accepting more applicants, please email events@mediaparents.co.uk for details. www.mediaparents.co.uk