We’ve got two more top speakers for our latest sold-out Turn On, Tune In event at The Hospital Club tomorrow night! Find out more about Tiger Aspect’s Head of Comedy Entertainment, Andy Brereton, and one of the UK’s most innovative producers, Gary Monaghan. We’ll be taken behind the scenes of their ground-breaking shows, and find out a few of the secrets of their success!
Want to know about the latest events in the industry, but want someone else to do the hard work? Well we’ve obliged, with the first in a regular series, looking ahead to a few great production events, big and small, coming up over the next few weeks.
Networking for Creative People
Taking place at the BFI’s Mediatheque on 24th April at 5pm.
An informal networking event offering a space for inspiration and networking for creative people. There is no admission fee for the Mediateque, but the networking event will charge a small fee of £1.
More info: http://bit.ly/1WdOxdJ
This Thursday night at The Hospital Club we’ll once again be joined by some great speakers from world of TV, at our latest Turn On, Tune In event, taking us behind the scenes of the ground-breaking shows they’ve worked on. There are now only a handful of places remaining, exclusively for PB members, so don’t miss out! Register your free place on the PB Events pages.
We were delighted to welcome more great speakers to our latest Turn On, Tune In event at The Hospital Club earlier this month including RDF Television duo, Teresa Watkins & Sam Burr, discussing the making of the hit Channel 4 show, The Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6 Year Olds.
The observational documentary, which followed the antics of nursery-aged children using hidden cameras, pulled in more than 2.5 million viewers for an initial one off show, which lead to the commissioning of a 6-part series later in 2015. Teresa (Executive Producer) and Sam (Development Producer) shared how they brought Channel 4’s most popular factual show of the year to the screen, and shed light on the many pitfalls and ethical dilemmas that working with such young children can bring.
There is no doubt that serious factual is on the rise and fast becoming a regular fixture of audience’s weekly viewing habits and, if Twitter is anything to go by, really capturing the public’s imagination.
Producers now treat documentaries like they would a cutting edge drama; it’s compelling story-telling with strong narrative arcs. Whilst a swath of rig shows such as 24 Hours in A&E, One Born Every Minute, and The Catch are pulling in big audiences, there’s still room for the more traditional approach.
At our recent Turn On, Tune In event at The Hospital Club, we were delighted to welcome James Newton, series director of the gripping and dramatic three part series, The Detectives. The critically-acclaimed BBC Two series gave a close-up view of the day-to-day operations of the Serious Sexual Offences Unit of Greater Manchester Police, the first dedicated rape investigation team in the UK.
The PB Team returned to The Hospital Club this week, where we were joined by another full house in The Oak Room for the latest in our Turn On, Tune In series of events. We were once again joined by two top speakers from the world of TV, revealing the secrets behind the success of their shows.
First up was Kate Oates, Series Producer on ITV’s now 42 year old soap, Emmerdale. The show’s now well beyond it’s 7,000th episode, and she discussed the huge challenge of putting together 312 half-hour episodes every year, with a minimum of six episodes completed every week. Producing such a huge volume of content in such a short space of time requires an army of more than 300 production staff, working in three separate units. Emmerdale is filmed across five studios in Leeds, and separate location set in the Yorkshire Dales, and with such a tight schedule, Kate also discussed the need to balance studio and location time – with an around 16 minutes of completed footage per day in the studio, versus only 8 on location.
It was another busy night in The Oak Room at The Hospital Club on Tuesday night for our latest Turn On, Tune In event, where we once again hosted a top line-up of industry speakers.
We were joined by Tiger Aspect duo, Andy Brereton (Head of Comedy Entertainment) and Sebastian Grant (Executive Producer), discussing their innovative BBC Three reality-horror-gameshow hybrid, I Survived A Zombie Apocalypse, where 10 members of the public are left in an abandoned shopping centre overrun by zombies. The aim for contestants is to survive for seven days until help arrives, with an array of tasks and games to complete in the meantime. One bite from a zombie and they leave the show in grisly style! Andy & Sebastian took us through the development and pitching process, the challenges of filming with such a large cast, and dealing with the aftermath for the traumatised contestants!
We look ahead to tonight’s ProductionBase Turn On, Tune In event at The Hospital Club. Our speakers on the night will be Andy Brereton (Head of Comedy Entertainment, Tiger Aspect) and Sebastian Grant (Executive Producer, Tiger Aspect) who’ll be discussing BBC Three’s high-concept reality show, I Survived A Zombie Apocalypse – described by critics as “a cross between Big Brother and The Walking Dead, pitting housemates against an outside world of flesh-hungry zombies.”
Described as ‘the toughest reality show on TV’, the first 7-part series of I Survived A Zombie Apocalypse debuted on BBC Three in February this year. Set six months after the population was exposed to damaging radiation, the show initially features ten contestants, who must survive for seven days in an abandoned shopping centre which has been overrun by zombies. The contestants have to complete various tasks each day, including making a base, and securing food and supplies. The key rule is to avoid zombies at all costs as even a slight touch results in death and elimination from the game. Each 60 minute episode covers the events of 1 day of the game, interspersed with commentary from presenter, Greg James, and diary room-style one-to-one footage, taking reaction from the contestants.
There was a packed house in The Oak Room at The Hospital Club last night for our latest Turn On, Tune In event, where we were joined by another line-up of top speakers.
First up were Dan Gold (Executive Producer) and Simon Raikes (Commissioning Editor), discussing Channel 5’s critically acclaimed series, Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty: A presenter-led narrative documentary charting the rise of the Plantagenets, the show brings to life one of the most visceral and violent chapters in British history.
We look ahead to tonight’s ProductionBase Turn On, Tune In at The Hospital Club. Our second speakers on the night will be Dan Gold (Executive Producer) and Simon Raikes (Commissioning Editor) who’ll be discussing Channel 5’s critically acclaimed series, Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty, and revealing their secrets for producing great drama documentary.
Dan Gold has numerous and varied documentary credits, including Dark Matters: Twisted But True for Discovery, which delves into the most unusual scientific research ever conducted; and I Shouldn’t Be Alive, telling real-life tales of human survival against savage elements, dangerous climates and physical hazards. Dan has also worked on a wide range of other science and history documentaries for a number of international broadcasters.