Claire Faragher

PRODUCTION TRACK RECORD & ACHIEVEMENT

Hot Yachts Miami (2023) - Curve Media. (Producer/Edit Producer) A superb reality series also for Paramount+ (and Viacom), made by Curve Media. It follows the stunning lives of Floridian super yacht brokers, their families and friends, as well as yacht sellers, would-be owners and high-end charter clients. This extraordinary first series will surely grip viewers. After all, who doesn't want to sneak a peek inside yachts worth anything from $10million to $150million. And watch the lives of the slick people who help broker these massive deals, or meet the type of people who can afford to charter a yacht for $1million a week! I crafted 3 shows for the first series of Hot Yachts Miami.

Blowing LA (2022) - Fulwell73. (Producer/Edit Producer) This fantastic new reality series for Paramount+ (and Viacom) follows the fabulous and jaw-dropping lives of the owners and workers of two top-flight hair salons (and their elite clientele) in Los Angeles. It's one of the best series I have worked on in years - and I launched The Only Way Is Essex, found Gemma Collins, Joey Essex and the Vajazzle, amongst other wondrous finds, so I have a proven editorial eye for what will be popular! I crafted 3 shows for the first series of Blowing LA.

Executive Producer - OR Media
Multi Factual Doc Series (2020-22)
I worked as an Executive Producer across multiple factual films (50+) for a London-based Independent Production Company that has a proven track record in making documentaries for the BBC, PBS, HBO+ and Middle Eastern channels, amongst others. I put the team together, oversaw the development of multiple series and one-offs and went on to pitch and win a huge ongoing commission for the company. I pitched at the highest level to win this and I am very proud of this achievement as it happened during the pandemic and the number of films/series are continuing to increase and be made to this day.

So Fleeked Up (W/T) Consultant Executive Producer on a pilot show for ITV2. It is a new make-up competition format devised by BMP - Big Mountain Productions. (2019)

Inside Missguided (2019) - Vice, Executive Producer. 4 x 60' for C4 and later for Netflix. Characterful and light-hearted popular factual series following the lives of staff working within the extraordinary world of fast fashion. I was drafted in at short notice to get the cameras rolling in this relatively fast turnaround series, which saw me organise shoots abroad, find stories, find or retain the best characters and ensured the company's owner took part. I filmed again with Gemma Collins, who I cast for The Only Way Is Essex and in her own words is "Click bait, baby!"

Producer/Director - Globe Productions - C4 and All 4 - Paul Heaton: From Hull To Heatongrad
I made this one-off feature-length film on singer-songwriter Paul Heaton. It is a commercial 90'. It came about after I met the former frontman of The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, got on well with him, and gained access to his life and people around him. I came up with a treatment and the doc was commissioned. I also PD'd the film which has no VO but uses interviews, actuality, archive, music videos and performances to explain Paul's background, talent, political standpoint, lifestyle choices, quirkiness and enduring support of a former mining community - with him eventually playing an intimate gig at a pit club in South Yorkshire to highlight a heritage campaign to save their iconic pit headgears.

Executive Producer - ITN Productions - TLC - Harry And Meghan Said Yes
This 1x60' programme involved my organising locations here and the US, and interviews with personalities from the Say Yes To The Dress stable. We intercut them with Harry and Meghan's wedding footage and archive from past Royal Weddings. As Exec Producer I led the team throughout and oversaw the edit and interviews from New York, and cut this one-off special overnight, with VO by Natalie Casey, for a 2pm TX the day after the wedding. This was a logistically, technically and editorially complex programme to pull off in the time-frame.

Series Director - Halfyard Productions - TLC - Say Yes To The Dress UK
This 40x30' series has been a huge hit in the UK. I worked on both Series 1 and Series 2 as SD, overseeing the multi-camera direction of the show while also keeping an eye on its editorial content. With a revamped shop and set, I aimed to make the second season look even better and keep viewers enthralled. I achieved my goal, and Series 2 has been a ratings success and there have since been two more series commissioned.

Executive Producer - Viacom International Studios - C5/MTV - Tribal Teens
This 3x60' series sent UK teens to highly remote parts of the world to live with tribal families. A first of its type for 5Productions, it was hugely challenging on many levels but captured some stunning scenes. I was the Exec.

Executive Prod & Development Exec - Creative Label (Auntie Productions) - BBC Studios
For this department, now renamed Auntie Productions, I Exec'd, generated and developed many ideas for all BBC channels across many genres but focusing on primetime BBC1 and BBC2. I wrote treatments, negotiated access, made casting decisions, and pitched to channels. I helped lead a host of ideas within the BBC's new Creative Label team and with Ana de Moraes in Development Central. In particular I came up with, chased down exclusive access, wrote up the treatment for and pitched a feature length factual drama idea for BBC2, which was almost immediately commissioned. I continue to consult on this project, having personally secured the trust and cooperation of very cautious contributors and organisations involved in a major British legal case, navigating complex legal and editorial policy scenarios. Also for BBC2 I came up with, found new talent for, wrote up and pitched a fact ent series, securing £15,000 funded development from comedy and entertainment commissioning. It also helped that they liked the working title I came up with, which made them laugh! I also co-developed a number of ideas for BBC1 that were given development money, helping to format, meeting with on screen talent, casting and overseeing taster tapes. I had been keen to spend a period of time immersed in development to get my own ideas away, get a deeper understanding of how it works and build even stronger relationships with commissioning editors, so it was a really exciting and rewarding time.

Executive Producer - Fresh One - C4 - Secrets Of The Salon C4
I consulted (Exec'd) throughout post-production of this 60' special tapping into the lives and views of hairdressers and their clients.

Executive Producer - Room 414 - E4 - Party House
Currently making a structured reality series for E4 that sees a new cast every week work out their differences and love lives and any other dramas while hosting a party to remember at an incredible location. I am across all scripts, cast, edits, dealing with the channel and helping to come up with filming protocols. The multi camera shoots include at least 3 cameras on every scene and up to 8 or 9. Contributors on location number up to 150 along with a crew and production staff of more than 50; also present are security, medics, lifeguards and transport and catering personnel. The main body of filming is from day to night and back to day again and I am responsible for ensuring everyone's safety throughout. There are challenging compliance and legal issues to be negotiated but this fun series is aiming to develop a unique visual style that should help further evolve the structured reality genre.

Executive Producer - Silver River - BBC3 - Old Before My Time
I Executive Produced this 3 x 60' documentary series which follows young people who have prematurely aged their body due to their lifestyle choices. Conditions investigated relate to either alcohol, club/party drugs and obesity. This was a sensitive series that involved gaining access to many hospitals, rehab centres, surgeries and vulnerable people, along with medical experts ranging from surgeons, rehab specialists, GPs, consultants, toxicologists, pathologists, professors and psychiatrists. We had a challenging time frame and no money for locations and experts but managed to gain access to well over 50 contributors, experts, procedures, tests, operations and hospitals or universities, research centres, festivals and raves. There were also challenging compliance and legal issues throughout which I successfully negotiated. Presenter Cherry Healey met many of our experts and contributors during the series, who agreed to be in vision despite the sensitive nature of their life style choices.


Development Executive - Fremantle/Boundless - BBC3 and Channel 4
Helped to develop a number of series both observational documentary, structured reality and reality series for the above channels. All the series are very people orientated and might see contributors being placed in specific areas of the UK, homes, businesses and localities.


Development Executive - Dragonfly - BBC3 - 'People Like Us'
I helped develop this 6 part observational documentary series based around an estate in the North West of England. I identified many of the people and precincts within the Harpurhey ward in Greater Manchester. We had checked out many areas within the UK and we decided this would be the best place to film. It's currently TXing on BBC3 and is a ratings and critical success.

Executive Producer - TwentyTwenty and Fresh One Productions.
At TwentyTwenty I put together a taster tape/pilot for a Channel 4 Entertainment series based on real and fake relationships. This is a format show that has now been green lit. At Fresh One I put together a strong factual entertainment proposal document, again for Channel 4, which looks likely to go into fully funded development. At the same time I have also been consulting and guiding a number of other companies.

Executive Producer - Remarkable Television - Channel 4 - Mary's Bottom Line
I helped oversee the making of this 4-part Mary Portas series which aimed to help give British garment manufacturing a kick-start by creating and making a wholly British-made pair of briefs which were given the brand name Kinky Knickers along with quirky packaging. In the process we re-opened the manufacturing arm of the Middleton based and family run factory Headen and Quarmby. We brought back former seamstresses and then took on 8 jobless local people - some of whom had never worked in their lives - and trained them up to be machinists. This included women and men and culminated in a launch of the knickers at Liberty in London. Afterwards many thousands of knickers were bought by retailers such as Boots, John Lewis, ASOS and Marks & Spencer. The product has become such a success that more local people have been taken on and a second factory may be opening soon, along with an increased range of products.

Executive Producer - Back2Back Productions - Channel 4 - My Phone Sex Secrets (Cutting Edge)
I was an Executive Producer on this Cutting Edge documentary for Channel 4 which was a ratings and critical success and was described as a 'water cooler moment'. It followed the lives of a number of women of all different ages and backgrounds and explained why they are phone sex operators. The film gained incredible access into their lives. There was 18-year-old student Rosa, who received her first phone call on camera and even tried out her sexy sound effects in front of the doyenne of phone sex operators, Jenny. She in turn bases her characters on friends and family and even met and fell in love with one of her callers - which we captured on film. Then there was Marnie Diamond, whose dominatrix calls afforded her a glamorous lifestyle which eventually left her cold and she quit the business. Another operator, Ameka, is happy taking dirty calls in her local supermarket while shopping for vegetables to achieve her pure, raw and clean vegan lifestyle. Finally, the couple who flower arrange at their local church and are involved in amateur dramatics but who also run a phone sex call centre, started after they fell on hard times in the 90s and decided to give dirty talk a whirl.

Executive Producer - Lime Pictures - ITV2 - 'The Only Way Is Essex' (Series2)
I was the Executive Producer of this ground-breaking show for ITV2, which won the Bafta You Tube Audience Award 2011, voted for by the public. The series has also won a host of other awards. The show is a hybrid genre, sometimes termed as structured reality. It focuses on the glamorous lives of a group of Essex folk who like to live life to the full and often have complicated love lives. It has coined several terms, such as 'jel' and 'shut up!' I found Joey Essex, whose catchphrase "reem" has captured the public's imagination! It is a 24/7 operation and I had to manage a large team, and be across all editorial and compliance issues that this genre demands. I worked closely with the channel, contributors, storyliners, press and publicity, and the web producers. During series 2 myself and my team increased viewing figures by 450-500,000 on average per show, peaking at more than 600,000 viewers than had ever previously tuned into the highest rated programme in series 1.This ensured its ongoing popularity and cemented its place in current popular culture. The series 2 increase remains the largest gain achieved within any series of Essex. The series has been described as "genius" and "hilarious for about 10 minutes, then you wish you were dead", and the Financial Times likened it to the "Italian neo-realist movement in postwar film-making"! (13 x 45' & 1 x 60')

Series Producer & Casting Producer - Lime Pictures - ITV2 - The Only Way Is Essex (Series 1)
I Series Produced the first series of 'The Only Way Is Essex' for ITV2. It is one of the new hybrid genres, which is termed structured reality. It follows the lives of real Essex people and each scene is shot using three HD cameras and edited in the style of a soap opera/drama. Big set events use up to nine HD cameras.
As one of two Series Producers I was integral to casting the characters and developing the storylines, and I was also in charge of a large team of edit producers and editors too. As each show transmits only hours after filming has finished, I had to make a host of quick decisions every day and be across all storylines, legal and compliance issues. I also made the 'best of' programme called 'Totally Vajazzled' and The Christmas Special, 'The Only Way Is Essexmas'. I also brought the vajazzle to the series! (4 x 60' & 8 x 30')

Producer/Director - Election Films - Shoot The Company
I made a wide variety of high-end and high-profile films surrounding the 2010 General Election, including three party election broadcasts. I worked with extremely high-profile contributors (for instance, our current Prime Minister) during a very exciting and intense period as the country decided who would form the next Government.

TV Consultant - BBC World Service
I worked with the BBC Science Unit to train and help them convert a radio series into a weekly television programme to be transmitted on BBC World. This meant the programme was bi-media as well as having a web presence.
Series Producer - Vice Squad, Channel 5
I made 6 x 60' programmes following the work of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit. I oversaw staffing, scripting, stories, editing and challenging legal and compliance issues. My work involved maintaining access with this large unit of covert and overt detectives who deal with highly sensitive, sometimes dangerous and legally active cases. As well as working closely with the police, organising shoots, covert filming and tag-along-raids we also gained access to and filmed with prostitutes and their maids in brothels or walk-up flats in Soho, legal and illegal sex shops and the obscene publications team who deal with the worst kind of images.

Producer/Director - Hannah's Killer: Nowhere To Hide - Real Crime, ITV1 & NETFLIX
A one hour documentary with drama for ITV1 at 9pm (and now being shown on NETFLIX in 2019) was about the international manhunt to capture the killer of Southampton teenager Hannah Foster. This film attracted 4.7 million viewers and achieved the highest Real Crime audience for 15 years.

Series Producer - See Hear, BBC2
I revamped the See Hear series of 32 x 30' programmes which included magazine shows and one-off documentaries for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing audiences. I managed a team of 25, some of whom were deaf. I oversaw scripts, items, viewed all output and decided on programme content. Our production values rose despite tighter budgets and deadlines, and we relaunched the website. We also won the Best Factual Film award at the 2009 Deaffest for one of our documentaries.

Producer/Director & Edit Producer - Last Man Standing, BBC3/Discovery
I produced and directed an episode that involved filming six athletes competing in a tribal sport in the Peruvian Andes. I climbed the equivalent of Base Camp Everest four times. This multi-camera shoot was logistically challenging and involved miles of trekking and my being in charge of 100 people and 40 horses while combating altitude sickness in the team and temperatures of -15C. The film was visually compelling and I also persuaded the winning athlete to remain on the series. I also edit produced a film from scratch (from 90 hours of tape) and re-edited two others in the series.

Deputy Editor - The ONE Show, BBC1
As Deputy Editor of 20, live, daily, 30' programmes for The ONE Show's pilot run in Birmingham, I ensured all the teams were working well to tight deadlines. I came up with ideas for the show, negotiated for high-profile interviewees, and worked closely with P/Ds, reporters and presenters. I made quick decisions, re-wrote scripts, and re-edited VTs. I also oversaw the show's web content with regard to legal issues and editorial concerns.

Producer/Director - These Young People Revisited, BBC4
I tracked down five contributors 33 years after they appeared in a BBC1 series for a new 60' doc.

Producer/Director - Child of Our Time Profiles, BBC1
A 30' Child of Our Time doc. I set up experiments and interpreted the results with child psychologists. I also self-shot much of this.

Producer/Director - Roachford Raw DVD
A multi-camera live concert DVD for the singer Roachford at London's Jazz Café.

Producer/Director - Life on the List, BBC1
I self-shot, produced, crew-directed and edited two 30' documentaries for this Peabody award-winning series about children and adults needing organ transplants at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital. I filmed in intensive care units and operating theatres during surgery. I also gained further hospital access for the series. Extra footage I shot was used by BBC regional news outlets.

Producer/Director - Family Ties, BBC4 and BBC2
I found, self-shot, directed and produced a 30' observational documentary about people tracing their family tree, which revealed a bigamous marriage and abandoned children.

Producer/Director - Crimewatch Solved, BBC1
Complex crime reconstructions that included taking actors on location to Tangiers.

Producer/Director - Outrageous Fortunes, BBC3 and BBC1
I crossed the US for a reporter-led, 60' documentary about Wal-Mart. My team and I tracked down and interviewed union members, lawyers and illegal workers, and approached the Walton family. We filmed in courts, on picket lines, in a hot air balloon and on the Oscars' red carpet. I was also second camera.

Director - Crimewatch UK, BBC1
I made reconstructions of serious crimes using actors. Filming included multi-camera directing and complex fight/chase scenes. I filmed with child actors and liaised with armourers for firearms work.

Assistant Producer/Director - Welcome to Britain, BBC1
I gained access to refugee organisations and asylum seekers for this 4 X 40' series looking at the UK's asylum system. I set up and directed complex immigration/police raids on private property.

Assistant Producer - Killer In The Country : The Story of the Russell Murders, BBC1
I identified interviewees and tracked them down, sometimes in extremely uncomfortable circumstances, for this 1 X 60' documentary investigating the Michael Stone case.

Other relevant BBC experience: Acting SP on My Life as a Child for BBC2, paternity leave cover; Development Producer; AP/2nd Unit Director on Trail of Guilt and Hitting Home for BBC1; Directing AP on Watchdog; Researcher/DV Director Crimewatch UK BBC1.

ANGLIA TELEVISION 1998 - 2000
Senior Producer on Hot Love, a magazine show and Producer on Guilty, a chat show for Sky One.
AP on Family Confidential for Channel 5, a 6 X 30'/45' fly-on-the-wall documentary series.

NEWSPAPERS 1995 - 1998
News Reporting at The Express and Sunday Mirror
Reporter at The Star, Sheffield and district reporter in Barnsley. I covered all sorts of stories and had to find a splash every day. In 1996 I was 'highly commended' in the Yorkshire Press Awards and top reporter in United Provincial Newspapers' Young Journalist of The Year.