Six young directing talents journeyed up to the Edinburgh International Film Festival as part of 4Talent and Film4’s Directors’ Lab. We asked a couple of them to give us a potted glimpse at what they’re up to.

“We started off the day with Mia Bays, the independent producer and Microwave head don,” begins Charles-Henri Belleville. “Mia talked passionately and insightfully for 90 minutes on exactly how the food chain in the film industry works. Very revealing.”

“We then had an interactive session with JJ Lousberg (UKFC), Danny Perkins from Optimum Releasing and Sam Horley, a sales agent. This was superb - we split into teams, each were given a distribution company and their budgets. We had to purchase two films from Sam that made the most money, with Danny supporting us. Sam is tough and Danny is a great negotiator. Very educational, but also had everyone in the room in stitches as us directors pitched our hearts out!”

“Amy and I rocked,” adds Hope Dickson Leach [Day 1]. “We got This Is England and Ratcatcher - I like to think it was because of the photo-shoots we had planned for Shane Meadows in ID magazine…”

“We had an amazing meal at Howies - great fun meeting producers over the best soup I have ever had. Honey and parsnip: sensational,” Charlie continues. “Our fireside chat was with Caroline Cooper-Charles from Warp X and Donkey Punch director Olly Blackburn. It’s clear Warp X has something very special going on, and Olly is destined for great things - he really inspired us all with his humility. If you ever meet him, ask to hear his story about Wild Turkey at sunset…”

Charles-Henri has directed promos for Ashley Walters, MTV and Pathé. His first micro budget feature The Inheritance (2007) was nominated for Best British Feature at Raindance Film Festival 2007 and subsequently won the inaugural Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2007. Charles-Henri was nominated for Best New Director at the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards 2008 and for the 4Talent Awards 2007. He is currently in post-production on his next feature Midnight Madness, a basketball documentary.

Six young directing talents journeyed up to the Edinburgh International Film Festival as part of 4Talent and Film4’s Directors’ Lab. We asked a couple of them to give us a potted glimpse at what they’re up to.

“Day one and we’re off with a bang,” begins Hope Dickson Leach. “We began the day meeting all those people it would take months to see you in their office, and it was great to hear them talk. I’m not going to tell you what they said, as that’s classified and I’d have to find you and kill you all, but believe me, I wasn’t the only one taking notes and raising my hand to ask the questions.”

“We’re all here with a mission, and that mission is to make movies. Despite the fact everyone is doing their best to convince us that making a first feature is impossible, we all know it happens, so why can’t it be us?”

“All six of us are writer-directors and we were lucky enough to meet talented and busy screenwriter David Nicholls (Starter for Ten, And When Did You Last See Your Father?) who filled us with inspiration about how receptive the industry is becoming to involving writers in more than just the opening stages of the film-making process.”

“And then off to the beautiful castle-side apartment for a ‘fireside chat’ with Isabelle Coixet (Elegy) who told us, like your favourite pair of trainers that just keeps on giving, to just do it. With that in mind we were off to the premiere of the Warp X produced (debut film) Donkey Punch, and then their kick-ass party. Which leaves me feeling quite warped myself as I dash off to today’s fantastic lineup. More from us tomorrow.”

Hope made her short film The Dawn Chorus (2006) as part of her MFA program at Columbia University. Her film was selected for Sundance Film Festival 2007, Edinburgh International Film Festival 2006, London International Film Festival 2006, and won Best Narrative Student Short at Austin Film Festival 2006. In 2007 Hope was named as a Star of Tomorrow by Screen International and as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker magazine. She is currently developing her first feature film English Rose, about a teenage girl who hates Princess Diana, which was featured in the Berlinale Project Talent Market 2008.

We’ve just launched our fantastic new competition with E4 Radio: Radio HaHa. Submit short audio clips or comic scribblings: the best 9 will go through intensive workshops at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, then pitch to get their idea developed into a fully-fledged radio show on the new station when it launches.

But what’s E4 Radio actually about? No doubt any radio producers among you will be drooling with anticipation at the thought of a new door being chiselled in the rock-face of British radio, so we asked the team to pitch it to us in 300 words. So from the horse’s mouth:

“E4 Radio will be a new kind of station. One that’s up for a bit of fun and mischief and for doing things differently. Like the TV channel and its website, E4 Radio will provide mainstream entertainment targeted at 16-34s. The schedule will focus on the E4 staples of great music, comedy and entertainment and will pride itself on being the first to bring its audience new stuff and new talent from these worlds.

We’re going to give the audience more access to the airwaves than ever before, providing new levels of interactivity and an active role in shaping the sound of the station, from music to the news agenda. We’re making a radio station for an audience that likes to listen to radio content when they want to, on-demand as well as live, and we’ll be commissioning different programmes tailored to these listening modes.

In terms of comedy, our door is open to every kind of comedy there is - we want our schedule to be flexible enough to accommodate to accommodate bite-sized short programmes, more traditional built blocks, and we hope to pioneer new comedy formats that don’t even exist yet. We think there’s tonnes of scope to innovate with format and we want to trial lots of things. As with all our output we want to create programming from a much more diverse set of voices, stimulate new areas of independent production and create new cross platform collaborations.”

Deadline 18 July 2008: Enter Radio HaHa >

This post is the last in a series. Read the first installment.

Words: Pete Ashton
Illustration: Raymond Weekes

Okay, I’ve rambled and covered a hell of a lot of ground. To be honest it’s hard to give a proper masterclass or How To for blogging because the beauty of the form is there are no rules. I know what works for me but it’s unlikely to work for you and some of the best blogs I’ve seen have been approaching the medium in ways I hadn’t ever considered before. You should use blogging (and other similar web services like Flickr and Last.FM) in the same way you use other forms of communication like the telephone or your local pub - in ways that work for you and the community you’re part of.

And while this might be scary be assured that underlying it all is the magic that makes the internet work, the reason that you can find stuff on Google, how an American became a fan of you band on MySpace or how you got that commission because someone blogged a photo of your work with a link to your site.

Blogging might be as easy as writing an email but its the structured metadata that takes your message and makes available to the right people across the world. And the beauty of it all is you don’t have to think about it, unless you want to (and it’s not that hard really - hell, I can’t write programming code and I get it). You just need to go to wordpress.com (4talentmagazine.com is built with Wordpress), blogger.com, typepad.com or some other blogging service and get posting and linking. The internet looks after the rest.

< Week 7: plugging into the system

< Read the series from the start

“We are thrilled by the success of our two very British films currently in the cinemas – Mike Leigh’s charming Happy-Go-Lucky and Martin McDonagh’s irreverent In Bruges. Martin, famous for his playwriting, initially made a short film with Film4 so we were delighted to work with him on his first feature. Each year we strive for a mix of first-timers and experienced film-makers returning to Film4.

I am desperate to find a brilliant, ambitious and yet low-budget British sci-fi. It’s also really hard to find incredibly taut British thrillers that are not just aping US films – we would love to find one not set in the usual environs: perhaps an NHS hospital, or a boarding school?

Film4 is all about innovation, supporting the film-maker’s voice, coming at British stories from new perspectives, finding stories that resonate strongly with our contemporary British audience. We’ll continue to be driven by these principles, building on our already strong focus on new talent and film-makers from diverse and regional backgrounds.

We offer many of the best opportunities for new talent in the country, in terms of the films we produce – both short films (through the Cinema Extreme scheme), low-budget first features (via Warp X), and other first-time film-makers we support outside these schemes. We also run projects with new theatre writers via Paines Plough and the Traverse theatre; have a new writers’ lab for writers from diverse backgrounds with B3 Media, and back one or two projects in development from film-makers at the NFTS every year. We’ll continue to concentrate on our new talent initiatives for both directors and writers to secure our position as the home of new film talent in the UK.

There’s already an increasing awareness that British films telling contemporary British stories can work for British audiences in the cinema – look at This Is England – and it would be great to see more contemporary-set films taking risks coming from the industry as a whole. Certainly the US is more than aware of the huge talent pool in the UK film industry right now, so our job is to keep supporting new voices whilst trying to entice our successful British film-makers home now and again!”

Katherine Butler: Head of Development, Film4

“I’ve commissioned something called The Great Sperm Race, which demonstrates the science of conception using thousands of extras shot from helicopters.

C4 science is distinctive in that it’s a breeding ground for completely new forms of television. For years the science output has been groundbreaking and controversial, from Jump London to Autopsy, The Human Footprint to Animal Farm. C4 science rarely feels like a school science lesson.

The environment is very hard – it often feels too worthy – but it’s something we should tackle more than we do, and I’d love to find a C4 way of doing it. I’d also like to find a way of doing medicine.”

David Glover: Commissioning Editor, Science, Channel 4

“We’ve produced a week of programmes on Islam, including a two-hour documentary exploring the Quran and its impact on the world, and a lavish series called The Seven Wonders of the Muslim World – which takes in incredible places such as Jerusalem, Mali, Istanbul and Mecca and explores the basic beliefs of a faith we know so little about.

Our latest challenge is to get multicultural commissions that are not religious, and that can work at 9 and 10pm. The bar will be high, and the projects will have to compete with what’s already in the schedule. Look at the schedule, think about how you can compete story-wise and casting-wise and we can talk.

Channel 4 Religion is more inquisitive, more diverse, and we keep religion at the core of our output rather than try to hide it. We don’t wallow in historical nostalgia nor do we shy away from tough areas. Priest Idol, Cult of the Suicide Bomber and Make Me a Muslim sound obvious commissions when they’re a success, but were all major risks. The output has to stay in primetime or it will die in the long run: we have to market it and make it accessible. This is real risk: it’s not just the subject matter; it’s also about sending out the signal that we care enough to get behind the output.

Being in primetime makes working with new talent more difficult, but it doesn’t stop me trying. We have to be prepared to fail. We’ve given young directors a break, and Robert Beckford and Tazeen Ahmed are two on-screen successes I’ve broken on the channel – but they had to be given a chance to flourish. To anyone who thinks they’re the next talent, on or off-screen, get in touch: my door is open to any suggestions.”

Aaquil Ahmed: Commissioning Editor, Religion, Channel 4

“I have an upcoming project, codename Sam I Am [update 27/06/08]. I’m busting to tell you about it but I can’t yet; it’s necessarily under wraps. It’s a very entertaining concept and interactive experience which still manages to convey a substantial meaning – in this case about the diversity of Islamic culture, and the narrowness of most of our experience and understanding of it.

The commission I’m most proud of: The Big Art Mob. It applies new technology and media behaviours to a worthwhile public task: mapping the best of Public Art (from bronze geezers on horses to Banksys) across the UK. Interested people from all around the country and beyond (we’re big in Brazil) are photographing artworks on their mobiles and uploading them to the map, having a good online natter about arty stuff along the way. You can interact wherever you are – I’m particularly proud of the WAP (mobile) site at bigartmob.com/mobile. It’s been nominated for 3 Baftas alongside the likes of the iPlayer and Dr Who, so it’s punching above its weight in true C4 stylee.

In the way that Big Art Mob finds a worthwhile purpose for moblogging (mobile blogging) I want to find missions and purposes for other emerging interactive tools and technologies like, say, Twitter – in itself geek masturbation and possibly the end of civilisation as we know it, with a creatively conceived context perhaps something exceedingly good.

I’ve spent the last 5 years at Channel 4 exploring what public service means in a digital world – from Big Dig to Big Art Project, and one or two projects that don’t even have ‘Big’ in the title like Picture This and Empire’s Children. But Big is important: ambition, scale and impact are all vital.

Cross-platform and interactive media is what’s pumping the nads of the telly industry right now, and it’s vital to its future. All the creative and entrepreneurial energy is welling up in these areas and Channel 4 is ready for action.”

Adam Gee: Commissioning Editor, New Media Factual, Channel 4

“I’m looking for a commission for older children: drama that genuinely appeals to 11-16-year olds. This is a completely unserved audience.

Drama on C4 should continue to help define the channel as provocative, original and genre-busting. Our successful long running series – Shameless, Skins and Hollyoaks – are the perfect training ground and springboard for new talent, on and off-screen.”

Camilla Campbell: Commissioning Editor, Drama, Channel 4

“China’s Stolen Children just won a Bafta, but Undercover Mosque runs it close because of the way it fended off so many attacks on its journalism to come through as the stand-out investigation of last year.

We dare to say difficult and sometimes unfashionable things. Channel 4 is fearless in its support of investigative journalism: we’ve led on multicultural issues, for one example – Iraq is another – and have produced a body of work that has confronted some of the key issues affecting the country over the past five years.

I’m always on the look-out for stories and new areas to investigate – the bigger the subject the better – and always looking to meet new producers and journalists. Good producer-directors with a hard journalism background are hard to come by.”

Kevin Sutcliffe: Deputy Head, News & Current Affairs, Channel 4

“Channel 4 has a rich heritage in representing on-screen those voices rarely heard before on mainstream television. Spooling forward to 2008 we are renewing our commitment to reflecting the diversity and richness of modern Britain, both on and off-screen.

So what does this mean for our programming? A £2m budget will be ring-fenced for multicultural programmes at 9 and 10pm, and a dedicated Commissioning Editor will be appointed. We’ll be looking for programmes that inform, excite, surprise and examine what contemporary British society looks like. But in the same way that Coronation Street appeals beyond a working class audience from Manchester, these programmes will have universal themes that appeal to a wider audience.

Off-screen we will be expanding our existing schemes, including the Researcher Trainee Programme and Deputy Commissioning Editor attachments, and introducing exciting new initiatives to better reflect all kinds of social diversity including ethnicity, disability, nationality, regionality, age, gender and beyond.”

Ade Rawcliffe: Diversity & Talent Manager, Channel 4

“I want more disabled people on screen across all genres and channels, from Vanity Lair to Hollyoaks, Grand Designs to Shipwrecked. And more disabled talent behind the camera – via new talent strands (3MW, Comedy Lab, Coming Up) and targeted series like New Shoots (2007) which gave 12 disabled directors their first half-hour documentary credit. This year The Shooting Party brought together a group of nine disabled directors to make short films, and follows their progress as they carve out a place in the demanding world of film-making. What’s next year’s challenge?”

Alison Walsh: Editorial Manager, Disability, Channel 4

“Routes is our first ARG, or Alternate Reality Game. It’s ambitious, and we’re going to make something wonderful that captures the imagination of our audience, taking them on a huge treasure hunt via themes like medical ethics, junk science and genetics.

Our educational messages are often covert, and exist within wonderfully entertaining products that engage our audience in their spaces – social networks, games, on the web and on phones. What the British public think of education programming in relation to our public service responsibility is important, but the benefit that young people gain from our commissions is much more valuable. That should be how we measure our successes.”

Jo Roach: Commissioning Editor, Education, Channel 4

“I’m excited about everything – we’re trying so many experiments this year. But to pick a few, The Insiders is an online comedy about the world of work; YearDot is a huge, innovative experiment to follow a group of teens for a year across various media; Phantasmagoria is a collection of widgets for social networks and Slabovia.tv just makes me laugh out loud.

The key topic for me is transitions. We’re focused on the transitions that 14 to 19-year-olds go through, how they find the information and the people who help them through this critical time in their lives. When you start talking to teens, you realise how many really huge decisions there are to make – about work, university, your identity, your relationship with your family – when you’ve had very little real experience of life.

Making the right decisions is really down to the networks you have around you: family, friends, teachers and work colleagues. I’m very interested in how teens are using new media platforms to build these networks, and how these networks influence the decisions they make about their lives.

At C4 we’re all about getting you to ask questions about your life, whereas the BBC is more about giving you the ‘answers’. The BBC is homogeneous – it tries to talk with the same ‘voice’ in all its programming. C4 is really just a collection of voices, a lot of which can be very contradictory at times, and this isn’t a problem. We show people different ways of looking at the world around them, and challenge their assumptions and prejudices. I’m interested in getting people to ask questions and participate, rather than just presenting ‘knowledge’ in a didactic way.

The barriers for new creative talent to get their projects out there aren’t the same as they were in 1982, but there are still some big problems to sort out. If anything, its a more level playing field in cross-platform commissioning, as it’s much newer – you’re not pitching against a grizzled industry veteran as you would be in, say, docs or features. If you understand what people are doing online, and think you’ve got an idea that can be a real success, then you’ve got as much chance of getting commissioned as anyone.”

Matt Locke: Commissioning Editor, Education, Channel 4

“Many of the most familiar faces on TV got their break on Channel 4. I’m really looking forward to the return of The Charlotte Church Show this summer: Charlotte has proved herself to be a TV natural, with the rare talent of being able to turn her hand to comedy, presenting, interviewing and, of course, music.

I commission all types of entertainment, from star-studded studio shows to high-concept reality shows. Nothing is ruled in or out: it’s about the originality of the idea and the talent (on and off-screen) behind it. Other channels would certainly regard many of our shows as too risky from a commercial point of view – new sitcom in particular is very expensive and rarely pays its way in terms of viewing figures.

But we’re also after shows that might be considered too risky because of their irreverent, edgy and occasionally shocking content. Overall we’re aiming to make television that feels distinctive, young and talked-about.”

Andy Auerbach: Commissioning Editor, Entertainment, Channel 4

“We’ve started filming on a new thriller written by Charlie Brooker, which is unlike anything that’s been done before. Can’t say too much, but it’s really original with an amazing cast.

We need a healthy varied mix of ideas all the time, so are open to anything that’s different to what we’ve already got. Besides sitcom, most other ideas are usually quite talent dependent – if someone discovers an amazing new talent we can always work with them on the vehicle.

We take risks and try to find fresh new ways of making shows. Chris Morris embodies the kind of pioneering spirit of doing challenging work that other broadcasters might shy away from. Something like Fonejacker has a dynamic inventiveness that makes it feel perfect for us.

We still run Comedy Lab (6 x 30’) on C4, and now have Funny Cuts (10 x 10’) on E4 as entry-level shows for people to cut their teeth. The more opportunities we have to create stars and production talent of the future, the healthier our TV industry will be. Bring it on.”

Shane Allen: Commissioning Editor, Comedy, Channel 4

“We’ve always taken huge risks in arts, and will continue to do so with series and one-offs, commissioning new work that will last beyond the screen. I’m most excited about The Big Art Project. It’s the craziest and most ambitious project we’ve ever done, and has with it an amazing website – Big Art Mob – C4’s first real arts community online.

Over the next two years we’re going for more volume in programming, focusing on single docs: 60-minute and 90-minute. Because we’ll have more volume, I hope this will also create more opportunities to bring on new talent.”

Jan Younghusband: Commissioning Editor, Arts & Performance, C4

“I’m very excited about ideas that exploit both broadcast and online opportunities. I’m working with multiplatform company Somethin’ Else to create a really new and exciting raft of programmes for August in 3MW – a bit too secret to talk about yet. There’s also a week of films around Domestic Violence from the very talented director Ruth Carslaw.

It really tickles me when 3MW spills into the real world. I was delighted with our collaboration with the Saatchi Gallery last year: a competition called New Sensations, which launched the careers of four young graduate artists.

Part of 3MW’s charm (I hope!) is its eclecticism. It should feel diverse and ever-changing, socially relevant to a broad audience but attuned to subcultures and movements outside the mainstream. 3MWs should be provocative, filmic – and the trajectory and narrative should feel absolutely unique to those three minutes. It’s about short-cutting the 40-minute preamble and getting to the heart of a subject.

The connection between 3MW and FourDocs will continue to get stronger, and I’m continuing my commitment to commission films directly from there. In June we’ll transmit the best four films that have been uploaded in response to the theme My Family and Other Animals – and there will be another theme posted up during the summer which I hope will inspire and encourage people to make shorts.”

Kate Vogel: Editor, 3 Minute Wonder, Channel 4

“I’m very interested in a film coming from Joe Bullman. He made last year’s film The Seven Sins of England, and this time he’s going to use his innovative technique of connecting history with present tense documentary to look at the Muslims in Britain. He’s found out that over a hundred years ago there was a plot to blow up the London Underground by foreign radicals, and that obviously throws up interesting parallels.

It’s always a challenge to find new territories – or re-invent old ones – but I do feel that our documentary output should be political and angry at times. I think we should be looking at the wealth divide in Britain; we should be looking at the way in which our public institutions are now overwhelmed by demand; the way in which we’ve been seduced into becoming a nation of debtors.

I feel that while good films can be made about extraordinary individuals, the greatest power that television has is to make us think again about how ordinary lives are lived. I think the public has a hunger for real world, uncomplicated stories having been served up so much constructed television. Meet the Natives, The Seven Sins of England, The Secret Millionaire and The Doctor Who Hears Voices are all strong powerful films about the real world that use simple but exciting devices to bring life to their subject.

Channel 4 is on the way to being the place where film-makers know they’ll get encouraged to be bold and ambitious; where they might get backing for their most innovative work. I’m desperate to find more young and new voices to make our films. I’m going out of my way to use young directors on Cutting Edge, and to make sure we spot the best people making First Cuts and 3 Minute Wonders. We have a talent ladder and it’s vital it works – and the rungs reach to the top.

Meredith Chambers: Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, Channel 4

“I’m most excited about The Family – it’s big, it’s original, and it’s absolutely what Channel 4 is all about. Our docs are confident; authored; unafraid. They seldom look like your dad dancing. Will they continue to develop? They had better: or I will be in trouble.

I’m very comfortable with the idea of my department being recognised as the ‘home’ of British documentary. If we continue to come up with the best ideas, and attract the best up-and-coming talent, I see no reason why we can’t continue to punch above our weight, creatively and in terms of audience ratings.

Will we take more risks? Yes, where the subject requires it. The audience is less shockable than ever before. We need to surprise them by making programmes that inform and inspire. In an age of dull, predictable ‘me-too’ factual television, that really would be controversial.”

Simon Dickson: Deputy Head, Documentaries, Channel 4

“I have a one-off film coming up called Working Britney, where young up-and-coming comedian Buddy Dolphin (I suspect that’s not his real name) will live as a paparazzi photographer, working to get a photo of Britney Spears. As Britney faces custody battles and a drink-driving hearing, Buddy will experience the crazy LA scene that‘s worth millions. Hopefully this film will provide an intelligent and honest account of an infamous subject and her even more infamous press entourage.

I’m most proud of I’m Spasticus. Wittily entitled after an Ian Drury song (he had polio, you know), this was a little half-hour Comedy Lab – a hidden-camera stunts show starring disabled comedy actors, poking fun at the able community. Like an amputee running out of the Brighton seafront screaming ‘Shark!’ or a blind man asking a delivery woman to read out an embarrassingly pornographic letter. It was silly and fun, but more importantly it created a bit of a ripple in the comedy world, and a huge splash in the world of disability.

Non-derivative formats are a must; presenters who have opinion (and the authority to possess valid opinion); a sense of social purpose; and a dash of attitude. It’s hard to find suitable slots, but I’m committed to trying out new people in all areas. I’m always interested in presenters that don’t necessarily come from the perfectly-preened presenter’s mould, or are famous for being famous.”

Ruby Kuraishe: Editor, Factual Entertainment / E4, Channel 4

“My first two big 10pm series since I joined the channel are both exciting projects with big-name talent. One sees presenter Mark Dolan searching for extraordinary individuals like the smallest man in the world and the tallest woman in the world, in order to find out the truth behind the images of oddity. The other follows Neil Morrissey and his chef friend Richard Fox as they try to set up their own brewery. They should set a great new benchmark for the kind of tone we’re looking for in that slot.

I really need another series of 3 or 4 x 60 for 10pm for this autumn. It could be an authored journey, but I’m also interested in looking at forms we haven’t tried there for a while – perhaps a docu-soap, or even a multi-item show.

Everything we do in factual entertainment has to connect with a broad audience. It has to be wide-ranging in its appeal, but also rich in content and purpose. It has to be about something.”

Alistair Pegg: Editor, Factual Entertainment, Channel 4

“I have a series coming up called (w/t) Boys and Girls Alone. Ten boys and ten girls aged between 8 and 11 live in their own separate, adult-free villages. With increasing concerns about Cotton Wool Kids, the series creates a safe environment for them to rediscover their freedom.

Ambition and scale mark the work of this department. If I hear an idea and think, ‘I can’t imagine how we’ll be able to pull that off!’ then I immediately want to know more. I was immensely proud of Jamie’s Fowl Dinners; it was an innovative combination of entertaining event television and hard-hitting journalism.

My most pressing need right now is for another popular 9pm series. I’m interested in building formats around stories that are a marker of the current time. Grand Designs tapped into a genuinely new trend of self-build – where else are the middle classes exploring their dreams?

Over the next year we also want to launch a new generation of on-screen authors. Who are the new faces we should be considering to take on provocative stunts, immerse themselves in a world or tackle subjects with subversive wit? And what are the entertaining journeys they can follow to reveal real content and purpose?”

Dominique Walker: Commissioning Editor, Factual Entertainment, Channel 4

“I can’t discuss details, but we have a series coming up using immersive factual journeys as the backdrop for a primetime studio chat show. We’re never looking for ‘the next’ anything: ideas and approaches should be genuinely fresh.

Talent is the core of everything we do, and we’re constantly on the lookout for exciting, passionate individuals. A distinctively C4 features programme – like Embarrassing Illnesses or Supersize vs. Superskinny – isn’t afraid to tackle complex or difficult issues, generate debate and challenge viewers to re-assess their take on modern life.”

Walter Iuzzolino: Deputy Head, Features, Channel 4

“Big Chef Saves Little Chef is a new doc series in which Heston Blumenthal aims to turn around a much-loved but somewhat derided national institution. It’s a great experiment, a brilliant clash of cultures, and it’s real.

I like ideas that have purpose, but are also provocative, entertaining, audacious and subversive. I’m always on the look out for new off-camera talent, and there’s also a great need for new on-screen talent at 9pm.”

Liam Humphreys: Commissioning Editor, Features, Channel 4

Next on 4 is Channel 4’s vision for the future. Fresh talent, fresh perspectives, youth, diversity and innovation in all its forms will lead and shape the channel’s content in the years to come. So with our readers in mind, we asked those at the commissioning coalface what’s pushing their buttons in 2008.

Who we spoke to:

Liam Humphreys, Commissioning Editor, Features | Walter Iuzzolino, Deputy Head, Features | Dominique Walker, Commissioning Editor, Factual Entertainment | Alistair Pegg, Editor, Factual Entertainment | Ruby Kuraishe, Editor, Factual Entertainment, E4 | Simon Dickson, Deputy Head, Documentaries | Meredith Chambers, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries | Kate Vogel, Editor, 3 Minute Wonder | Jan Younghusband, Commissioning Editor, Arts & Performance | Shane Allen, Commissioning Editor, Comedy | Andy Auerbach, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment | Matt Locke, Commissioning Editor, Education | Jo Roach, Commissioning Editor, Education | Kevin Sutcliffe, Deputy Head, News & Current Affairs | Camilla Campbell, Commissioning Editor, Drama | Adam Gee, Commissioning Editor, New Media Factual | Aaquil Ahmed, Commissioning Editor, Religion | David Glover, Commissioning Editor, Science | Katherine Butler, Head of Development, Film4 | Ade Rawcliffe, Diversity & Talent Manager | Alison Walsh, Editorial Manager, Disability.

Browse all the responses >

Image by Tom Gaul

This post forms part of a series. Read the first installment.

Words: Pete Ashton
Illustration: Raymond Weekes

Now let’s say that you’re actually really boring. There’s a market for what you do but to be honest the mechanisms of how you do it aren’t really of interest to anyone. Or let’s say you just don’t want to communicate all this fluffy personal nonsense. Blogging as I’ve described it here just doesn’t interest you in the slightest. Allowing for the fact that you probably haven’t read this far (which, if you’ll forgive me, demonstrates a limitation of the magazine form - online this “post” would stand alone and those for whom it might be relevant would find it through Google regardless of what came before or after it on the blog itself) the blogging form still has value to you.

You’ve probably heard the term Web 2.0. If you’ve investigated it a bit you might think it has to do with something called User Generated Content and heralds a revolution whereby professionals are overthrown in favour of the amateur masses, or somesuch nonsense. While this is a side-effect of the blogging revolution it’s not what’s really important about it. What’s really interesting is that the internet is starting to be populated by data that is structured and interchangeable according to established standards.

To illustrate what this means think of a library full of books. Every book is different with unique content but there are aspects of the books that fit into categories. The title, author, publisher, Dewy Decimal categories, dimensions, ISBN, and so on. This information can be indexed by the library to not only identify what shelf the book is held on but how it relates to other books in the collection, very handy for books that cover a number of different subjects.

Most blogging services, along with services like Flickr and YouTube, structure the information you put into them in a similar way. So a blog post has at the very least a title, date, category, and the content itself. And because this is based on accepted standards all this information is interchangeable. Which means anyone can take your content and stick it into a giant database automatically. And then people can ask this database questions and find relevant and accurate information which may well include your content.

You might hear people talking about arcane and mysterious arts like Search Engine Optimisation but this is pretty much all there is to it. Put your stuff online in a manner in which Google can understand it and you’ll appear in the relevant search results. If you have photos on Flickr that are accurately tagged in relation to their subject then they’ll appear in the searches for those subjects.

You don’t have to run a “blog” in the accepted sense of the word in order to get into this game. It’s just that blogs automatically structure themselves in this way and since they’re very easy to use it makes sense to take advantage of this. This YouTube video called Web 2.0 Machine explains this rather well. And when you’re doing this, have a think about how that little search query works for a piece of video. It’s all about the metadata, a piece of jargon which simply means “data about data”. Give you stuff metadata and people will find it. If you don’t have properly structured metadata your website will just sit there with nobody finding it, no matter how lovely it looks.

< Week 6: first impressions

Next in the series: in conclusion >

This post forms part of a series. Read the first installment.

Words: Pete Ashton
Illustration: Raymond Weekes

So here you are, trying to turn your creative skills into a business that pays your bills and here I am telling you not to worry about the polish of what you’re putting on the internet. Isn’t that a bit like meeting your bank manager dressed in torn jeans, and chewing gum? Sure, it might be you but is it wise? That’s ultimately a decision you’re going to have to make for yourself, but be aware that blogging doesn’t dictate a particular style. You can be as formal and polished as you want.

In fact, taking a bit of care over your words and presentation can be rather refreshing and make you stand out from the crowd. And you don’t have to completely be yourself. This is the Internet so feel free to invent aspects of your character and play with them. You could even pretend your business is a corporation with offices around the world rather than based in your kitchen and push this spoof to absurd limits. Maybe your ‘factory’ is staffed by sentient robots or something. The possibilities are endless, really.

But above all remember that the blog doesn’t replace other more traditional forms of marketing. You’re probably still going to need some kind of brochure that looks all slick and some kind of formal business statement stuff. An analogy I like to use is a high street shop.

The window display is slick and probably dictated by the bods in head office. People glance at it and know immediately what they’re getting. It’s beautifully designed and communicates the message well. So the potential customer comes into the shop and starts chatting to the guy behind the counter. He’s a little hungover and stressed but very passionate about the products on sale and has the sort of knowledge that comes from being immersed in an industry. As it happens they don’t have what the customer wants so he sends them to a similar shop down the road but the customer is impressed with the service and likes this guy on a personal level so they make a point of coming back.

Assuming you’re a sole trader your best marketing tool is yourself. If you’re running a stall at a craft market or pitching your film to funders your personality is going to go a long way to clinching the deal. The same goes for online. You need to complement the lovely photos of your work with a bit about yourself. And, in my experience, the simplest way to do that is to tell your story in a blog.

< Week 5: what about me?

Next in the series: plugging into the system >

Across 20 categories the 4Talent Awards tip exciting individuals with the potential to make a difference, as judged both by commissioners and the producers who supply them.

All the info on how to apply for the 4Talent Awards is here.

We now have over half of the 40 (yes, 40) judges on side:

Kate Vogel, Editor, 3 Minute Wonder (C4)
Sarah Mulvey, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries (C4)
Robert Wulff-Cochrane, Senior Development Editor, Drama (C4)
Caroline Leddy, Commissioning Editor, Comedy (C4)
Victoria Pile, Writer, Green Wing, Smack the Pony
Shane Allen, Commissioning Editor, Comedy (C4)
Ben Caudell, Creative Director @ Zeppotron
Liza Marshall, Head of Drama (C4)
Charlie Pattinson, Exec Producer @ Company (Shameless)
Cath Lovesey, Editor, Music (C4)
Lana Webb, Head of Music @ Remedy
Debbie David, Commissioning Editor, T4 (C4)
Richard Cook, Exec Producer @ Eyeworks (T4, Popworld)
Matt Locke, Commissioning Editor, Education (C4)
James Kirkham, Manager Director @ Holler
Dorothy Byrne, Head of News & Current Affairs (C4)
Alice Tonge, Art Director, 4Creative (C4)
Ewen Spencer, Freelance photographer (shot for Skins)
Ruth Fielding, Managing Director @ Lupus Films
Adam Gee, Commissioning Editor, New Media Factual (C4)
James Estill, Senior Producer, 4Talent (C4)

Further updates on the way soon.

This post forms part of a series. Read the first installment.

Words: