new talent

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 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 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

“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

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.

The 4Talent Awards 2008 are now open: across 20 categories, get your work judged by Channel 4 commissioners and the producers who supply them.

Categories are short doc, long doc, dramatic writing, dramatic performance, directing, comedy writing, comedy performance, presenting, on-air radio, off-air radio, music, music for production, music video, innovation, multi-platform, animation, journalism, photography, multi-talented and the mysterious wildcard award.

channel4.com/4talentawards