We attended the Production & Post Forum at BAFTA Wednesday (5 November) and listened to talks by an all-star line-up of speakers in production and broadcasting.
 

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Starting off the day was veteran broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg, discussing arts programming, his career highlights and the past and present of broadcasting. We were then treated to a case study of Channel 4‘s Utopia with their production team, including Dennis Kelly, the show’s writer and creator, talking through the intricacies and problems that faced the show.

The forum then switched gears with an industry panel (see below) going through the state of production both nationally and internationally.

 Following on was another case study, this time on acclaimed show Line of Duty, and a sit-down with Studio Lambert and All3Media head, Stephen Lambert.

The production panel featured directors from: Creative Europe, Outline Productions, Wall to Wall and UKTV, and produced an in-depth conversation that spanned a multitude of topics, including the relationship between different sized productions and commissioning.

The group also went through the pros and cons of production partnerships, the key issues facing production houses of all sizes and a deeper discussion on why commissioning can prove more appealing than production.

Below you’ll find some of our favourite nuggets of the day, straight from the movers and shakers themselves.

Leanne Klein, chief executive of Wall to Wall: “Risk taking has gone to the producer rather than the broadcaster. There has never been a better time to be a producer in the UK”

Richard Watsham, director of commissioning at UKTV: “Our budgets have naturally increased. We are taking much, much bigger risks. People would be surprised at the investment in Dynamo.”

Agnieszka Moody, director of Creative Europe UK: “We have £100m a year for 33 countries for production, distribution, festivals etc.”

Laura Mansfield, managing director of Outline Productions: “Our agent CAA has helped us pitch ideas. They don’t care if we’re small, they care if the idea is big.”

Overall, it was a day packed full of strong debate, industry discussion and comedy gold, spanning every area of production and post.