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All In A Day’s Work
GREG BRENMAN’S
2W 4SEVEN
Greg Brenman, joint head of film production and head of drama at Tiger Aspect was poised for a unique double earlier this year. As one of the producer team on Billy Elliot, he won the Alexander Korda Award for British Film Of The Year. Also nominated for Best TV Drama Series with Fat Friends, he was finally pipped on the evening. For Brenman, all the world’s a screen, as he explains to Anwar Brett.
ith his credentials, it should Yorkshire for a couple of years, and and went to Kay Mellor. She was untested come as no surprise that moved to entertainment on Through the at the time, Band of Gold hadn’t come Greg Brenman considers the Keyhole. After that, I did a chat show with out, but she loved the idea.” Mellor
world of hit movies not so far Ruby Wax on Channel 4, a country and would, of course, go on to write Fat removed from that of presti- western series with Hank Wangford, and Friends.
gious TV production. Indeed, he sees the then for six years, I did some script edit- Brenman is now in an enviable posi-
two forms as being in competition with each other as two very different, but equally important, forms in a bustling market place.
Brenman is ideally placed to oversee the growth in Tiger Aspect’s film and TV slate,having comeupthroughtheindus- try with what can be best be described as an wide-ranging background.
“It was an eclectic career,” says Brenman, “or if I’m being honest a really shambolic one. As a young man I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to get into telly, but I didn’t know whether it was going to be drama or not. I started off doing children’s TV in
ing at Thames drama department.
“I figured that one of the easiest ways
through would be children’s drama, so some friends and I created this series called All Change and sold it to Yorkshire Television. We did two series and as a result of that, I suppose I got my producing wings.”
A stint in the US filming the British documentary series, Funny Business, con- vinced Brenman where his future lay.
“When I came back I suggested to Tiger Aspect that if they backed me for a couple of years I would try to set up a drama department. That’s when I came up with the idea for Playing The Field,
tion, overseeing upcoming feature films like The Martins and Dog Eat Dog, small screen hits such as My Fragile Heart, Kid In The Corner and Teachers, and new TV like Murphy’s Law and Rescue Me. Between now and next March, his drama department will be responsible for 33 hours of TV programming.
Busy Brenman is, however, all too aware of the fickle nature of his two screen worlds. “The irony,” he says, can- didly, “is that 10 million people can watch Sarah Lancashire on TV in something like My Fragile Heart, but I doubt if 10 million have seen Billy Elliot.” ■
DOMI NI C SAVAGE’ S
SIX OF THE BEST
Industry personalities hand out their very own BAFTAs
Best Film
This is so difficult, there are so many, but I think I would have to vote Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon as Best Film. But then again, I’m biased. I would be, I was in it! (playing the young Lord Bullingdon). But it’s not just for egotistical reasons that I choose the film; I choose it because it was one of the greatest underrated films. It was in fact a masterpiece, an ulti- mate essay on the tragedy of humanity, stunningly romantic, beautiful to look at, and deeply involving.
Best TV Programme
I think that Trigger Happy TV should pick this award up as it has that being able to ‘watch it again and again’ factor. There are not many programmes that you can say that about. Dom Joly’s humour is effortless, surreal, and sort of timeless. It pokes fun at the absurdities of life in an absurd way, and just hits the mark. Comedy is where it’s at for me with television at the moment.
Other programmes that are contenders for this award are Never Mind The Buzzcocks and The People Vs Jerry Sadowitz. They never fail to hold on to you.
Worst TV Programme
Well I was going to vote Jim Davidson’s Generation Game for this just because not only does it feel dated, but it just has that terrible cringe factor when you have mis- takenly given it a chance and watched it. I just don’t know how anyone could give Davidson any kind of exposure on TV, he is patronising and irksome in the extreme. However I think there is
another show that has just pipped Jim to this award, and that is the current Brian Conley Show. It does take something to be embarrassed in your own home but this one manages triumphantly to do just that. One’s embarrassment becomes so great that you feel it for his guests and audience as well.
Lifetime Achievement
Ken Loach is a director who seems con- sistently to be able to make the films he wants to make in the way that he wants to make them, whilst retaining control throughout. That’s a very rare position to be in today. His films are able to do things that films at their best should do: deal with important social, political, or human issues, as well as genuinely engage an audience emotionally and intelligently, with performances that are rarely seen elsewhere on the screen.
Most Influential Person in Television
Peter Symes was one of those rare people who gave aspiring film mak- ers chances. I made a Picture This in its first series, and not only did he give me that break, but also encouraged me to experiment, and at the same time really enjoy film-
making. He really cared, and I don’t think there’s anyone around doing that anymore.
Most Memorable TV Experience.
A series in the seventies called Sight And Sound In Concert. Before the days of NICAM and high-tech telly this was a chance to bring live music into the front room, and, as a kid, really believe that you were at a concert. BBC2 broadcast it simultaneously with FM stereo Radio 1. I’d turn my dad’s tuner up to its fullest extent and immerse myself in its great- ness. Nothing else has made me sweat with excitement quite the same since.
Dominic Savage was named Best
New Director Fiction/Entertainment for Nice Girl in this year’s BAFTA TV
Craft Awards
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Photos from left: Dominic Savage;
Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (Archive photo courtesy Kobal)