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CHRIS KINGSLEY TAMSIN EDENBROW RICHARD BRIDGELAND MONA QURESHI JENS BAYLIS ANDREW LEYSHON PETER ORTON CLAUDIA PARKER SEAN FRANCIS KELVIN TUITE REBECCA SHAW
EVENTSCALENDAR
EVENTSCALENDAR
answers. It proved extremely popular, and the David Lean Room was packed with an eager, enthusiastic crowd.
The speakers all gave very clear accounts of their own ideas and perspectives and the audience contributed greatly to the evening. The financiers were not let off the hook by frustrated producers who felt their creativity was constantly thwarted by financial limita- tions, and the Q&A turned into quite a heated debate.
which debated the merit of current initiatives aimed at discovering the successful comedy writers of the future.
The BBC’s Talent initiative endeavours to find the next generation of sitcom writers, with workshops, mentors and a commission at the end of the high-profile nationwide quest Sioned Wiliam outlined the strategy behind her £1 million fighting fund to develop new comedy. “I want to make writ- ing sitcoms fashionable again.
raised the inevitable questions about financial incentives, opportunities and openings for new writers and compar- isons with the writing-team system in the US.
FULL REPORTS OF THE FOLLOWING EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF ACADEMY IN JULY
DIGITAL ARTS: BAFTA’s new award for Interactive Arts has widened the scope of the Interactive Entertainment Awards to reflect an exciting new pool of talent and ideas. To introduce some of these new develop- ments BAFTA hosted an evening of exploration of Interactive Arts.
HOW TO MAKE AN AWARD- WINNING DOCUMENTARY: Excepts from the award- winning Divorce Iranian Style and Gulag were screened at this event, and the relevant producers were on stage with Diane Glynn to answer audi- ence questions.
ANAGEMENT MASTERCLASS:
The strand continued
in May with Bob Phillis,
Chief Executive, Guardian Media Group. The class was introduced by Ed Shedd of sponsors Arthur Andersen and chaired by Paul Styles. Max Carlish produces the strand.
THE INDEPENDENT VIEW: Our other popular strand continued with a profile of Bazal. BAFTA’s Michael Attwell interviewed the king of lifestyle programming and recently honoured BAFTA Fellow Peter Bazalgette about his career to date and plans for the future. This strand is produced by Sarah Gibbs and Executive Producer is Beatrice Ballard.
SOUNDING OFF2: BAFTA’s first full day conference, run in conjunction with the London College of Music and Media, examined the role of audio in interactive media. It proved to be a unique event for composers, sound design- ers and producers working in all areas of interactive media and for all those who were keen to know more
COMING SOON
(or as we go to press)
JUNE 14: WRITER ASHLEY PHAROAH (Where the Heart Is, Silent Witness, Life Support) will be on stage after a special screening of his latest drama Anchor Me to talk about the personal soul searching behind the delicate- ly crafted script. He’s joined by director Patrick Lau and exec- utive producer Simon Lewis.
JUNE 15: STEVE MORRISON, chief executive of the Granada Media Group, gives a Management Masterclass. A graduate of the National Film School, he joined Granada Television in 1974 to set up their Northern Documentary Unit. He went on to produce and direct World in Action and became Head of
Regional Programmes and sub- sequently Head of Features and Documentaries. He is also a director of ONdigital, the joint venture with Carlton, which launched in November 1998. Steve is a Governor of the British Film Institute, British Film Commission and National Film & Television School, not to mention a direc- tor of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Breakfast will be served from 8.00am. It’s a British Academy Event in association with Arthur Andersen
JUNE 20: PETE BUCKINGHAM, FilmFour’s director of UK distribution gives a pre- sentation called “Marketing a Film: The Story Of East Is East - From post-production to £10m box-office hit”. He will cover FilmFour’s positioning of the Alexander Korda Award- winning East Is East, the find- ings of their research into the film and the UK campaign (including poster, trailering, advertising, PR, promotions and website). Ever wanted to know the significance of the spotty dog? Come along and find out at this special event following the presentia! ■
BAFTA
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING JULY 3
IT’S YOUR COUNCIL
You have until June 12
to put your name forward for election. Ballot papers will be sent out for voting between June 12 and June 27
PLEASE USE YOUR VOTE IT REALLY MATTERS
BAFTA LONDON www.bafta.org
ARMCHAIR COMEDY
21st-Century Sitcom, held in association with the Writers Guild, also bene- fited from a capacity audience who were not shy of contribut- ing to the debate. It was little wonder the event proved so popular, with a panel that con- sisted of Sioned Wiliam (ITV Controller of Comedy), Simon Nye (writer, Men Behaving Badly), Jimmy Mulville (MD, Hat Trick Productions), Geoffrey Perkins (BBC Head of Comedy), Graham Linehan (writer, Father Ted), Jessica Stephenson (Writer/actress Spaced) and Bruce Dessau (TV Critic). Alkarim Jivani (TV Editor, Time Out) chaired the discussion and Q&A,
It’s time we changed people’s attitudes... I am not ashamed of sitcoms”.
The event championed sit- com as a genre, both golden oldies and current pro- grammes worthy of their BAFTA nominations – Spaced, The Royle Family, The Vicar of Dibley and Dinnerladies, with clips from the 4 programmes delightfully proving the point. It was felt the genre has often been derided as lightweight, unstimulating entertainment and not given the respect it richly deserves.
However, the audience seemed to support the view that writing for sitcoms is an important, highly-skilled craft, and the many writers present
M
Photo above: The panel at the sitcom event from left, Graham Linehan, Sioned William, Jessica Stephenson, Alkarim Jivani. Jimmy Mulville, Bruce Dessau, Geoffrey Perkins and Simon Nye
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