Category Archives: Industry

Inclusivity in Film – Launchpad:Access

Blog, Film, Industry

I really enjoyed Launchpad:Access held in Cardiff on 13th May. Organised by Ffilm Cymru Wales in partnership with Hijinx Theatre, CULT Cymru, Disability Arts, Diverse Cymru and Equity, it aimed to get more deaf and disabled people represented in, and working on, film, both on screen and behind the camera. Many of the principles and insights presented would apply across media. I attended in order to improve my understanding of the experience of deaf and disabled people working in film and how I might, as a writer and tv producer, respond more creatively to that. Continue reading Inclusivity in Film – Launchpad:Access →

My Literature Wales Writers’ Bursary 2017

Blog, Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint, Print, Writer

I am thrilled to have been awarded a Literature Wales Writers’ Bursary for 2017. I admit (career suicide for a writer!) to being at a loss for words to describe how encouraging I find it to have expert opinion, and public money, invested in me. Maybe ‘inspiring’ will do the job. My congratulations to all the bursary recipients.

Continue reading My Literature Wales Writers’ Bursary 2017 →

Getting a Foot in the Door – Increasing Diversity in Film in Wales

Blog, Film, Industry

What’s not to like about a scheme which tackles more than one problem at a time? Ffilm Cymru Wales has launched Foot in the Door / Troed yn y Drws  focused on a large group of people in Wales who are currently hampered by exclusion from the workforce, while the workforce is hampered by losing out on their skills.

Continue reading Getting a Foot in the Door – Increasing Diversity in Film in Wales →

When Religion Makes the News – how well is it reported?

Blog, Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint, PortfolioRadio, PortfolioTelevision

This post appeared first on the IWA’s clickonwales site 5.11.16

When religion makes the news how well equipped are journalists to understand it? The notion of a dedicated religious correspondent fell out of favour as Britain became more secular but religion as a force in current affairs has never been so prominent. There is a religion-and belief-sized gap in the training that would-be journalists and practising professionals are receiving. NUJ Training Wales, the training arm of the National Union of Journalists has taken a bold initiative towards filling it.

A one-day workshop will be held in Cardiff on November 8th

http://nujtrainingwales.org/event/religion-makes-news/

When Religion Makes the News will be chaired by the eminent broadcaster, Roger Bolton (Panorama, This Week, Feedback) and addressed by Aaqil Ahmed, BBC Head of Religion and Ethics. Continue reading When Religion Makes the News – how well is it reported? →

When Religion Makes the News – A Workshop for Journalists

Blog, Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint, PortfolioRadio, PortfolioTelevision

Religion is an element in many high profile stories today but how well are journalists supported in their efforts to understand and interpret its role? I have organised with NUJ Training Wales the first event in Wales to address this urgent skills issue.

WHEN RELIGION MAKES THE NEWS: Workshop & Networking Event, Cardiff

A workshop for all journalists living or working in Wales: 8th November 2016

Continue reading When Religion Makes the News – A Workshop for Journalists →

Pitch Your Ideas Workshop

Industry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint, PortfolioTelevision, Uncategorized

I never fail to be impressed by how well participants in this workshop grasp the pitching principles I offer. I am convinced that most people are aware of what it takes to make a good sales pitch but perhaps have not had the opportunity to pull what they know together and also to reach for the sales person hidden inside each of us. And it’s fun – as you can see  in the photograph above – happy faces at the end of the workshop I delivered on 10th March! Continue reading Pitch Your Ideas Workshop →

Praise for impact of WISERD research on Media in Wales

Blog, Industry

The director of a major social science research body has warmly praised work done as part of the Wales Media Audit 2015. The Audit was produced by the Media Policy Group of the Institute of Welsh Affairs.

Continue reading Praise for impact of WISERD research on Media in Wales →

Crabb Deal on Broadcasting in Wales is not secure yet

Blog, Commentator, Industry, Television

See IWA Click on Wales blog page 9th March

Crabb Deal on Broadcasting in Wales is not secure yet

When Stephen Crabb, the Secretary of State for Wales, stood up on 27 February to proclaim a (fragile) cross-party consensus on further powers for Wales, he did so only hours after Ofcom, the media regulator, had closed its consultation on the future of public service broadcasting. Ofcom’s review and the Crabb ‘consensus’ represent potentially important milestones for broadcasting in Wales.

What the premature St. David’s Day agreement (a Sunday announcement was never on the cards) had to say about broadcasting, unsurprisingly, made no headlines, but it laid down an important marker for the coming debate on the BBC’s Charter and for the need to deepen Welsh involvement in media policy. There is a huge amount at stake both for viewers and for our television production industry.

Apparently, all four parties are now agreed on proposals that the IWA has supported and promoted for some years past in various publications, and in the evidence that it submitted to the Silk Commission by the UK’s Changing Union project in which it has been an active partner. It did so again last week in its response to Ofcom’s consultation document.

Mr. Crabb’s Command Paper says there was consensus around the following Silk Commission proposals: Continue reading Crabb Deal on Broadcasting in Wales is not secure yet →

Industry Practitioners in Higher Education

Industry, Reviewer, Teaching

Chapter 8 in ‘Cultural Work and Higher Education’

Edited by Daniel Ashton and Catriona Noonan (Palgrave Macmillan 2013)

I read this chapter on ‘cultural industries practitioners working within higher education’ with interest since I fit that category and have seen little written about this experience. The sample is rather small, drawing on interviews with 12 practitioners in three industry sectors at  five HE institutions, five of whom are Games Designers. However, there are references to various academic works on the topic. The key thing is that the role of industry practitioners is receiving some consideration. There are many nuggets of insight here. Continue reading Industry Practitioners in Higher Education →