Aim High to Cannes

This month marked one year since the Aim High Production Trainee Scheme began, and appropriately the trainees made another field trip. A far cry from BBC Wood Norton in Worcester, England we were flown to MIPCOM, Cannes.

Twelve months on from the intense training we had received at the BBC Academy “bootcamp” to give us the skills we needed to begin in TV, we were given the chance to see the value that one idea can have in the international television market. The market place itself was overflowing with ideas for scripted and unscripted TV programmes from the four corners of the world.

Amongst the most popular shows was unsurprisingly SYCO’s ‘Got Talent’, the number one selling format being broadcast in 54 countries – so the looped trailer repeatedly informed us. The drama ‘Homeland’ was also the talk of the market (both the original Israeli version and the American hit), whilst Belfast-set, and shot, BBC drama ‘The Fall’ was making its first appearance before it had barely left the cutting room.

We were privileged to meet some of the best distributors, agents, and broadcasters in Europe and the USA. Pat Quinn of Quinn Media was a very attentive listener being a self-confessed fan of Northern Ireland’s productions, eager to find out what programmes we had been working on. Google’s Joe McDermottroe, YouTube Sales Development Manager based in London, gave us a very honest and excited look into the future of content making. YouTube London has just launched the YouTube Creator Academy to support “partners” (YouTube channel owners) to become the next stars on the platform and help them enhance their, often already popular, content.

To balance out the sometimes overwhelming commerciality of the market, Ruth McCance of Sparks Network told us about the fascinating and insightful benefits beyond the dollar and euro signs, of working in programme distribution.

These are just three of the inspiring professionals we met. We also had the chance to pick the brains of UK and Ireland distributors; Derry O’Brien from Network Ireland, Tim Morley founder of Content West, Helen Jackson from BBC Worldwide, Andrea Jackson of DRG (Digital Rights Group); and the film music library and rights specialists, AudioNetwork.

All of the industry professionals we met had ambitions and dealings beyond the boundaries of our established comprehension of TV. But they all had a link or connection to the work we are doing back in Northern Ireland, whether it be acting as an agent for many of the companies we have worked for, or selling the documentaries and dramas made for audiences back home, to untapped international broadcasters.

The whole experience raised our perspective on developing ideas and stories for broadcast onto a much bigger scale. But it also reminded us that the humble beginnings of those ideas are the universal experiences and values that appeal to global audiences and translate into countless languages and formats.

We also left with some especially trendy bags sponsored by French company, Banijay. You’ll see us rocking these in and around Belfast!

Eight Months Later

Eight months ago I started Northern Ireland Screen’s Aim High Production Trainee Scheme. Fresh from the first ever Belfast Media Festival, I was excited and impatient to begin working in the burgeoning industry here that I had heard so many positive things about. What can I say now I’m eight months into the job?

June 2012’s Belfast Film Festival has given me useful pause for reflection. When the 15 trainees began we knew fairly well the capabilities of the TV industry here and we weren’t disappointed. I know I can speak for everyone when I say we have all seen and experienced the breadth and quality of TV production coming out of the region. But the recent film festival has demonstrated that Northern Ireland has the ability to reach beyond the small screen, and fill theatres with its feature films.

During the course of the Belfast Film Festival, there were three premieres of feature films produced by Northern Irish talent and made on location in the region.  Good Vibrations is a biopic of Terri Hooley, a Belfast record storeowner at the height of the punk-rock scene, directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn. Jump, adapted from comedian Lisa McGee’s play, is a heart stopping journey through Derry on New Year’s Eve as seven characters find themselves entangled with one another, produced by Brendan Byrne and directed by Kieron Walsh. Whole Lotta Sole is the latest film from Oscar winning Terry George. It’s a comedic tale in which a hapless father and a visiting American get caught up in a fictional underworld in Belfast, starring Hollywood stalwarts Brendan Fraser and Colm Meaney.

All three films embody an ambition that is building in Northern Ireland to test the potential here and see how far it can go. The reception they each received was equally telling of the appetite and support there is to see the industry go far. The effect of the festival on myself, as a trainee here in TV, was to spur myself on to stretch higher in my own roles. I am coming to the end of a placement that gave me experience in numerous fields and taught me a lot about Northern Ireland – its politics, culture and people. For my next placement I feel able to push myself further and take on more responsibility. This is something I hope will be possible.

My first ever blog was written the day after the MTV European Music Awards. I must admit I felt rather jaded that day, but I was brimming with optimism about the city of Belfast and the time I was going to have here. This latest blog is being published at rather an apt time, as someone I met that night has just appeared in a short film made by a friend of mine who also attended the awards. In a rather cyclical progression of time, after meeting David Monahan on the 6^th November 2011 when he streaked at the MTV EMAs we kept in touch and Jane Fletcher asked him to be the subject of one of a series of short films she is making for the NI Tourist Board. David’s story of courageously putting himself, or should I say running, onto the world stage is something that Northern Ireland can empathise with.

Over the past eight months Northern Ireland has done nothing but put itself at the forefront of the world stage, including the hosting of an international concert, the opening of a world class exhibition centre, the launch of three feature films, a visit to the US by the First and Deputy First Ministers on an investment mission, and there is more to come with the Irish Open being hosted in Portrush and a potentially history making state visit by Queen Elizabeth II.

There are now ten months left of my trainee scheme, keep checking in to find out where it will take me next!


I interviewed David for Jane's film. You can watch it below.

What's in a Flag?

In the week leading up to the Queen’s Jubilee weekend, Northern Ireland was debating its flag policy as part of the all-party ‘Shared Future’ working group. An agreed consensus however could not be found and the Alliance Party withdrew from the group. You might wonder what all the fuss is about, after all flags are just a piece of fabric aren’t they? But that couldn’t be further to the truth.

Flags have always been a point of contention in Northern Ireland and are synonymous with political and cultural allegiances. Flags in general are loaded with history and the shared heritage of a nation. The Union Jack was created at the union of the nations of the British Isles in 1800 and has since been present at so many milestones in the history of the UK. But its symbolism of union may have to evolve if Scotland votes for independence and the question of whether the St Andrew’s cross should be removed from the UK’s flag is already being asked.

In recent years the Union Jack has seen a renaissance, with it becoming an integral part of the trend celebrating a vintage era of quaint tea parties and old-fashioned values. The Jubilee weekend is full of kitsch street parties and all the paraphernalia that goes with them, adorned in the Union Jack flag. It has to be said however that this has mostly been the trend in England and there has been a noticeable lack of Jubilee celebrations over here in NI, unsurprisingly.

Flags are an indication of identity and all those flying them this weekend are expressing an identity as the subjects of a ruling monarchy. It is an identity however that many will not share. It’s this conflict over the identity of a nation that raises the issue of what place a flag has. If a nation cannot join together under one flag then should it be flown at all? But a nation without a flag is one that says it has given up trying to find common values. A flag is worth arguing over because it is important for any country to find common grounds otherwise there would be a very disparate society indeed.

NI is exactly a community struggling to find common grounds, though it has to be said the people here deserve applause for the conflict they have put behind them already. However the politicians on the hill have a great deal further to go before they can be awarded the same. If agreement can’t be made over the policy of flags then what precedent does this set for continued discussions on a ‘shared future’ in NI? Time will tell if old grudges can be put to bed and sacrifices made in order to really move forward.

Gay Blood - What's the difference?

Gay rights campaigners have been working for the equal treatment of homosexual men by the blood donation services in the UK for years. Homosexual men were banned from donating blood – indefinitely – in 1985 due to concerns over the increase in cases of HIV. Nearly 30 years on and gay men are still treated differently to other members of society by the blood service of one region in the UK...

Back in 2003 the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS) published an ‘Equality Impact Assessment on Access to Blood Donor Services’. The report reviewed the NIBTS under the context of section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Section 75 states that:

“A public authority shall in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity – between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial groups, age, marital status or sexual orientation.”

The 2003 report acknowledged that the donor policy of the time, to permanently ban gay men from donating blood, had a differential impact on the gay community. It said that the NIBTS would bring forward the discussion of a 12 months ban with the appropriate parties.

Fast forward to 2011 and the NIBTS is called upon again to review its services against section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 by the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland. This time the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) was undertaking a review of blood donation criteria relating to men who have sex with men. NIBTS published in their report of 2011 that “the BTS will continue to regularly review relevant policies and will adopt any changes as per UK Guidelines… Any change to the policy by NIBTS will be in the light of SaBTO and DH (Department of Health) recommendations.”

In April 2011 SaBTO released their report on the UK’s blood donation criteria. The report detailed the extensive improvement in testing for blood borne infections that has occurred since 1985. It also took into account societal changes, namely the concern that the permanent ban on homosexual men from donating blood projected negative stereotypes about the behaviour of the gay community.

The SaBTO report found that the risk of the blood supply becoming contaminated with an HIV infection with the lifetime ban on gay men in place is 1 infected donation for every 4.38 million donations. The risk of the blood supply becoming contaminated with an HIV infection with a 12 month ban on gay men instead is 1 infected donation for every 4.41 million donations. The difference, they said, was negligible.

In September 2011, Health Ministers from England, Scotland and Wales announced that they would accept the recommendation of SaBTO and would change the deferral period of men who have sex with men to 12 months since their last sexual contact. The change came into effect on the 7^th November 2011.

On 23^rd September 2011, Health Minister for Northern Ireland, Edwin Poots, gave a written reply to a question put to the Northern Ireland Executive. In this published reply, Mr Poots said “I take the view that the current position in Northern Ireland should not be altered.” Just over one month later, gay rights group ‘Rainbow Project’ appeared in Stormont to address Mr Poots’ decision. Mr Poots had changed his mind. He said in front of the Health Committee: “I have not made the final decision on blood donations by men who have had sex with men.”

Months later and Mr Poots still hasn’t made his mind up. His hypocrisy is deep and the irony, rich.

By declaring that he is seeking further evidence on top of the SaBTO report, the Democratic Unionist Party Minister is implying that the Health Ministers in the rest of the UK have not taken due consideration of all the facts available. He is setting his Health Department a part from the majority policy within the nations making up the UK. Not only this, but since declaring that he has not decided whether to change the blood donation deferral period for gay men, and since Scotland changed its policy to 12 months deferral, Northern Ireland has received blood supplies from Scotland.

Within these imported units of blood, the donation of a gay man who has not had sexual contact with another man in 12 months, could have helped save the life of a sick person in Northern Ireland.

The Health Minister’s indecision is an outright display of prejudice against the Northern Irish gay community. He is the only obstacle standing in the way of the UK receiving much needed donations of blood from a section of society that has been deemed by medical experts, globally, not to be a threat to the safety of the blood supply. Minister Poots is denying gay men the right to an altruistic act and he is denying those in need of blood from taking it from safe donors.

The Titanic Legacy

Across this weekend, 13^th – 15^th April 2012, Belfast is frantic with celebratory concerts and memorial masses and services to commemorate the sinking of the White Star Line’s world famous Titanic and those who went down with her. MTV return to Belfast to put on a concert at the site of the great slipways where Harland and Wolff built their two massive liners, the Titanic and the Olympic. The Waterfront Hall is putting on a live BBC concert with music and readings by renowned artists and ‘Requiem for the Lost Souls of the Titanic’, composed by Belfast born Philip Hammond and performed by premiere Irish voices, will be performed for the first time to a sell out audience at St Anne’s Cathedral. On the final day, masses and memorial services will be going on across the UK throughout the day.

You might think this weekend’s respectful services are right and proper to mark the centenary of such a tragic event. If you do, then you might also find the huge build up to this weekend a rather morbid profiteering. March 31^st heralded the long awaited opening of Belfast’s most expensive visitor attraction to date, Titanic Belfast, and what ensued was a festival of arts, music and activities that well and truly ensured that no one in Northern Ireland would be able to avoid the great legacy that is Titanic.

Costing nearly £100 million, I heard one local ask, “why didn’t they just rebuild the Titanic itself?” It is instead 150,000 square feet of world-class exhibition space. The biggest and most ambitious attraction built about the Titanic in the world, the new site really puts Belfast on the map in 2012. I went to see it in the opening weekend and the historian in me loved it. What I loved most about it was that it kept the city of Belfast at the heart of its story. It used interactive and entertaining techniques to tell the story of ‘Boomtown Belfast’ at the peak of its industrial success. Nowhere else I have visited has told this story to the full. I was aware of Belfast’s linen making, tobacco, and ship building history but I had no idea that it dominated the world markets as it did. Nor did I realise that in addition to these, it was also leading the world markets in rope making, fans and tea exports! All the “wow” figures that really set this home are all there to be seen in the exhibition.

The exhibition then continues to use avant-garde presentations to relay the building of the Titanic from the scaffolding in Belfast’s shipyards, to its fitting out, and eventual passage to Southampton, England, Cherboug, France and Queenstown, Ireland. Before sharing the real distress signals sent between the Titanic and nearby ships and exploring the inquest into the sinking. The real highlights for me that set it apart from an ordinary museum is the cable car ride that takes you through the sites and sounds of the shipyard and the cinema room that shows footage of the wreck as it is now.

Personally, I don’t agree with the furor around the Great Staircase. Belfast’s newspapers and radio shows erupted with complaints from local residents that they couldn’t see a replica of the Great Staircase during the public visitor experience. I fall within the camp that argues the only reason people want to see it is because of its prominent use in James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ film. If posing on the staircase a la Leo and Kate is the main priority of visitors to a Titanic exhibition then they’re really missing a trick…

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board is criticised for its emphasis on what is essentially, a very tragic demise. Donegall Square North in the center of Belfast, which is the street lined either side with high street stores, already has symbolic iron statues that each represents a sunken ship. The way I see it is that Northern Ireland is taking possession of an awe-inspiring ship that was literally built in its biggest city, and rightfully so. After all, an Irishman built the Titanic but it was an Englishman who sank it…

Since visiting the exhibition I have placed the Titanic Belfast at the top of my five things to do in Northern Ireland. The list is by no means firmly set, is currently Belfast-biased and will no doubt evolve, but for now it stands as the following…

1)    See the Titanic Belfast for a world-class exhibition and the industrial history of Northern Ireland.

2)  Drive up the Antrim Coast and take in Northern Ireland’s breath taking beaches, cliffs and the stunning Giant’s Causeway.

3)   Set aside an evening to enjoy the craic of Belfast’s traditional pubs including the Cathedral Quarter’s Duke of York and John Hewitt Bar as well as the Garrick and Maddens. If traditional Irish music is what you’re after then Maddens is the place for a Guinness.

4)   Book a Black Taxi Tour and see the murals of West Belfast. The drivers of the Black Taxis were eyewitnesses to the Troubles and will give you a real sense of what life was like in that time. But beware, the drivers tend to give their own version of events.*

5)   Take a walk from South Belfast into the city center, you’ll get a real sense of modern Belfast if you do this. Start at the Botanic Gardens and walk down Botanic Avenue, stopping to take in the arty, alternative feel of the Queen’s Quarter. Carry on down Dublin Road for the compulsory stop at Filthy McNasty’s and then on down Bedford Street to reach Belfast’s City Hall. Walk right round the square with some form of guide** to tell you which buildings are what – if you do you’ll realise the historical significance of the architecture and what happened within those buildings.

* For a recommended guide then get in touch.

** There is an app you can download for access to tours around Northern Ireland here. Or you can download itours presented by Patrick Kielty for all parts of Belfast for free.

Us and Them

It takes a bit of time spent in Northern Ireland to discover the undercurrent of prejudice that is a part of life here. Sectarian attitudes are only steadfastly held by a minority but the fabric, structure and habitual behaviour in everyday life of Northern Ireland is informed by an entrenched conflict between what it means to be Protestant and to be Catholic.

There are severe cases of sectarian division such as attacks by dissident republicans on the Police Service of Northern Ireland, or violence against Catholic persons by groups of Protestants. Violent attacks are not usually calculated or planned and in some instances seem to be the anti-social behaviour of young people who have ignorantly adopted the cause of an older generation.

But it is clear in some of the more lighthearted banter of the majority here that there seem to be recognizable differences between Protestants and Catholics that can be objects of amusement for both. The Northern Irish will usually be able to quickly determine whether someone they’re meeting for the first time is a Catholic or another denomination. Names can be very clearly Catholic if they are traditionally Irish, such as the girl’s name “Grainne” or the boy’s “Daire/Darragh”. Catholics pronounce the letter “H” as “haitch”. Some even joke that they can tell a Catholic or a Protestant just by looking at them – red hair can be a give away apparently! Whilst wearing a Rangers top is on a par with singing the British National Anthem.

Other identifiers are where people are from and where they live within a city. Belfast is divided between North, South, East and West and each area has its own reputation. West Belfast includes the infamous Falls Road and is well known for being at the heart of the Troubles and where Catholics will live in the likes of Andersonstown. Whereas South Belfast today has a reputation mostly for being a more economically advantaged part of Belfast with new Protestant professionals taking up homes there. Derry is another city that is rife with interface areas: where Protestant and Catholic communities live side by side. What you call Derry is also indicative: saying “Londonderry” instead of “Derry” shows an alliance with Protestant unionism. There are rural areas with similar reputations for allegiances too.

Of course these are all assumptions and biases that most will not stick to or take too much to heart. But they do remain indicators to discover what relations you might experience with someone new.

A 40-year-old friend from Holywood told me once that people from Northern Ireland “don’t care if you’re black, white or green… they care if you’re a Protestant or a Catholic”. I think this comment is telling. My friend is also gay and I’d asked him if he felt the LGBT society in Northern Ireland came up against more prejudice here than it might in other regions of the UK. He didn’t think it did. He praised the Northern Irish people for their modern attitudes towards homosexuality and race… but the one distinction they couldn’t look beyond was religion.

The tensions between the religious ideologies can be felt if you walk through different parts of Belfast today. Like any other city you have “bad” areas right next door to “good” ones. And the “bad” should not be avoided if you want to get on with your everyday life. What’s difficult to see is if Northern Ireland will ever be able to shake off sectarian attitudes entirely. Even the most subtle assumptions about someone’s religion made simply by how they pronounce the letter “h” has become a habitual behaviour for many. Even younger generations inherit an awareness of differences (whether they think badly of these differences is dependent on numerous other individual factors).

Not least is it difficult to see when sectarian values will end whilst Belfast continues to make a tourist industry out of its sectarian past – the Black cab tours through West Belfast are expected to be informative of the clashes between Protestant and Catholic communities and charge around £9 per person for the privilege. Sectarianism is embedded in the society here and until authorities and independent organisations make a conscious effort to dig it out many may continue to just accept it as part of being Northern Irish.

2012

I am spending the day after the New Year bank holidays clearing up after 2011: cleaning, sorting, getting healthy food in and taking time to say my “thank yous”. So it felt like a good time to have a think about some of my hopes for 2012. I am reluctant to set hard and fast resolutions as things are still so changeable that I don’t think I can rely on being able to achieve specific targets. Instead I’d rather think about some priorities for the coming year as well as what I am looking forward to most.

Top of my list is to see much much more of Northern Ireland. Since I moved about three months ago I have spent most of my time in Belfast, only venturing to Holywood, Larne and Newtownards once each. I have yet to explore the Black Mountains, or see any of the coast and Derry remains unknown to me. Having said that there are some key events happening in 2012 that would be silly to miss in Belfast. The biggest of which being Belfast’s commemoration to the sinking of the Titanic ship in April 1912. I’ve already booked my ticket to the brand new exhibition opening in the Titanic Quarter on the 31^st March 2012. I also have to admit that I am looking forward to St Patrick’s Day on 17^th March. It might be a cliché but I’ve taken part in celebrations of the patron saint in London in the past and I can’t wait to see how the Irish really do it – especially on a Saturday!

Another priority this year for me is to continue to meet and make new friends over here. Whether it is in new work environments as my placements change, or through new housemates or new hobbies. I have met some enormously friendly and generous people already and it’s their welcome that has encouraged me to broaden my social scope. I know there are so many sides to life in Northern Ireland that meeting new people will be one way of introducing me to the sides I haven’t seen yet.

Professionally, my aim for this year is to consolidate the existing networks and ties I have and build new ones. Tomorrow I will be starting my second placement working with a whole new team. I am excited at the prospect and am ready to work hard to contribute well to the project. I may work for two more companies before the year is out making the experiences I will have had working in a team, with different companies and different styles and approaches, varied and diverse. I intend to leave each placement knowing that the company and team I worked with want to work with me again.

As long as I can keep these aims in sight then I will be able to make the most of the 12 months ahead and feel like 2012 was a year well spent.

The Luck of the Irish

Coming from a background in London-centered media, it was hard to miss the media frenzy that is whipping around this region of the UK when I arrived in Northern Ireland two months ago. From the key note speech delivered by Channel 4 Chief Executive David Abraham at the Belfast Media Festival to the recent claims made by business commentators that Ireland’s TV and film industry could save Ireland’s economy, it’s been hard to miss the celebration of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s emerging creative talent.

I, amongst many, have observed a geographic shift in the UK’s television from out of London into the regions in recent years. Of course, not least as a result of the BBC’s move up north to Salford Quays, but commissioners have been more and more inclined to look outward to companies with exceptional talent in the regions.

Earlier this summer Channel 4 announced its plans to commission more programmes from the regions, hailing companies like Double Band Films in Belfast as producers they had enjoyed working with in the past. Additionally, Northern Ireland’s Producer/Director Alison Millar was given a personal nod during Abraham’s speech at the Belfast Media Festival in October. Channel 4’s relationship with the Northern Irish TV industry may be a recently renewed affair, but the BBC has been paying more attention to this part of the UK for a while longer now with John Ferren’s 360 Production giving archaeology a reinvigoration the likes of which it hasn’t seen since the longest running history programme on TV, ‘Time Team’, dug their way into our homes.

It’s not just the UK networks that are sitting up and paying attention to what regional talent can offer. HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ has been called a “game-changer” for Northern Ireland’s media industry. Northern Ireland Screen’s acquisition to produce and shoot this hugely popular fantasy series on the shores of the emerald isle was a great triumph. It appears the organisation’s Irish affability has paid off as their relationship with the American giant looks set to be even more profitable in the future. Perhaps with a tinge of green, CEO of Screentime ShinAwiL production company, Larry Bass, from the Republic of Ireland, has claimed that if Ireland’s producers opened their nets wider to international networks the creative industry could boost the Republic’s economy significantly by creating 5,000 jobs and bringing Ireland to the attention of tourists globally. Indeed, the Irish Film Board recently released news of a pact it has made with the BBC ‘Storyville’ strand to co-produce five feature docs over the next year. The pact deliberately aims to support Irish talent and crews.

It’s not the only scheme looking to invest in talent in Northern Ireland. The training scheme that I am on is also a sign that Northern Ireland is looking to expand and nurture young and new talent in the region’s television industry. There is a yawning gap in the workforce between producers in the higher grades and those just entering the industry as in recent decades very few have been brought into Northern Irish television, and stayed. But that is changing now with several schemes on offer in the north and south of Ireland for those looking for a career in the creative industries.

To those London cynics who wished me “Good luck…”in my new job here in Northern Ireland with a facial expression that said “…cos you’re gonna need it!” I would say come over here and try it – there’s something in the rainwater…