Profile: Emma Riley
The producer profile
EMMA RILEY Head of production technology, Mentorn and Sunset + Vine.
After a broadcasting degree at Leeds, Riley started her TV career as a production secretary before becoming production co-ordinator on The Apprentice. After working abroad on BBC Factual dramas she returned to the UK to work as a production manager at Mentorn Media. Lives: Finchley, North London. Non-TV ambition: to build barn conversion in her native Yorkshire
After introducing tapeless workflows Emma Riley has quickly become an indispensable member of the team at Mentorn Media
L
earning about file-based workflows can be good for your career. If you don’t believe it ask 29-year-old Emma Riley, recently
promoted from a freelance production manager at Mentorn to head of production technology across Mentorn and sports producer Sunset + Vine. Since joining Mentorn three years ago Riley has spent her time mastering the disciplines of file -based workflows on Sky1 shows such as Night Cops, Grease the School Musicaland her latest and most high profile series An Idiot Abroad, Mentorn’s eight part comedy travelogue starring Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais’ podcast partner Karl Pilkington for Sky1 HD.
After an intensive crash course in shooting
formats such as XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX on these Sky shows, Riley has become one of the “go-to” people within the company for HD and tapeless production knowhow. She’s also been flown to industry exhibitions such as NAB and IBC
to offer expert advice on the secrets of tapeless production and file-based workflows.
COST SAVINGS FROM TAPELESS One reason that production managers are beating a path to her door is that all the three projects she has overseen have saved money – a characteristic guaranteed to earn any production manager the approval of the boss. “Around 2% of the production budget in fact,”
says Riley, who adds: “That doesn’t sound much but when you are talking about a multi-million pound budget, it’s significant.” Sometimes savings from file-based productions
come from unlikely sources – one of Riley’s biggest has been on DVDs of rushes. “On An Idiot Abroad, there was a lot of demand from executive producers, commissioning editors and other senior people. If it was shot on tape, we would have to outsource the production of a rushes DVD for
16 theproducer Autumn 2010
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