Production THOMAS O’BRIEN, 27
Development producer, Twofour Broadcast Thomas can boast a long list of credits, including high-profile entertainment shows The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year, Would I Lie To You? and Alan Carr: Chatty Man, as well as a variety of new- media content for
VBS.tv and Pocket TV. As an accomplished format developer, Thomas has also played a key role in entertainment shows such as No Taste Like Home, Hold On To Your Seat and Coronation Street: Uncovered, and helped redevelop existing shows such as Dancing On Ice and This Morning. Pilots on which he has worked that have gone on to become series include Charlie Brooker’s You Have Been Watching. “I was interviewing him for a development
AP role, but as soon as I met him I got the feeling that pretty soon he’d be the one taking pitches and I’d be the one saying I knew him when… and using it as leverage to get a com- mission out of him,” admits Talkback Thames head of development Gail Harman. Thomas recently joined Twofour Broadcast,
where he will help to bolster the entertainment slate while developing factual and fact ent projects. He also won a place on the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival Fast Track Scheme in 2010.
REBECCA EDWARDS, 28
Assistant producer, BBC TV Rebecca is “one of the most accomplished assistant producers of her generation”, accord- ing to BBC Science Unit head Andrew Cohen. Rebecca made her name working with
science star Brian Cox. While assistant pro- ducer on Wonders Of The Universe and Stargaz- ing Live, she and her crew got caught up in the violent snowstorms of last winter. She demon- strated her resilience and ingenuity by setting up a whole new shoot with minimal help from the production office. “To carry the crew and presenter through
this logistical nightmare was tough enough, but the results Rebecca delivered would have been impressive from a shoot with weeks of planning,” says Cohen. Rebecca is now working on a new science series for BBC3, Ask A Stupid Question.
ALEX TATE, 28
Producer/director, Windfall films Since joining Windfall Films as a researcher four years ago, Alex has worked on engineering series Mega Moves and Big, Bigger, Biggest, and was edit producer for Channel 4’s Inside Nature’s Giants, for which he shares a Bafta for Best Specialist Factual Programme for his con- tribution to the first series’ whale film. David Dugan, chairman of Windfall Films, says: “Alex did some of the most important groundwork sourcing animals and organising filming.” Since he stepped in as edit producer on the
whale film, demonstrating his grasp of scien- tific and technical data alongside strong organi- sational skills, he has gone on to direct and produce his own episodes: a recent polar special and upcoming episodes featuring a hippo, a kangaroo and a leatherback turtle. “In a short time, he has established himself as an adventurous and very talented producer/direc- tor,” says Dugan.
www.broadcastnow.co.uk August 2011 | Broadcast Hot Shots | 7
Production
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