Pure Graft

This is the last of the Actor Awareness Lockdown Q&A series and wanna end with a bang. So I have called in another big gun in Vicky Mcclure

 

Victoria Lee McClure (born 8 May 1983) is a British actress, model and presenter. She is best known for her roles as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in the BBC series Line of Duty (2012–present) and Lol Jenkins in Shane Meadows' film This Is England (2006) and its Channel 4 spin-off mini-series This is England '86 (2010), This Is England '88 (2011), and This Is England '90 (2015).[1] Before This is England, she appeared in another of Meadows' films, A Room for Romeo Brass (1999), where she played Ladine. She won the RTS Award and BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Lol in This is England '86 in 2011.

We will be discussing how she has forged an incredible career from a working class background, the differences of tv and film & taking questions from you.

Q&A with the incredible producer Jane Berthoud who is the ex head of BBC comedy radio.

 

As we come to the end of our Actor Awareness Q&A's I'm joined by Jane Berthoud who is an amazing producer and the ex head of BBC radio comedy who has a wealth of experience. We will be discussing writing for radio, how to approach broadcasters and taking questions from you.

Jane Berthoud is the Ex Head of Radio Comedy, which made around 160 hours of radio content each year, making it the single largest producer of comedy in the world. Most output airs on Radio 4 and spans entertainment as well as scripted comedy, shows include: The News Quiz, The Now Show, Just A Minute, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, It’s Not What You Know, Ed Reardon’s Week, Party, Bridget Christie Minds the Gap and Can’t Tell Nathan Caton Nothing to mention a few. Jane also oversaw French & Saunders and The New Comedy Awards on Radio 2.

In that time Jane was overseeing BBC Radio Comedy, the weekly comedy audience on Radio 4 had risen from 4.7 million to 5.7 million. The Friday Evening Podcast is frequently top of the iTunes chart.

Jane has also worked in TV as a Producer; she’s produced TV to Go, World of Pub and Ideal starring Johnny Vegas. Jane won a BAFTA and was made European Comedy Producer of the Year for the BBC Two show, Help.

As a Producer in Radio Comedy, Jane made On Baby Street written by Jenny Éclair and Julie Balloo with Caroline Aherne and Kathy Burke, Audio Diaries by Kay Stonham and At Home with the Snails, by Gez Foster as well as comedy shows for Radio 1 and Radio 2. She also produced Loose Ends on Radio 4.

She now runs her own production company Funny Bones Productions.

This Q&A is with the incredible Assistant Director and producer Nickie Sault. Her credits include THIS IS ENGLAND, WORLD ON FIRE , THE VIRTUES and many more. She has worked alongside some greats like Shane Meadows, Pete Bowker and Stephen Merchant.

In this Q&A we will be discussing working class representation in TV, how to get into being an assistant director and producer in TV, working class representation and the gender imbalance in TV. Alongside some questions you want to send in aswel. Oh and halfway through we surprised our zoom guests with an appearance by the king of the working class himself Shane Meadows!

In this Actor Awareness Q&A we have the incredible industry powerhouse that is Danny Brocklehurst, fresh off his most recent BAFTA nominations for Brassic.

Danny is a BAFTA and International Emmy winning screenwriter who has written on some of the biggest UK dramas of recent years. Credits include BRASSIC, SHAMELESS, CLOCKING OFF, ORDINARY LIES, THE ACCUSED and many more.

Between 1992 and 1999, Danny worked as a freelance journalist for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Big Issue, The Manchester Evening News and City Life. Since leaving journalism he has worked as a full-time scriptwriter. Danny won a BAFTA for his work on Shameless series one and was nominated for a Best Writer BAFTA for series two of Clocking Off. He was featured in the writers section of the Broadcast Hot 100 in 2007.

We will be discussing his gift for portraying working class stories, how he made the transition between journalism and script writing and also all the questions you want to ask to

Simon is a BAFTA winning comedy producer and script editor, whose most recent work has been to develop and produce three series and a special of the critically acclaimed This Country for the BBC. Previous credits include co-devising and producing three series of Josh Widdicombe’s Josh for BBC Three, three series of Small Scenes for BBC Radio, three series of Newsjack, two series of The Guns of Adam Riches and an Arthur Mathews sitcom called The Golden Age. Simon is passionate about writing and developing projects from scratch with talent.

We will be discussing with Simon tips and tricks on writing for comedy, how he became involved in This Country and of course questions from you guys as well.

Fresh off the back of a BAFTA nomination for The Virtues Nickie joins me and half way through a surprise from the King of the working class himself Shane Meadows. This Q&A is with the incredible Assistant Director and producer Nickie Sault. Her credits include THIS IS ENGLAND, WORLD ON FIRE , THE VIRTUES and many more. She has worked alongside some greats like Shane Meadows, Pete Bowker and Stephen Merchant.

In this Q&A we will be discussing working class representation in TV, how to get into being an assistant director and producer in TV, working class representation and the gender imbalance in TV.

Rebecca Papworth is a Creative Producer and Executive and Writer. She has twenty years producing experience at a senior level: she established Hat Trick North, launched The Salford Sitcom Showcase and was Executive Producer at BBC Comedy North, overseeing three series of CITIZEN KHAN, developing SUNNY D for BBC3 and HOME FROM HOME for BBC1. She has also spent time as a Commissioning Executive for BBC Nations and Regions, with credits including award-winning shows RAB C NESBITT, GAVIN & STACEY, THE ROYLE FAMILY and A MATTER OF DEATH. She was the first woman to produce HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, series produced the award-winning I LOVE THE 80’S, created FAME SET & MATCH and developed THE JOHNNY & INEL SHOW for CBBC. She is the originating Producer of BBC1 Comedy Drama series HOME FROM HOME, and is always on the search for original and distinct voices, and brilliant writing. Rebecca runs her own production company, CanCan Productions.

Amy Ireson has been an agent at Narrow Road for over 24 years. She has been at the forefront of setting up & running one of the most successful agency's in the UK. Narrow Road now not only has a huge reputation in London but up in the North to.

Amy has a wealth of experience in the industry making her the perfect person to gather advice off. We will discuss the best ways to get an agent, how to market & present yourself as an actor, showreels & headshots & much more.

So the moment you have all been waiting for, it's our drunk Christmas episode! Tom & Ellen sat down with mulled wine, apple sourz & lambrini to discuss panto, Christmas for actors, new years resolutions & positive thinking. We have a new sketch, a new segment called unpopular opinion & our festive addition of funny audition stories of the week. DISCLAIMER: As we get more drunk we apologise our language gets worse & worse, so just a warning, maybe use it as a drinking game and do a shot everytime we swear? Anyway enjoy the episode have an amazing Christmas & new year grafters.

This week Tom & Ellen take a trip down memory lane and look back on drama in schools. However due to recent government cuts now 9 in 10 schools have made cuts to arts programmes, 3 in 10 schools don't even have drama as an option. Also they discuss audition fees, Ellen as Dorothy, Tom as Bill Sykes and their favourite drama memories. Alongside this we start the episode in a peculiar way & a themed audition/ industry stories of the week. Enjoy!