Northern Docs

18/11/2021

Big congrats to our long time friend and collaborator Persephone Rizvi on her latest project with the BBC...

Persephone Rizvi used to spend the weekends partying hard, but she was miserable. As part of a new documentary for BBC Three she reveals how Islam helped save her life

29/01/2021

Very pleased to see Sheffield Doc/Fest announce their new Northern Focus strand...this was one of the things we advocated for when we first established Northern Docs so very pleased to see it happening. A great opportunity for Doc makers in the North...

Jeanie Finlay and Freddy McConnell in conversation during Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019, for the European Premiere of Seahorse Calling all filmmakers based in the North! We are delighted to announce our new Film Programme strand, Northern Focus. Northern Focus is a new strand with a focus on films made ...

17/12/2020

Good to see this. Would be nice to think this might open up opportunities in the North - and good to have a new avenue of opportunity outside the traditional national broadcasters. But...conversely...there will be none of the 'political' pressure around representation. At least initially. Definitely worth engaging with though.

Netflix has announced a new UK-based Documentary Talent Fund, to support emerging filmmakers.

02/07/2020

Terrible news for the North of England and the other regions. Announced with baffling double speak defence. No effort to work towards creative solutions with devolved, regional partners...

English regional TV news and current affairs, local radio and online news will lose 450 jobs.

29/04/2020

Just a quick update as we have been quiet for a while. Hope everyone is doing okay. Following some extended dialogue with the BBC last year, they have now proposed this new scheme to build their activity in the North. It remains our belief that a sustained, independent effort, based in the North, is needed to more fundamentally tackle some of the systemic problems that affect the media industry. We do not believe this scheme will do that. However, for Northern based production companies it is nevertheless a specific, concrete opportunity and well worth looking at...

BBC Three and BBC England are collaborating for the first time to launch Northern Voices, the Factual Development Scheme for the North of England.

13/01/2020

More noises from the BBC about increasing their out of London presence...

Director-general launches staunch defence of public service broadcaster’s role

09/01/2020

If well targeted, this new funding could potentially have
a very positive impact ...

The BBC has unveiled a new package of support for small and emerging indies with turnovers of less than £10m designed to help boost the strength of UK production.

04/11/2019

This is an absolutely fantastic European initiative. We would urge anyone eligible to apply. Regrettably, it's a scheme that may not be open to UK doc makers for much longer...

The Documentary Campus Masterschool is composed of the Documentary Campus Masterschool Workshops and the Documentary Campus Industry Sessions.

25/10/2019

Interesting reading...https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/broadcasting-news/2019/10/ofcom-report-bbc-may-not-be-sustainable-its-current-form

Ofcom’s annual report on the BBC says the corporation is risking a “lost generation” as television viewing among 16-24 year olds falls below 50% for the first time.

23/10/2019

Structural changes in the BBC's news partnership scheme...https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/publishing-news/2019/10/bbc-opens-local-news-partnership-scheme-bame-organisations

The BBC’s Local News Partnership Scheme has been opened up to news platforms aimed at ethnic minority audiences, having previously been focused on geographical areas.

17/10/2019

Interesting to hear about Channel 4's plans to diversify their talent engagement last night at the launch of their new Northern base...we hope to engage with them in more detail over the coming months...

04/10/2019

Fantastic to see the ongoing work and impact of Kartemquin Films. A big inspiration for us here at Northern Docs... https://kartemquin.com/news/announcing-the-diverse-voices-accelerator-fund-and-emerging-storyteller-fund-grantees