Channel 4, Gritty Talent Team for Diversity Drive – Global Bulletin

Naman Ramachandran
·3 min read

DIVERSITY

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 is teaming with TV talent company Gritty Talent to help independent production companies build more diverse senior teams. The move in the wake of the broadcaster’s new commissioning guidelines published in June, which require all the indies it works with to have ethnically diverse as well as disabled off screen talent on production teams, with the new framework coming into play Aug. 1. The requirements are part of the legacy of Channel 4’s Black to Front Project.

Gritty Talent will define where the skills gaps and talent shortages exist across the U.K. in specific genres, and they will then help to identify the suitable talent. Genres under the spotlight first will be news and current affairs, factual entertainment and documentaries. The work will be supported by Channel 4’s strategic training and development initiative 4Skills, which focuses on supporting talent from diverse and disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

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Continuing its Black To Front Project work Channel 4 has set several new commissions including “The Big Breakfast,” “Unapologetic” and “Crazy Rich.”

LABEL

Fremantle‘s Thames is launching factual entertainment label Upstream, with Neale Simpson in the newly created role of creative director. Upstream is designed to allow Thames to diversify its slate and expand its client base as Thames looks to broaden its outreach to other genres. Simpson previously spent a decade at Banijay and was most recently creative director at Fizz and RDF, where he led on development, operations and executive produced series across both labels, with titles including: ITV’s “Tipping Point,” BBC Two’s “Lightning,” E4’s “Shipwrecked,” BBC Three’s “Fight Dirty,” “Craig and Bruno’s Great British Road Trips” for ITV and “The Crystal Maze” for C4 and Nickelodeon in the U.S.

APPOINTMENTS

The Dublin International Film Festival has appointed Yvan Cebenka as managing director. Cebenka has previously served as tournaments director of Six Nations Rugby and operations director for international sports rights holders ERC (now European Professional Club Rugby), as well as being a former board member of Rugby League Ireland. In addition, the festival board, which is chaired by Aidan Greene, has added content strategist and journalist Laurence Mackin, broadcaster and journalist Ola Majekodunmi and law academic and public educator Bashir Otukoya.

FESTIVAL

The 7th edition of annual film music festival Movie Score Málaga opened this week, welcoming special guests including seven-time Oscar-nominee and Tony-winning composer/lyricist Marc Shaiman, Oscar-nominated composer Harold Faltermeyer, and acclaimed composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson.

Led by manager of Malaga Procultura Juan Antonio Vigar and artistic coordinator David Doncel and organized by the the Malaga Film Festival, the event began July 6 with a screening of Giuseppe Tornatore’s Ennio Morricone documentary “Ennio.” July 7 features a solo concert and performance by Marc Shaiman including a retrospective of hits from his music on “Hairspray,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Smash.”

July 8 sees the debut orchestral concert of hit Netflix/Sony series “Cobra Kai,” with music performed by show composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson, accompanied by the Malaga Symphony Orchestra and Granda Chamber Choir under the direction of Isabel Rubio. July 9 features a performance of the works of Harold Faltermeyer including “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Tango & Cash,” and “Top Gun.” With music curation by the Fernando brothers, Faltermeyer’s work will be performed by the Movie Score Málaga Assembled Orchestra and directed by Joan Martorell.

The festival culminates July 10 with an orchestral performance and evening dedicated to Shaiman, who will be receiving the festival’s 2022 Maestro Award. The Malaga Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Díez Boscovich will perform featured projects including “The Addams Family,” “Sister Act,” “The American President” and “Mary Poppins Returns.”

. - Credit: MOSMA
. - Credit: MOSMA

MOSMA

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