Factual Fast Track – Interview

As part of her Factual Fast Track placement, Jane worked as Series Producer on the BBC’s “Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure” which recently won a BAFTA for Daytime.

Since the programme, Jane has directed a 60-minute documentary, “Out of the Silence” for BBC Northern Ireland, and produced and directed another 60-minute documentary for BBC NI and RTÉ titled “The Priests: Fame and Fortune”. Last summer, Jane directed her first advert and she is currently working with DoubleBand Films, directing a documentary on the Second World War in Northern Ireland for BBC NI.

When I saw a social media post about the FFT programme I was at a point in my career where I was wondering where to go next. I’d been working as a freelance Director and had a few SP credits. I wanted to be considered for network commissions and series with scale and ambition but wasn’t sure how to acquire the skills, the contacts and the confidence to make that happen.  FFT offers a paid production placement, mentoring and focused training;  I knew that I’d never get that opportunity anywhere else.

It’s hard to point to one big takeaway because I learnt to so much from the course. I think what the training and masterclasses gave me was a set of skills in negotiating, storytelling, managing a team and how to do a really good job interview that are invaluable. Meeting with commissioners, having industry mentors like Luke McFarland from Channel Four and Dympna Jackson of Purple Productions gave me an insight into the wider industry that I had been lacking before I did the course and having a cohort of super talented and supportive creatives from Scotland and Northern Ireland is a lasting benefit of FFT.

If it hadn’t been for FFT and the wonderful work Kathryn Ross did in introducing me to companies I hadn’t worked with before I’d never have applied for the role of SP on Alleycat TV’s  “Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure” for BBC Two. On Sunday I was one of the Alleycats team to be awarded a BAFTA for best Daytime TV show. So in terms of how the FFT programme helped my career, I can only say it got me a BAFTA!

I can’t recommend this programme highly enough. The targeted training it offers in the skills you need as a Series Producer is second to none. It will also introduce you to people in the industry that can change your career. What I would recommend to anyone thinking of applying for FFT is to be prepared to put the effort into doing every masterclass, offer to curate them, be open and ready to be challenged and not be afraid to ask the stupid questions,  you will get some much more from the course if you do. You will  be supported and you will meet wonderful producers from Scotland and Northern Ireland. These are the people I go to when I want advice, we share information about jobs and genuinely support one another in the work that we do.