A Conversation with Producers and Commissioners

Continuing with our series of short presentations and discussions for aspiring artists and filmmakers we are joined by Vimeo's Director of Curation Jordan McGarry, producer and joint head of Fly Film Kate Ogborn, producer Rik Green whose most recent work for Pulse Films includes music videos for The Chemical Brothers and Miike Snow, producer Beth Turrell and producer and director Kate Misrahi from the BBC.

In this session we open up the world of music video, film and TV commissioning. We look at the diverse role of the producer, the development of creative treatments for commissioning and the future of film distribution and the increasing influence of online media platforms.

Jordan McGarry is Vimeo’s Director of Curation, heading the team that programmes the site’s illustrious Staff Picks channel, the Vimeo on Demand homepage and its new Curated Categories. Jordan joined Vimeo in 2011 after a career that has spanned journalism, commissioning and executive production. Jordan has commissioned films for DAZED and Nowness; and curated programmes and chaired panels for the British Film Institute, the British Council and the Edinburgh International Film Festival, among others.

Rik Green is a Producer at Pulse Films and music video commissioner for Warp Records. He has previously received a Best Producer nomination from the UK MVAs. Rik’s most recent producing credits include Miike Snow (Genghis Khan), The Chemical Brothers (Sometimes I Feel So Deserted) and Major Lazer (Light it Up). He has also recently commissioned videos for Warp artists Battles, Oneotrix Point Never and Darkstar.

Kate Ogborn is a producer whose most recent feature documentary Hockney was recently nominated for a RTS award and will be released in the US this month. Prior to setting up Fly Film, Kate was Head of Television at Revolution Films. She co-produced Tony Grisoni’s adaptation of David Peace’s crime novels, The Red Riding Trilogy, and Samantha Morton’s directorial debut, The Unloved, which won a Bafta for Best Single Drama in 2010. Her other producer and executive producer credits include the multi award winning Under the Skin, This is England and Bronson.

Beth Turrell is a Producer and Project Lead for the BBC. Beth heads up the The Collective team – a creative agency of emerging creatives that conceive, develop and make original arts programmes that appeal to younger audiences across all BBC platforms. As Project Lead, Beth’s credits include The F-Word and Me (BBC Three); Women Who Spit (iPlayer) and Words First (Radio 1xtra).

Kate Misrahi is a producer/director with 22 years’ experience of working across major BBC channels for London Factual. Her wide variety of programmes include landmark arts and history docs for BBC1, 2 & 4 (Dominic Sandbrook’s 80’s; Kenneth Clark: Portrait of a Civilised Man; Seven Ages of Britain and The Victorians); observational docs for BBC1 & 2  (Imagine, Making It, Date with an Artist) and topical magazine and studio-based programmes for BBC2 & 4 (Artsnight; The Culture Show). Kate was also producer/director on 5 specially commissioned spoken word poems for BBC iPlayer called Women Who Spit.