The Yorkshire Centre struck a chord with its sell-out first meeting of 2006. Staged at The Venue, Leeds College of Music the event title Made in Yorkshire – Who Cares? was designed to provoke a response from people across the region. It certainly did that with a near-to-capacity audience filling the auditorium to hear how leading programme makers such as Kay Mellor of Rollem Productions, Keith Richardson and Clare Morrow of ITV Yorkshire, Andrew Sheldon, of True North Productions, Ali Rashid, of Real Life Media Productions, Ruth Pitt, Creative Director for Out of London BBC and Ian Cundall, of BBC Yorkshire, fight their respective corners to keep production in the north.

Paul Bader of Screenhouse Productions, producer and the main moving force behind the event, anticipated at the outset some doom and gloom surrounding the future prospects for production in Yorkshire; what subsequently transpired on the night was upbeat and inspiring. “Things have changed in the months since I started setting this up” said Paul after the event. “Sally Joynson and Hugo Heppell of Screen Yorkshire were extremely positive about the future thanks to their work and the constant lobbying by some of us, directed especially at the BBC. The BBC has recognised the urgent need to help the English regions as evidenced by their decision to appoint Ruth Pitt as Creative Director for Out of London development and to spend £400million just on one project – the move to Manchester. The BBC is making supreme efforts to assure everyone that Manchester will not be another London and that we’ll all benefit.”

Writer, director and actress Kay Mellor of Rollem Productions pointed to the hit drama series made by her company - programmes such as Fat Friends and Playing the Field were all set in and around West Yorkshire. “I wouldn’t want to make my programmes anywhere else” she said. And when it comes to a straight choice for employing production people she’d go for a Yorkshire based person every time! Maintaining a talent pool was a key theme at the event, with recognition of the economic importance to the region which has 7000 people working in the business and many hundreds more studying media.

The event, so ably chaired by broadcaster and journalist Geoff Druett, demonstrated just how passionate people are about their future when they perceive a threat from outside and this event also brought commitment to the region into sharp focus as a major production centre. Commitment from the BBC and commitment from ITV (note to Keith Richardson please keep doing the business for us) and of course commitment from the Indies who, increasingly, bear the creative and economic pressures of an ever-changing media landscape.

More channels have meant greater opportunities for programme makers and Ali Rashid said he was keen to see the BBC in particular commissioning more out-of-London production. “The licence fee will raise £40 billion over the next ten years” he said “That money will be raised from all over the country and it should be spent all over the country.”

A highly successful event with many topics given an airing; from local TV versus broadcast to making programmes for mobile phones it seems the opportunities are great. The future is bright, the future is made in Yorkshire and we care with a passion!

Chris Meehan

List of speakers taking part:

Kay Mellor, Rollem Productions

Keith Richardson, Controller of Drama, ITV Yorkshire

Sally Joynson, Acting Chief Executive, Screen Yorkshire

Hugo Heppell, Head of Production, Screen Yorkshire

Ruth Pitt, Creative Director for Out of London, BBC

Andrew Sheldon, Co-founder, True North Productions

Ali Rashid, Managing Director, Real Life Media Productions

Stuart MacFarlane, Digital Industries Manager, Yorkshire Forward

Ian Cundall, Deputy Head of Local and Regional Programmes, BBC Yorkshire

Clare Morrow, Controller of Programmes North, ITV