Calling all future Louis Therouxs, Stacey Dooleys and David Attenboroughs. Our next RTS Futures event is taking a look into the world of documentary making.
From finding locations and contributors, to tackling thorny issues, getting commissioned for TV and digital platforms, and making headlines with your doc, our panel will talk us through the process from beginning to end.
We'll be covering current affairs and nature documentaries, and our talented panel have worked on documentaries for BBC, Channel 4, AJ+, and others.
Panel
Saleyha Ahsan, Documentary Filmmaker - Saleyha Ahsan is a filmmaker, broadcast journalist and emergency medicine doctor. For Saleyha it’s all about the story. She has re-worked her current affairs work, documentary and journalistic work into drama. She has written plays for BBC Radio 4 and co-written a feature length Bafta winning screen play for BBC Scotland. Prior to medicine, Saleyha was an army officer serving in the British Army - the first British Muslim woman to do so. It was her operational service in Bosnia that led her to re-train as a doctor and resume her original career in journalism.
Kat Hayes, Executive Producer at AJ+ - Kat Hayes is an Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer. She heads-up the Field Team at the digital media channel AJ+, where she oversees regular deployments across the US. Her weekly documentary series reports on marginalised communities and social affairs.
Before joining AJ+, Kat worked at Channel 4 News, where she shot, produced and edited documentaries about under-reported issues, for which she was nominated for an RTS award. Kat has also led the digital teams for some of Channel 4's flagship documentary series, including Unreported World and Dispatches.
Amy Thompson, Assistant Producer at Silverback Films - Amy Thompson is an Assistant Producer specialising in wildlife filmmaking and based in Bristol. She has worked on productions for the BBC, Channel 4, PBS and Smithsonian, recently field-directing on the landmark BBC series A Perfect Planet. She is currently working at Silverback Films on a new landmark series for Netflix and was selected as one of Edinburgh TV Festival's Ones to Watch in 2020.
Host: Ed Gove, Channel 4 News
