Contributors to the Insiders’ Guide
The thoughts that I express in The Insiders’ Guide are complemented by the voices of the following 19 top professionals from the world of broadcast and online factual film-making in America and Britain. They were all interviewed specially for this book.
Barbara Ballow
An award-winning editor who has been telling compelling stories for over thirty years. She has edited films on diverse topics - from religious pilgrimages to spying, autism and oil spills. Her films have appeared on PBS, HBO, National Geographic and CBS, and in film festivals around the world.
Charlie Phillips
Head of Documentaries at the Guardian
Charlie created and has run Guardian documentaries since 2014. This is a documentary strand set in a journalistic context that relies on actuality, more than commentary, to tell stories. Before joining the Guardian, Charlie was director of the Meet Market and Deputy Director at Sheffield DocFest and editor of FourDocs, Channel 4’s online documentary channel.
Charlotte Cook
Co-Creator & Executive Producer, Field of Vision
Field of Vision is an online international documentary platform that champions a more artistic approach to telling stories. Before co-founding Field of Vision, Charlotte was Director of Programming at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival. She has also worked at The Frontline Club in London as Head of Film Programming.
Debbie Ramsay
Editor, BBC Newsbeat
Debbie has been working with young audiences for more than a decade. Newsbeat serves some of the youngest, most difficult-to-reach audiences across the UK reaching them through national radio, online and with filmed documentaries on the BBC’s iPlayer and on social media. Before joining the BBC, Debbie worked for commercial radio in London, Birmingham and the North West of England. She started her career in local newspapers after studying a journalism degree.
Diana Martin
Executive Producer, BBC TV Panorama
Diana runs the development and commissioning process for the BBC’s flagship investigative strand. She oversees Panoramas made by both the BBC production team and those produced for the show by independent production companies. Diana has also edited the BBC international current affairs TV series Our World, commissioned films for Newsnight and been deputy editor of the BBC general election coverage.
Gerry Healy
Freelance film archivist
Gerry has been an archivist since graduating and now provides content and specialist copyright and ownership advice for television and online platforms. He's worked on a wide range of genres and his credits include the BBC, ITV, Channel 5, NBC, Al Jazeera, Fox International, the Smithsonian Institution, The Imperial War Museum and others. He specialises in finding alternatives to expensive material.
Jeremy Humphries
Director of Photography
An award winning cinematographer with over 30 years’ experience filming documentaries for BBC, C4, ITV, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. Jeremy’s filming has ranged across new reality shows, arts documentaries, history, science and current affairs films, dramas, commercials and corporate projects. Alongside his filming, Jeremy also trains production crews for leading TV production companies.
Jeremy Skeet
Editor BBC Stories and Digital Current Affairs.
Jeremy is an experienced BBC editor who launched BBC Stories to attract a younger, more female audience through digital story telling. His team of journalists produces written, audio and video stories on BBC Online, iPlayer, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. Jeremy has also been Editor of BBC Radio Current Affairs and a commissioner at BBC World Service. Among the awards Jeremy’s won are a Peabody and Sony Radio Gold.
Kathleen Lingo
Executive Producer, New York Times Op Docs 2013-2018
During Kathleen’s time at Op Docs, the series published over 250 short films, virtual reality and interactive documentaries, received two nominations for Oscars, and won three Emmy and two Peabody awards. In 2018 Kathleen became the Editorial Director for Film & Television at the New York Times.
Lareine Shea
Head of production & production manager
With over 30 years’ experience in Production Management, Lareine has worked at some of the UK’s leading production companies overseeing a wide range of award winning factual programming. She’s managed projects in current affairs, documentary, drama doc, factual entertainment, observational documentary, reality shows and online. Credits include the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? and the Grierson Award Winner, George Orwell: A Life in Pictures.
Leo Eaton
Emmy award winning documentary film-maker
Leo has written, produced, directed and executive produced TV factual series and specials for US and overseas broadcasters for more than three decades. Recent films include ‘The Story of China’, a 6 hour PBS/BBC series, and ‘After Fire’ a 90 minute Obs Doc looking at the problems facing three women after they leave the US armed forces. Leo is President and CEO of Eaton Creative Inc.
Louisa Compton
Commissioning Editor, Channel 4 Dispatches
Dispatches is an award winning current affairs strand, broadcast by Channel 4 TV in Britain that investigates issues in the UK and overseas. Before joining the show, Louisa launched, devised and edited the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC2 winning a BAFTA and numerous RTS awards for the programme. Louisa has also been the Executive Editor of BBC Newsbeat on Radio 1/1Xtra and Daytime Editor at BBC 5live.
Matt Danzico
Head of NBC Left Field, 2017-2018.
Matt founded NBC News’s experimental video unit with the aim of giving the company a stylistic edge with lovely cinematography, slick editing and 3D augmented reality graphics. Left Field collaborates with filmmakers around the world and can be found on NBC’s website and various streaming and social media sites. Matt now runs his own consultancy and production company.
Mike Cleaver
US-based attorney
Mike provides pre-publication legal advice for TV programmes and feature documentaries broadcast by Discovery Channel, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, CNN, National Geographic and Smithsonian. He’s worked on Sacha Baron Cohen’s "Borat” and “Bruno” and the BAFTA award-winning "The Imposter." He’s a founding partner of the law firm SmithDehn LLP.
Mike Williams
Sound Recordist
Mike has been recording location sound on factual films for major UK broadcasters and online platforms for the past 20 years. He’s worked across a wide range of factual genres – covering science, history, lifestyle, investigative, new reality and consumer affairs projects. Mike’s experience also includes commercials and corporate work.
Peter Zacaroli
Managing Director of West Digital Post Production
Peter established West Digital in 2002 and combines running this London based post-production house with his work as a colourist across a range of genres. Most recently he’s specialised in Factual, Factual Entertainment and Features. Recent credits include, ‘Railways of the Holocaust’ (Channel 5), ‘The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca’ (BBC4) and ‘Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railway Journeys’ (Channel 5).
Prash Naik
Media Lawyer
Prash is the former General Counsel for Britain's Channel 4 Television in the UK where he worked for 23 years, offering advice and defending filmmakers across a wide range of high profile programmes - among them Da Ali G Show, Beneath the Veil, Death of a President, My Son the Jihadi and The State. He now lives in Sydney, Australia, where he continues his work as a media lawyer through his international practice Prash Naik Consulting and the London based law practice Reviewed & Cleared.
Raney Aronson-Rath
Executive Producer, PBS Frontline
Frontline is the flagship investigative journalism strand run by the American Public Broadcasting Service. Aronson-Rath oversees Frontline’s reporting on air and online and directs the series’ evolution and editorial vision. Under her leadership, FRONTLINE has won every major award in broadcast journalism , including most recently, a duPont-Columbia Gold Baton. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and her master’s from Columbia Journalism School.
Tom Giles
Controller, Current Affairs, ITV
Tom oversees 10 different current affairs strands as well as documentary series and one-offs at Britain's ITV channel. Programmes that he commissioned won International Emmys for Current Affairs in 2017 and 2018. Before joining ITV he spent more than 20 years at the BBC working for the World Service, TV News, Newsnight, and making science & history programmes. He also edited Panorama, the BBC’s flagship current affairs investigative strand.
