Your say / channel 4
‘Bristol is making a unified effort to level the playing field for the next generation’
Bristol is in the running to become the new home for Channel 4 and broadcasting bosses paid the city a visit last week. With a decision due this October, Bristol24/7 has been asking people across the city to share their stories of the city.
Channel 4’s relocation presents a massive opportunity, in terms of jobs, the rise in commissioning spend, the profile and the knock-on benefits it could bring.
It feels right for the HQ to be in Bristol; to me it’s the perfect fit. We have the skills, the voices, the location, the excellent content creators, the digital infrastructure, and educators who understand the value of the creative industries.
is needed now More than ever
The studios are accommodating a boom in production, with drama and entertainment from major companies including Mammoth Screen, RDF, Kudos, Fudge Park, New Pictures, Studio Lambert. Bristol has everything they need to make high-end content, to make it well and to make it on budget. We’re consistently a location of choice and our proximity to Wales would make for richer relationships across the Severn Bridge too.
The Bottle Yard Studios in Hengrove
There’s also an element of timeliness. The city is making a joined-up, unified effort to diversify this sector. To even the playing field for the younger generation, particularly those without the option to take traditional routes – work experience or unpaid internships – until they get their break.
It can be an unpredictable career when you’re starting out and those young creatives are the ones that will be making the shows we’re watching on screen in ten or 20 years’ time. Bristol is working to provide those mentors and connections.
MeeMee Sharry is a trainee researcher at Plimsoll Productions on Channel 4’s Production Training Scheme
There are initiatives at Aardman, Icon, Plimsoll, and we’re working to make it happen at The Bottle Yard, with our partners Boomsatsuma, running skills days like the recent one on ‘Fortitude’ (Sky/Fifty Fathoms) and with the Media Production Diploma beginning in September.
I think what Bristol is saying to Channel 4 is that we fit together. If you choose to work with us, it’ll enhance what you want to do, and it will definitely enhance what we’re building here. We suit what you need, we offer a great quality of life for you and your families.
Our industry has been successfully self-sufficient for a long while, but there’s a shift taking place – companies are looking forward and wanting to find ways to bring new voices through. Channel 4 would be the ultimate boost to that.
If they choose Bristol, it will help shape and accelerate the future of this sector in Bristol.
Fiona Francombe
Fiona Francombe is the site director at the The Bottle Yard Studios.
Read more: ‘Bristol is a city where ‘giving it a go’ is rewarded’
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