THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR MAKING OUR CONFERENCE SUCH A SUCCESS
Well, we made it! After all the challenges of the last couple of years, around 250 delegates and speakers gathered for a sellout event that gave everyone a chance to hook up with old friends, make new ones and hear some of our industry’s leading figures share their thoughts on the future of the screen sector outside London.
We had a blast - feedback has been terrific and we value and thank everyone who came along to help make Creative Cities Convention 2022 in Birmingham a great success, able assisted of course by our inimitable host Kirsty Wark and co-host for this year Qasa Alom.
Our big hitters included Channel 4 CCO Ian Katz, Paramount UK boss Ben Frow, BBC Three controller Fiona Campbell, ITV Media and Entertainment MD Kevin Lygo and Amazon UK unscripted lead Fozia Khan.
We delivered a wide range of sessions for all tastes, from our big debate on tackling the skills shortage outside London to a celebration of the work our screen agencies are doing to bring all four corners of the UK to national and global screens.
Insightful production sessions included Steven Knight celebrating the success of Peaky Blinders and sharing his amazing Digbeth Loc. Studios plans and Jed Mercurio, Maya Sondhi and Madonna Baptiste talking about their new ITV drama D.I.Ray. MasterChef the Professionals 2021 winner Daniel Lee joined Shine TV MD Jon Swain to welcome the shift of the MasterChef titles to Birmingham, and the amazing production team behind upcoming drama series Ralph and Katie showed us how they’ve achieved brilliant outcomes with their inclusive approach to disability – thanks to lead actor Leon Harrop, director Jordan Hogg, producer Jules Hussey and creative coach Jess Mabel Jones, and to Space Studios Manchester and Access All Areas for making the session possible.
We provided a range of ten minute lectern addresses to provoke thought too – Ron Chakraborty on planning the Commonwealth Games, Pact CEO John McVay reminding us how we’ve survived two years of industry disruption, West Midlands mayor Andy Street applauding the growth of the regional industry and Coventry City of Culture artistic director Chenine Bhathena speaking of the need for a strong relationship between the culture sector and TV.
On top of all that, delegates could book speed dates with commissioners and also get advice from a number of different organisations designed to help them secure funds and information to build their businesses. Amazing student masterclasses complemented the main event and our production team of Susie, Vicky, Laura, Sam, Nacressa and Shirley was absolutely incredible this year.
Thanks a million to Suzie Norton and the Create Central team for supporting and encouraging us from start to finish, to Oval Estates for providing both our venues and to wonderful our stakeholders for their continuing support. We really loved working with Banijay UK this year too - together we delivered a fantastic networking party with food, drink and music, helped along by the amazing actor and writer Adil Ray who helped us give a good send-off to Banijay UK’s outgoing executive chairman Peter Salmon. Peter, the industry will miss you and your inspirational leadership and enduring support for production outside London, so come back soon.
#CCConventionUK 2022!
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