Wednesday, July 21, 2010

UK TV show, "The Shooting Party," follows the work of disabled directors

From "The Shooting Party" website:


The Shooting Party is a radical and imaginative series which brings together nine aspiring deaf and disabled film-makers in a collective to direct their own short films, and support each other through the process.

Over a twelve-week run, The Shooting Party follows the film-makers from pitching their ideas to a commissioning panel, through setting up, shooting and editing their films, to the final screening at BAFTA in front of an audience of industry professionals. One of the nine film-makers will win the Shooting Party Best Short Film Award, leading to further training and a commission from Channel 4.

Programmes 1 and 2, which aired on April 13th and 20th, introduced the characters who make up The Shooting Party over a tense two days, as they pitch their ideas to a panel at Channel 4 made up of Commissioning Editor Kate Vogel, Producer Ash Atalla and Director Paul Gay. Out of 200 applicants, nine are chosen to join The Shooting Party.

In the weeks that follow, the episodes follow the strong and engaging stories of the individual film-makers and the daunting challenges they face in bringing their ideas from script to screen, on schedule and on budget. Each of the nine individual stories ends with the screening of that week's completed short film.

Working in three groups of three, The Shooting Party film-makers are followed on their individual journeys by an experienced documentary team, led by award-winning independent production companies Maverick Television and RedBird. The two companies have collaborated on previous Channel 4 series designed to encourage new talent, including VEE-TV with a deaf production team, and 2007's documentary series for disabled directors, New Shoots.

Meet the Shooting Party team and watch their short films here.