ITV at the Screen School

Last week students at the Screen school welcomed ITV staff who came to the Redmonds building to deliver workshops as the first event in a new partnership.

John Whiston (Creative Director, Serial Drama and Director, ITV in the North) said ITV were going to run workshops ‘ in the best institutions in the North and this was the first.’ 

The two days involved nine members of staff from ITV delivering workshops, on day one about pitching and day two about story lining, to students from Media Production, Film Studies, Journalism, Drama and Creative Writing.

On day one the workshop gave students a valuable insight into professional practice in ideas generation, developing and pitching  – with students competitively pitching
their ideas to a panel of ITV staff. The winning students will be invited to Media City to pitch their ideas again in the new year.

(Neil Barnes, Development Producer and Lyndon Saunders, Producer talking to students on Day One)

Day two was an inspirational workshop on the planning of story lines for Coronation Street. Students worked on current stories, continuing and developing the threads in the lives of the soap opera characters and were invited to submit scripts to Mark Bickerton, Head of Editorial Engagement, ITV Continuing Drama, for feedback.

(Amand Jane Read, Publicity and Engagement Manager, ITV in the North and Mark Bickerton, Head of Editorial Engagement, ITV Continuing Drama, with students on Day Two).

John Whiston described students as ‘brilliantly engaged and fun and interesting to spend time with.’

For more on this see – http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/NewsUpdate/viewarticle/1882/