Two BAME-led indies have joined the competitive fray this week with a mission to broaden the voices heard in drama and unscripted television.
Coventry-based Portopia Productions wants to seek out existing and emerging talent from under-represented communities to build a slate of “entertaining and thought-provoking storytelling” in scripted shows, documentaries and factual entertainment formats.
The team includes novelist Kit der Waal, whose debut book My Name is Leon is being adapted for the BBC and former Big Brother contestant Dean O’Loughlin. Both worked with Denis Kelly on upcoming Sky Atlantic/HBO drama The Third Day.
Rounding out the trio is Sophie Morgan, a former Virgin Media commissioning editor who ordered Briain’s Next Top Model, Ibiza and Jade and has held head of development roles at Bridezillas producer September Films, RuPaul’s Drag Race indie World of Wonder and Wedding SOS producer Cineflix.
Meanwhile, The End of the F***ing World producer Dominic Buchanan and Silvertown Films producer Bennett McGhee have launched Home Team, which will concentrate on high-end TV and film drama and documentaries from BAME and female film-makers.
It has the backing of the BFI-supported UK Creative Content EIS Fund, which has previously invested in Wonderhood Studios and Colin Firth’s company Raindog Films.
Its development slate includes a BBC Films feature from Shola Amoo; a BFI-backed film project from End of the F***ing World director Destiny Ekaragha and In The Long Run helmer Danielle Ward; Film4/BFI horror film Welcome, the debut feature from Nadia Latif and Omar El-Khairy.
There is also a documentary series in the works, Rohan Blair-Mangat’s The Boombox Project, and a TV series from Sex Education creator Kate Herron and her writing partner Briony Redman.
