Lunch with a Commissioner: Lee McMurray, factual entertainment commissioner, Channel 4

Grab your homemade sandwich of choice and get ready to dine with a different commissioner every day. At 1pm from Monday to Friday, participants will be able to join a commissioner and listen to their insights as well as ask questions at the end of the hour.

These are great sessions for our freelance community who don’t normally get the opportunity to chat to commissioners. So, if you’re a head honcho who normally has all the commissioners on speed-dial this session isn’t for you! Please keep this in mind when booking. Thanks for your support and understanding.

Speaker

As a series producer and exec, Lee McMurray launched successful returning series on Channel 4, such as Secret Eaters and What Happens in Kavos. He was also responsible for a range of other popular factual shows, including The Naked Choir with Gareth Malone on BBC2 and the Grierson-nominated Life is Toff for BBC3, which brought the Fulford family back to our screens. Other SP and producer credits straddle the popular factual genre, comprising everything from Loose Women, to Castaway, to Bizarre E.R.

After joining Channel 4 as a commissioning editor in formats in 2017, Lee moved across to the factual entertainment department during Ian Katz’s restructure of the commissioning teams. He has overseen continuing brands such as Made in Chelsea on e4, as well as launching The Sex Clinic on the youth-oriented channel. For Channel 4, he currently looks after Married at First Sight, which will be coming back for a creatively refreshed fifth series. His original commissions include Famous & Fighting Crime, Celebrity Call Centre, Charlotte Church: My Family & Me, The Posh Frock Shop, It’s Grime Up North and A Very British Sex Shop.

This session will be chaired by Dominic Bird, Senior Vice President, International Unscripted Television, MGM Worldwide Television

This event is supported by the ScreenSkills Television Skills Fund which invests in training for the freelance television workforce thanks to contributions from the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

It is part of a ScreenSkills programme to support freelancers to upskill and stay connected, helping keep the industry resilient in these difficult times.

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘get ticket’ to reserve your place: you must login or register before you are able to get a ticket for this event. A booking confirmation with a joining link to the session will be sent to you via email.

If you are no longer able to use your ticket, we ask you to please contact support@screenskills.com  so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.