Lunch with a Commissioner: Shane Allen, Controller, BBC Comedy Commissioning
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.
Speakers
This session with Shane Allen is chaired by actor and writer Gbemisola Ikumelo.
Shane Allen joined the BBC at the end of 2012 and oversees the entire TV scripted comedy output across the BBC’s portfolio of channels. He is the first person to have been head of comedy at both C4 and the BBC
Key BBC commissions include, for BBC One: Peter Kay’s Car Share, King Gary, Ghosts, Gavin & Stacey 2019 Christmas, Worzel Gummidge, The Goes Wrong Show, Click & Collect, King Gary, The Offenders and This Time With Alan Partridge. For BBC Two: Mum, Upstart Crow, Motherland, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, Dave Allen At Peace, W1A, Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe, Two Doors Down, Inside No.9, The Rack Pack, There She Goes and Mandy. For BBC Three: Fleabag, Back to Life, People Just Do Nothing, Enterprice, Jerk, Witless, Uncle, Man Like Mobeen, Famalam, Ladhood, The Young Offenders and This Country and for BBC Four: Detectorists, Vic & Bob’s Big Night Out, Brian Pern and Eric, Ernie and Me.
Shane is working on a new venture to develop a British Comedy Association. Opening the doors to new voices and furthering the impact of British comedy as a vital part of the UK cultural landscape.
Prior to the current role, he worked at Channel 4 for eight years starting as a commissioning editor and ending as Head of Comedy. Key commissions include The Inbetweeners Movie (£45m at the UK box office), Friday Night Dinner, Black Mirror, Peep Show, The It Crowd, Toast, Comic Strip: The Hunt For Tony Blair, Cardinal Burns, Fonejacker/Facejacker, Star Stories, PhoneShop and Charlie Brooker’s Dead Set. Allen brought The British Comedy Awards to Channel 4, reinvigorating the brand and reverting the show to a live broadcast.
Before joining Channel 4, Allen worked in the independent production sector. His credits include The 11 O’clock Show, Ali G In The Us Aiiiii, Shooting Stars and The Brass Eye Special.
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 managed by the Indie Training Fund 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.