So you want to be…head of development? With Mike Philo and Emily Dollman

"So you want to be…"

In this new strand of online sessions which focus on specific roles within TV, you will get the chance to go behind a job title and get the inside track, as told by the people who know these jobs inside out.

If you’ve ever wondered what a particular role actually involves and what it will take to get there as you look to progress in your career - or you are new to the industry and hoping to get some great insider tips to start your career - this could be the masterclass for you.

The speakers will take us through the highs and lows of a specific role, as well as provide top tips and advice about how to carry out the job successfully and how to get that particular role in the first place. This is followed by audience Q&A where you have the chance to ask the experts.

In this session, we look at the role of head of development with Mike Philo and Emily Dollman. It is part of our week-long focus on the world unscripted TV development.

Speakers

Emily Dollman started her career in television with work experience at Tiger Aspect. She focused on production in the beginning years, working on a broad range of shows from BBC One’s specialist factual series The Young Ones, BBC Four Documentary The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House, big factual entertainment formats such as The Apprentice and shiny floor shows such as The Voice. When she moved into development she found her television sweet spot, developing commissions such as C4’s The Secrets of the Shoplifters, MTV’s Ex on the Beach, C4’s Escape and ITV’s Inside The Ritz. She is now head of development at Expectation, where she focuses on developing returnable series ideas and reputational documentaries across the broad range of the factual genre, from specialist factual to factual entertainment, with a strong leaning towards hybrid formats.

Mike Philo joined The Garden Productions as a development executive in April 2017 and was promoted to head of development in 2019. He generates new ideas across all genres as well as overseeing the day to day running of the development team. Previously he ran the development team at Oxford Scientific Films and worked across specialist factual and factual entertainment as a development exective at the BBC. Past projects include Tomorrow Food (BBC One), Meet the Humans (BBC Earth), Food Detectives(BBC2) and the drama documentary Kennedy's Suicide Bomber (Smithsonian Channel).

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.