Northern
media mentors
who we are
We are all seasoned film and TV industry professionals who are committed to developing the film and television industries in the north of England. As we all have strong links with Hull, we have teamed up with the University of Hull to assist students in developing the skills they need in order to succeed.
Lambros Atteshlis
Lambros established Glasshead in 1994 and over the years, the company has built a reputation for consistently delivering projects to an outstanding quality.
Their wide-ranging output includes documentaries and factual entertainment series, children’s dramas, animations and innovative multi-platform projects. They’ve created shows for many of the major broadcasters including BBC, Channel 4, Discovery, History Channel, BBC World News, Al-Jazeera English, ZDF plus video projects for many international science organisations.
The company has won a raft of awards including two BAFTAs, two BIMAs, an RTS award, the Japan Prize, an IVCA and the UK Future Internet award.
Dawn McCarthy-Simpson - MBE
Dawn is an international development expert with over 30 years of experience in the broadcast industry (television and radio); This includes Managing Director, Commercial Director and Broadcast Development Director roles at local, national and international television channels. She is a thought leader and expert speaker on the global broadcast industry.
Currently she is the Managing Director of Global Strategy at Pact, the trade association representing more than 700 UK production companies. She plays a key role in the development of the UK independent TV sector, and has negotiated industry partner trade deals, advised government and help shapes frameworks for official UK trade agreements.
She has contributed to the wider industry taking on a variety of non-exec and advisory boards over the past 15 years; Screen Skills, The Creative Industries Trade Board, UK Exports, UK Exports Council and various advisory groups both government and non-government organisations
Tony Parker
Tony is a commissioning executive at the BBC. He works with a wide range of independent companies across the UK in order to supply factual TV programmes to all the BBC’s channels. His interests cover documentary, features, history and music. Recent productions have included: Winter Walks, Soul Boy, A Very British History, Bronx to Bradford, Chris Packham: The Walk that Made Me, Life of Pies, Villages by the Sea, Canal Boat Diaries and Street Food Servants.
Tony is currently working on new strands for younger viewers on BBC THREE, plus a series for BBC TWO with the working title Yorkshire Born. He started in TV as a researcher and before that worked on local newspapers. While at Hull University (studying Politics & Sociology) he spent far too much time playing music and working on Hullfire.
Morland Sanders
Morland Sanders is an investigative current affairs journalist working for Channel 4’s Dispatches.
With decades of service Morland has reported from war zones, confronted drug dealers and broken headline stories for every key broadcaster in the UK.
Boasting awards from the Royal Television Society, Foreign Press Association and BAFTA, Morland is proud to be from the North of England and is committed to helping those from the region find a place in broadcast journalism.
Stephen Wilkinson
Stephen is a former BBC commissioning editor and an executive producer in BBC Science. An award winning director and executive producer, with over 30 years experience in documentary film-making, he has also conceived award winning TV formats and brought new talent to the screen, including Brian Cox, Bettany Hughes and Iain Stewart
Currently Stephen is executive producer on a series of documentaries, co-produced by his company Rockhound with the US-based factual channel, CuriosityStream, created by Discovery founder John Hendricks.
As Head of Commissioning and Comissioning Editor, BBC/OU, (1996 – 2000) he was responsible for a budget of £9M, for 15 hours of programming into BBC daytime, 10 hours into BBC Two peak time slots. 30 hours into BBC Four.
Stephen is a member of BAFTA
James Zborowski
James lectures Film Studies in the School of the Arts at the University of Hull, and is the university’s point of contact for the Northern Media Mentors. James teaches and researches in the areas of film, television, media and cultural studies. His work has two main aims. The first is to improve the quality of our discussions about screen drama, in whatever medium we find it. The second is to explain the functions and the evolution of communications media in society.
What we do
The Northern Media Mentors Scheme
The scheme offers support and advice to students, helping them secure their first job in the creative industries. It provides them with valuable guidance as they navigate their way through the many employment opportunities they will encounter when starting out on their media careers. This will include help with:
- CVs
- Networking
- Career progression
- Helping students to apply for media training schemes (inc. BBC, C4, ITV etc)
- Develop practical film making skills, with Terry
This mentor support will be provided through regular contact, of no less than once per month, for a period of between 3months and 6 months. Otherwise, the frequency of meetings and the duration of the mentoring will be decided between mentor and student.
The mentoring can take place online but it will always include at least one face to face meeting, Covid rules allowing.
Mentors may work with one or more student mentees at the same time, depending on time/work commitment. For those students that prefer it, there is also the opportunity for them to be mentored in 2s, partnered with a fellow student to provide further support.
How do students join the mentoring scheme?
Students can register their interest in several ways:
- the application form on the NMM website
- personal contact with mentors through online events and campus meeting
- the university mentoring scheme application form
The NMM website will also allow students to contact mentors via Lambros email/contact details.
Buddy Mentors
It’s felt that mentees might be more comfortable talking to former recent students who can tell them about their experiences with the mentors. We’ve recruited three Buddy Mentors so far from last year’s mentees. They are Rebecca, Molly and Andrew. Rebecca and Andrew live in Hull and Molly is going up occasionally.
Going forward
It is recognised that NMMs should provide a more diverse group of mentors to better represent and support the students. This should also include a wider skills base in order to better support the students across the many sectors of the industry, including drama and studio skills on the creative side and production management and technical support on the business side.
NMM will explore opportunities to work with students from other courses within the university. Science is one area where media skills are particularly valuable, especially given the increasing emphasis on science communication and community outreach.
Funding opportunities will be considered, if such funding would allow NMM to enhance and develop the support it provides to students.
Research
Research jobs are a common entry point into the industry. We assist our mentees in brushing up on their research skills. Researching the industry itself is also important for graduates entering the industry.
Bright Sparks
The TV and film industries are people industries. We work with our mentees to assist them in developing the confidence they need to head into the industry and forge those essential connections.
Craft skills
The craft skills of research, storytelling, cinematography and video editing are important aspects of film and video production. We encourage our mentees to practice their craft skills.
meet the mentors
Each mentor has a unique set of skills – in these video interviews they discuss what mentoring means to them.
From Our mentees
“Since graduating from the University of Hull in 2021, I’ve worked on a range of TV projects with broadcasters such as BBC2, NBC and Discovery. I found the Northern Media Mentors welcoming and their advice helped me develop my confidence especially as a BA Geography student with no experience of practical filmmaking. The group also helped me find work experience and develop an industry ready CV. If you’re aspiring to work in any area of the media, you should definitely join this group!”
“Before going to the University of Hull to do my Bachelors and Master’s Degree in Film Studies, I was a graphic designer for over 20 years. I was responsible for working on various projects from simple press advertisements, brochures, point of sale graphics to industry-specific magazines. During my Bachelors, the mentor group was in its infancy, but still gave me helpful advice on my existing projects. I then graduated and was in the world of work for 18 months before coming back to the university to do a Master’s. The mentee group was more established and had more industry members giving excellent advice. I am currently working as a photographer, with a hope to continue my studies of film as a PhD student and eventually break into the world of film and television. ”