Entertainment to Change the World: OKRE Summit 2024

The day kicked off with a focus on one of the most popular and “powerful” TV dramas of the year; Mr Bates vs The Post Office. We were lucky enough to be joined not only by talented producers and TV professionals Natasha Bondy, Polly Hill and Patrick Spence, but also by Jo Hamilton, a former subpostmistress. Jo brought true authenticity to the panel via her lived experience of the ordeal and her appreciation of the case being dramatised for a large audience and the resulting societal impact. As eloquently summarised by Mishal Hussain, “there are parts that drama reaches which the rest of us can’t”.

Next up, Abisoye Adelusi hosted our first OKRE Focus panel on Rebecca Mark-Lawson and Rosie Morris’ short film My Blonde GF. Along with third panel member Dr Afroditi Pin, we looked into how My Blonde GF shows the deeply traumatic mental impact of non-consensual deepfake revenge pornography through the eyes and emotions of someone who has lived through it, and how best to support the person with lived experience when producing films on such sensitive issues.

Jeff Ingold, Isabel Inman, Sarah McCaffrey, Ita O’Brien and Sam Joly shared their insights within our bold discussion “Sex in the Morning: shifting depictions and modern perspectives”. It focused on how the modern film industry is paying more attention to the comfort and mental health of those involved in intimacy on screen, to change historically “quite exploitative” (Sam Joly) sex scenes and, in the words of Isabel Inman, to promote visible “condom use, condom use, condom use!”. 

This lively panel talk from passionate experts Hassan Akkad, Imran Hussain, Hamid Ibrahim, Ruby Kuraishe, Sarah Asante and K Biswas challenged us to think about how we approach real representation within entertainment. It covered topics from how drama may be the better medium to represent refugee issues as news outlets can often be seen as biased, to the controversy over diversity “quotas” (Hassan Akkad), all the way to how Hollywood itself was “built by migrants” (K Biswas).

Abisoye Adelusi again helped us to zoom in on another OKRE Focus – Motherboard – through a discussion with Victoria Mapplebeck and Debbie Manners. The panel discussed whether movies must be based upon a “big epic story” as requested by many producers, or whether stories which may widely be seen as mundane might have the potential to create tender, relatable and meaningful productions. Motherboard showed the latter can absolutely be true, as it showed how “epic” and captivating these real-life journeys can be.

For our last OKRE Focus, George Jaques and Rhianna Dhillon took us through the journey behind OKRE-supported film Black Dog, focusing on the paramount importance of showing vulnerable children as a whole character with skills and hobbies, “not just [as] grieving children, they are so much more than that”. The discussion looked into how best to implement lived experience from children sensitively without “sensationalising” their difficult experiences, and how not every story needs to have a defined beginning or happy ending in order to have an impact.

To wrap up the day, we were joined by the vivacious Jordan Gray for a hilarious comedy-infused musical performance which left the attendees laughing out loud and ended the jam-packed schedule on a high. Speakers and guests then had time to mingle over drinks and refreshments, making new connections and sowing the seeds of potential collaborations as the day came to a close.