Entertainment to Change the World: OKRE Summit 2024

A focus on one of the most popular and powerful TV dramas of the year: Mr Bates vs The Post Office. This panel featured executive producers Natasha Bondy and Patrick Spence, ITV Head of Drama Polly Hill, and Jo Hamilton, the former subpostmistress whose real-life ordeal was brought to life on screen. Jo spoke eloquently of how her loved was experience dramatised for a mainstream audience and the resulting societal impact. As summarised by Mishal Husain, “there are parts that drama reaches which the rest of us can’t”.

A insider look into the OKRE funded short film My Blonde GF. Filmmakers Rosie Morris and Rebecca Mark-Lawson were joined by the University of Kent’s Dr Afroditi Pina, to discuss the film’s subject, a first-hand account of the traumatic impact of non-consensual deepfake revenge pornography. The panel also shared insight on how producers can best support people with lived experience when making films dealing with extremely sensitive issues. Chaired by Abisoye Adelusi.

LGBTQ+ Media Consultant Jeff Ingold, Isabel Inman (Assistant Director of Communications, Policy & Public Affairs, Brook) Sarah McCaffrey (Founder, Solas Mind), intimacy practitioner Ita O’Brien and Sam Joly (Head of Marketing and Publicity, See-Saw Films) on how the industry is paying more attention to the comfort and mental health of those involved in intimacy on screen.

What does “real” representation in entertainment actually mean?  Filmmaker, author and comedian Hassan Akkad, Imran Hussain (Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs, Refugee Council), Hamid Ibrahim (CEO, Kugali Media), Ruby Kuraishe (Entertainment Commissioner, BBC) and Sarah Asante (Scripted Commissioning Editor, UKTV) tackled a range of subjects, including whether drama trumps news for impact and the merits of diversity quotas. Chaired by K Biswas, Editor of Representology: The Journal of Media & Diversity and Chair of Resonance FM.

Filmmaker Victoria Mapplebeck and Producer Debbie Manners shared deep insight into the making of their remarkable OKRE-supported film, Motherboard, a unique authored documentary charting the relationship Victoria and her son from birth until adulthood.  Chaired by Abisoye Adelusi, OKRE.

Film critic Rhianna Dhillon interviewed filmmaker George Jaques to understand the journey behind OKRE-supported film Black Dog. The discussion considered 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, to have an impact.

OKRE Summit 2024 closed with a brilliant performance by comic Jordan Gray before mingling over drinks and refreshments.