Dan Dewsbury: Portraying the right message

Note: All 50 minutes of this video are worth a watch, but we know a lot of you will be short on time. In which case, we’ve marked 9 of our key highlights for you to jump to. You can use the chapters button in the video (to the right of the settings button) to chick through them. Enjoy!

email Alistair if you need the password.

Portraying the right message is both a challenge and a responsibility.

Especially when you aren’t one of the people the message is about.

Dan Dewsbury treated us to a fascinating Q&A on how he managed to do exactly that when he directed the BBC documentary, The Mighty Redcar. The series was highly praised for avoiding the poverty porn TV stereotypes whilst focusing on the lives, hopes and dreams of young people in an area of high unemployment.

Dan explained how there is a big difference in perceived vs. actual empathy, gave tips for finding the right participants and what to consider when doing interviews. It certainly struck a chord!

A huge thank you to Dan for allowing us to share his Q&A. You can keep up with what else Dan is doing on his Twitter.