Industry partners for Move On Up

The fourth Move On Up event on 18 June includes BBC Director General Mark Thompson and PACT Chief Executive John McVay.

More than 100 film and television executives will be gathering at the TUC for the next Move On Up.

The event aims to help to address the continued under-representation of black and minority ethnic (BME) workers in film and broadcasting by facilitating one-to-one meetings for BME professionals with key hirers of staff or freelances or executives who can commission programmes.

The union is expecting that more than 200 BME professionals will participate.

Because Move On Up is all about making contacts, the event is just as relevant for experienced professionals with a long track record as it is for new entrants who are just starting out.

Friday 13 April 2007 is the deadline for applications to participate in Move On Up - the full brochure and emailable application form can be downloaded from this website.

The union's black members' committee has been thrilled with the positive response from the film and broadcasting industry.

Executives from the BBC, BECTU's longstanding partner in organising the Move On Up programme, represent the largest single group taking part.

"Their response has been outstanding," commented BECTU NEC member Winston Phillips, chair of the Black Members' Committee.

ITV, Channel 4 the UK Film Council and Film London are also taking part along with craft guilds and some of the biggest independent production companies.

Alongside the one to one meetings on 18 June will be a packed workshop schedule that includes BBC Director General Mark Thompson as top speaker at a workshop on how to do business with the BBC.

Chaired by Peter Salmon, Chief Creative Officer at BBC Vision Studios, also speaking will be Roly Keating, Controller of BBC 2 and Michael Carrington (Creative Director, CBeebies).

John McVay, Chief Executive of PACT, will be key speaker in a workshop designed to advise up and coming producers on how to be a successful independent production company. Also speaking at this workshop will be Krishan Arora, Independents Executive at the BBC, plus the BBC Vision Diversity Executive Mary Fitzpatrick.

BECTU's Black Members Committee is urging BME professionals to apply to participate in this free event: "It's a fantastic opportunity to meet key people and obtain hard information" commented BECTU NEC member Suresh Chawla, chair of the committee.

Anyone with queries about Move On Up can email [email protected] or telephone BECTU on 020 7346 0900 and ask for Move On Up.

This is the fourth Move On Up event in the series organised by BECTU since 2003.

It is funded by the Equal Fund as part of the Audio Visual Entrepreneurship Development Partnership, and by the London Development Agency's Creative London and Diversity Works for London schemes.

The success of the previous event, Move On Up in Radio, led to the formation of the Radio Industry Diversity Group.