Documentary and Reality TV as Modern Fairytales

Abstract

Jan Euden is a producer director and writer with an extensive broadcast career in factual genres. A social historian by training, she draws on storytelling to shape content. Productions she’s worked on have won awards at Sundance, New York and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Mick Sawyer produces and directs factual material for broadcast, corporate and educational markets. His specialities include music, arts and history. Together, they run a small independent television production company, Reeljems. Their reflection was developed by them after initial conversations and an interview carried out by Anne Caborn. In it they explore the challenges involved in aligning creativity and commissioning imperatives.