The Story of Digital Voice: Chris Jackson
Over the fifteen years we’ve been in existence we’ve collected together a rather wonderful group of people who bring their skills and experience to our projects. Our freelance team is one of the aspects that make Digital Voice stand out from the crowd. This week I talked to Chris Jackson about the work he does as a professional mentor for us.
Chris is a producer and director whom you will no doubt recognise from his work on BBC’s Inside Out and Look North. He originally trained as a journalist and worked in radio before moving to reporting for television. Chris makes documentaries for BBC One, Two and Four including most recently for The One Show. His career highlight was working alongside his childhood TV hero, Mike Neville.
Chris started working for Digital Voice many years ago, having worked alongside our co-founding director, Olwyn Hocking, when she ran the BBC in Newcastle. She invited him to be one of the broadcasting professionals who mentored young people who were learning about TV and film-making as part of our Passionate About Media scheme in partnership with the Royal Television Society NETB; a role that has proved to be vital to those taking part:
“A mentor can provide real advice based on a lifetime of making mistakes and trial and error - it means a mentee gets a shortcut to best practice and can ask what they may fear is a silly question in a safe and supportive environment.”
Chris cites his own experience of having a mentor as his career developed:
“News editors who were my mentors always offered great tips, such as ‘can you write that sentence in a shorter way?’ or ‘Lead with the pictures’. I learnt that a script should never describe what you can see but add to it.”
It’s a fantastic opportunity for mentees to benefit from Chris’s advice via our projects; I wondered if there was any benefit to him as the mentor.
“New minds always keep a mentor on their toes and questioning why something is done in a particular way is always helpful. It’s also just fantastic to see youngsters who have a difficult background come out of their shells and express themselves and realise the talents they possess.”
Chris has long been a champion of the film and television industry in the North East and welcomes the significant new investment and development that is happening right now;
“There has never been a better time for someone growing up in the North East and thinking about a career in film/TV to have a go and do it right on their own doorstep!”
Exciting times! And we’re delighted that Chris is back working with us this summer on our Inspiring Futures programme in which young people will make a film at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.
Thanks for being part of the team Chris!
For information on all of our programmes click here.