Channel 4: meet the Commissioners
17 July 2023
Create Central was delighted to welcome Channel 4's commissioners to the West Midlands to meet local creatives.
It was a great opportunity to engage directly and build relationships with senior commissioning editors at Channel 4 and gain insight into their content strategy. We were joined by:
Ian Katz - Chief Content Officer for Channel 4.
Cal Turner - Commissioning Editor in Factual Entertainment Whilst at Channel 4 Cal has helped bring successful high volume reality show Rise & Fall to our screens. Prior to joining Channel 4 Cal worked across some of the best-loved British factual entertainment formats from The Apprentice and Snowflake Mountain, to Grand Designs and 60 Days with Ed Stafford.
Jonah Weston - Commissioner for Science and Adventure in Specialist Factual In that role he looks after all the SAS output, Guy Martin’s many adventures, and has commissioned a diverse range of shows including Hollywood Heist: The Bling Ring, Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life, 2022: The Year From Space, The Academy, Italia 90: The Hooligan’s Last Stand, What Killed the Whale, Chitty Flies Again With David Walliams, amongst many others.
Steven Handley - Commissioning Editor for Entertainment & Live Events Steven has been at Channel 4 for the past five years. His slate includes Late Night Lycett, The Last Leg (alongside Cimran Shah), Jimmy Carr’s I Literally Just Told You, Tempting Fortune & The Wonders Of The World I Can’t See. He has a wide remit that takes in reality, gameshows, comedy entertainment & live. He’s particularly keen to hear about channel-defining reality ideas, with real noise and scale & one-off big scale celebrity led access ideas.
Janine Thomas - Commissioning Editor in the Documentaries She commissions First Cut, a strand giving first time factual directors their first terrestrial hour and looks after talent fronted documentaries, and much-loved returning series such as First Dates, 24 Hours in A&E and Night Coppers. She re-joined Channel 4 from Sky UK where she delivered a string of shows across the pay-TV broadcaster’s Documentaries, Crime and Nature channels. Highlights included Grierson and Edinburgh nominated series Positive: 30 Years of HIV In Britain, Broadcast Digital Award-nominated feature Look Away, Arctic from Above With Liz Bonnin and sports series Italia ’90 series amongst others.
Networking opportunities followed the panel discussion and there was also a chance to schedule 15-minute 1-2-1s with the four commissioning editors.