Digital Production
As the digital commissioning editor for Knowledge & Learning at the BBC, Michael worked with every kind of digital online content – social, video, podcasts, interactive, games and articles. But the overlap between technical and editorial is the space the best digital producers inhabit. The skills of user testing, understanding user flow, use of analytics and working with developers are just as important as first-class copy and telling the right story. Four years with the award-winning BBC Lab UK team, eventually becoming Editorial Lead, taught Michael the importance of technical fluency and project management techniques, like agile scrum. We enjoy being the bridge between technical development teams and creative, to deliver high-quality editorial products that delight.
Film & Video Production
Michael first directed short films at the BBC in 2009, and quickly moved onto personalised and branching narrative mini-documentaries. After that, he pioneered the production of beautiful DSLR-shot short films and short-form factual, including shoots with Michael Johnson, Dan Snow, Carol Kirkwood, Piers Linney, Lauren Laverne and many more. He loves working with DoPs & video editors, to deliver characterful, emotional and unusual approaches to topics, which are engaging and tell great stories.
Writing
Michael has a great deal of writing experience.Back in 2008, he wrote the weekly BBC Comedy Newsletter to over 13,000 comedy fans. Since then he has written many scripts and articles, for BBC News, BBC iWonder and BBC Tomorrow’s World. He was trained at the BBC in Script Editing and was mentored by two excellent current affairs editors to increase the clarity and impact of his writing. He co-wrote an interactive graphic novel about unknown WW2 hero, Sir Henry Tizard with acclaimed screenplay writer & playwright, Joe Lidster.
Development
The challenge of development is to take a content idea or commission and transform that into a tangible audience proposition. Michael has taken on this challenge many times and delights in bringing ideas together from different realms to create something new. He developed many collaborations with research academics while at BBC Lab UK to create successful audience experiences. He was asked to develop the launch content for the BBC’s WW1 season. With our clients, we enjoy developing new formats for telling compelling stories, unlocking engaging content.
Michael Orwell 