Meeting a Producer

Today, a friend and I had a meeting with an executive producer at an independent television production company. I won't dwell on the details here, but overall it went pretty well and we learned quite a lot in the limited time we had with him.

It's funny how these things are though. Meeting a telly exec sounds like a big deal (and it certainly felt so in the week running up to today's meeting) but in the actual situation it wasn't that heavy. I guess it goes back to a post (which, it seems, I've yet to write) about how all people are also human and how big things are made up of smaller and more trivial manageable pieces; baby steps if you will. It's an encouraging realisation, since it suddenly puts these big things in the potential hands of us mere mortals too.

So yeh, today felt like a step in the right direction: the person we were meeting probably went through the same thing when he started out too. And who knows? Perhaps we'll be dishing out the same advice he gave us down the road somewhere... But regardless of what actually comes out of today, it was certainly worth it in its own right too.

IHRC: The British Media and Muslim Representation: The Ideology of Demonisation

The Islamic Human Rights Commission today launched the sixth of a series of reports outlining the British Muslims' expectations of the Government. This one focussed on the media: what image it's giving of Muslims, what perception it has by Muslims and how it can change to serve Muslims and non-Muslims better.

The launch took the form of a panel discussion. Three authors of the report each covered a different aspect of what was found by the research. First up, Dr. Saied R. Ameli talked about the re-presentation and representation of Muslims in the media.

He spoke about how the media (and art and even live witnessing) by nature will never completely portray the subject it is trying to, and so care must be taken to be as accurate as possible and, if desired, as positive. It was a kind of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle for media and art, and that this re-presentation results in conflict in the represented world.

He also spoke about how race is more of a social construction borne out of a class struggle than essential scientific classification. He finally outlined the Standpoint Theory; that only someone from within can get the subject matter - so, women talking about women, black talking about black and Muslims talking about Muslims.

Seyfeddin Kara then took the microphone to talk about some of the contextual analysis that the report made. This was basically talking about the results of the various questionnaires and surveys made. It was all pretty straightforward stuff about how they covered a variety of different genders and ethnicities. The biggest point I took from Kara was how Muslims who had each experienced varying levels of discrimination in real life all thought that there was also quite a bit in the media too. I feel that this indicates that the Muslims' complaints against the media are due to more than just over-sensitivity or a victim mentality.

Finally, Arzu Merali talked about some of the recommendations made in the report. This consisted of some pretty obvious things like:

• the objective monitoring of media output
  
• the quality checking of Muslims characters (and not just in drama)
  
• the formation of formal subjective media watchdogs
• the increasing of opportunity for Muslims to create media
• the accountability of politicians who decide to use the media

There was a question and answer session afterwards but I was unable to hang around for much that. It seemed to be heading towards a debate of much wider scope anyway so I'm not sure what relevance it had on the day.

As before, this IHRC report made the papers, appearing to be nothing more than the over-sensitive rantings of yet another Islamic organisation: complaints toward Disney's Aladdin and the like were brushed off as busybody overreaction even by some Muslims. However attending today and reading some of the report itself convinced me that the work that the IHRC has done here is more than that and does have some merit - at least more than had been given to it by the media it was reporting on.

Stepping Up And Pitching

I spent half an hour this morning pitching a new business idea to the Social Enterprise Coalition for a competition they're currently running. We, and six other budding entrepreneurs had been short-listed (after our written application) to appear at a conference they're hosting next week, during which the ultimate winner would have been decided. There were four places for the conference itself, so we had a good chance of progressing just by the numbers.

The idea itself spun out of the recent work we've done on the Eid Shows. I don't think it's appropriate to give too many details here, but at its basic level it would have been a production company of sorts; one that generates programming that, firstly, general audiences could relate to and, secondly, aimed to represent the large and varied opinions of Muslims living in the UK.

Only one of us was allowed to make the pitch, and I seem to have picked (or rather, handed) the short straw. Moaning aside, it was really an opportunity to step up - it wasn't anything I had done before so I was kinda stepping up, and to be the one who might even just possibly start off something relatively big makes you feel pretty vindicated. It also went back to the whole public speaking thing as well as adding to my attempts to boost the amount of extracurricular activity I'm involved in.

And it wasn't that bad. Any nerves I had disappeared pretty quickly and the panel were nice enough and listened and asked tough, yet relevant, questions. I did make mistakes: I said too little at some points and too much at others and I had to blag a bit at times too, but I think we all knew exactly how much thought had gone into our idea (and to be honest, I was punting really) and the other candidates had been doing their respective things for much longer; some even having left their jobs to do so. But even when the holes were highlighted I was enjoying it. I was being taken seriously and treated with respect for even getting that far.

I didn't want to write until I had heard the result, but if anyone was interested we didn't get through. Which on some levels is actually a win - the last thing I wanted was to bite off more than I could chew. Nevertheless, apart from the lessons specific to this particular occasion,the one thing I have learned is how easy it is to get involved with some pretty exciting and ambitious things if you wanted to.

Request For Comment: Muslim Television

What's wrong with it?

Need some help with a project. What's wrong with the current media we have covering topics concerning Muslims and Islam?

Are they irrelevant? Missing the point? Not representative? Almost all television trying to discuss "real" Muslims faces criticism for doing exactly the opposite. Most Muslims I ask turn around and say: "well they didn't ask me".

Is it even possible? You can't make everyone happy all of the time. I guess the answer is to bring balance to the coverage. Is that happening? If not, where is the focus at the moment? Where should it be instead?

Generally these programmes are made by non-Muslims. Does this need to change? Should these programmes only be made by Muslims?

It's a broad topic, so sorry. I'm not interested in specific answers, but I do want to know what you guys reckon... Any help would be appreciated, so if you have any ideas either leave a comment or mail me directly.

One To Watch: BEST KIDS SHOW ON UNITY TV

4:30pm Sunday 7th January, Unity TV (Sky 825)

For those of you who missed it last time. Because you were saving lives or something, right?

One To Watch: BEST KIDS SHOW ON UNITY TV

11am Saturday 30th December, Unity TV (Sky 825)

Dodgy titles aside this is a definite a must see. Prerecorded as opposed to live, I think it'll be a better example of what the schools can actually do if there were no gremlins causing havoc in the back room. Plus we'll all be able to see it too. Great!

Don't worry though: I'm sure there'll still be plenty of mick-tacking material for you all to gather too.

Video of the Day

I post this only under extreme duress:



So gay. Literally. But yes, do watch next Saturday.

Media Darling

I spent most of today filming for Unity TV's next Eid show (due out New Year's day or thereabouts; the precise time and date to be confirmed). We've decided to pre-record it as opposed to broadcasting it live this time.

I think the official reason is so that we can have something a bit more polished, but I reckon we did a good enough job last time. Still, I'm interested in the new experience: recorded television is a different beast to playing live; it's certainly seems like much more hard work. And I say that as someone who's been involved a tiny amount compared to the directors and producers who have been filming for two weekends already. I guess being creative takes as much time as you want to throw at it.

So now we have takes and retakes. When we mess up, we try again (and again). If something works we improve it, and if not then we do something else to replace it. As expected, one hour of programming takes many more to actually film and produce.

Apart from the hours already spent, we also now have a bit of structure to the show. Timeslots are set, scripts have been created and shots planned. Sections are now more ambitious, but I don't want to spoil what we are planning on showing. It's all pretty hardcore in a laid back amateurish way (not to take anything away from the team - we're all working hard). Although those in charge did come across as oppressive dictators at times.

Due to the time available, I've chosen one of the easier parts to do. Me and the same co-host from last time will be introducing the show as a whole and each individual slot, which not only requires the least preparation, but also involves a minimum of working with children. We also did a bit of promotional material, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Gulp.

We finished just before 10pm, which was pretty late for a Sunday night. Still, it one of those worthwhile things that you don't mind sacrificing for - we had fun both working and playing in the course of creating the show (and we have plenty of bloopers and super secret "extra" footage to prove that). Of course the work isn't over yet as the producers have to somehow condense and present the footage down into a respectful quality show, and hopefully I'll have an opportunity to help with that too.

On a more general note, I did notice something quite a bit bigger than just the two Eid shows for Unity Television forming, and the vision, passion and excitement some have for these projects is clearly building towards something potentially very special. I'll say it again: we are all amateurs, but that doesn't seem to matter much at all.

It's definitely something I want to continue being a part of, even if that happens to be a role firmly behind the camera (fame isn't really all that, dontcha know). Watch this space, I guess.

Request For Feedback

With respect to Monday's Eid Show, for those who watched we'd appreciate if you could fill out this survey.

It's not long and shouldn't take you more than a minute to fill out (and if it does, then stop - I hate doing surveys too).

On The Box

First things first: to wear that red topi was NOT my decision. Just so that we're clear that that wasn't my fault.

Anyway. So it's the day after and I've finally have a chance to write about the whole television thing. Those I've spoken to before directly will have more of an insight, but for blog purposes I'll have to be a bit more... objective. Hopefully it will be enough to give you an idea of how the day went.

I'll start with me. In retrospect, and after egocentrically watching my own footage (something I would not have usually done except for some friends who missed it wanted to watch), I don't think I did that badly during the solo call in part. Don't get me wrong: it could have been so much better and definitely did not go as well then as it did in my head. I definitely want to work on my on screen presence; I wanted to go for "normal, casual" Shak, but something seemed to have been lost in translation. It's a bizarre effect, really it is and I hope it's not due to anything other than nerves. And do I really act that gay in real life?

Apart from the obvious, the most difficult part for me (and perhaps the others too) was being conscious of the guy in front of you telling you to stand up, the guy in your ear telling you to sit down, and your own brain telling you to ignore both seeing as neither really knew what they were doing.

And that's pretty much what my co-host Sofia and I decided to do for the close. Once we started "responsibly" filtering out the dodgy direction I think that we were much better off for it; it's better to play the fool on your own natural whim than have someone force you to do it. I guess that since we were all new at this we had placed a lot of faith in those running the station to lead the creative way, and sometimes we might have been led down the garden path 'cos of that.

Not to detract from the help we did receive - there were many good ideas coming in from the channel itself that the school lot alone wouldn't have come up with - but there were things that we were made to do that made us raise eyebrows in the days leading up to the show and that we should've trusted our own feelings on instead. You know, things like being made to wear a red felt topi (although at least I managed to "lose" it for most of my time on screen).

It was pretty hard work overall, but I'm not sure whether that was because of the medium itself or our particular set up yesterday. I suspect it was the latter; Unity/Itihad is clearly a channel less mature than its peers and there were plenty of avoidable mistakes made especially on the technical front. Still, as much as I'd like to blame the gremlins, the really good TV personalities can and do deal with all that all of the time, so it's not really an excuse.

The problems were not just of the unanticipated variety though. From my brief time doing radio and just general common sense, the TV studio was a shambles. Small and practical things like being able to see your producer AT ALL TIMES and having a teleprompt would have made things a lot easier. And the red "live" light that you would have expected to tell you which camera was on didn't exist. As some of you may have noticed.

At times backstage was much more interesting than the show itself. Creative differences, high running emotions and arguments galore were present more often than not, but as painful as that all was it somehow added to the whole "media dahling" feel of the thing. It was, like, totally drama, yaar. But on a more serious note, I do honestly believe that our biggest problem was that of a particular oversized ego than the lack of media experience of the channel or the schools.

Still, we did have fun. And it was a brilliant experience and one I'm so glad to have had been a part of. The bit that went on air was just the tip of the iceberg and the concentrated efforts made in the days beforehand was the kind that just makes you feel like you belong to something big and important.

I now see presenters (especially Asian ones) and the like in a totally new light. Whereas before I would describe them as rubbish, I now consider them let down. And on travelling to the office this morning I've come to realise just how boring real work is.

One To Watch

Live @ Eid, Unity TV, (SKY 825), 11am-2pm

A repeat, just in case you missed it. It should also have been (hopefully heavily) edited in order to actually make us look good...

Further Details

The show runs from 11am till 2pm, with yours truly scheduled in for 1230pm and then again for the close at 145pm. The channel is on SKY 825.

The number to dial in on is 020 7908 7290. Even if you're not around during the call in slots, do anyway and someone will hopefully take a message. Well, that's the plan anyway... And remember, you can email in as well on eid@unitychannel.tv.

Yikes.

Video Of The Day

Presenting the promo for the Eid Show tomorrow:



ACEBEST!

Coming To You Live From London

Well it was just a matter of time really. That's right, a bunch of guys and girls from ICSS and its two sister schools have been asked to create and host an Eid Show, due to be broadcast live on the telly. It's on one of those cheapo low bitrate, high channel number and magic background jobbies a la Vectone and the like, but we're all working very hard to put it together anyway. And yes, I'll be personally hosting a call-in competition during the latter half of the show.

I don't seem to be feeling the nerves at the moment, which is strange considering that this is going out to Europe to an apparent viewership of 100,000. Rehearsals have been going alright, but then this is live and further with children so anything could happen really. Finally I have realised my dream (see here, here and here).

I know that this will be terribly exciting for some you, so just in case you find it difficult to control yourself here are some humble requests:

• DO watch the show on SKY channel 825.
  
• DO get your younger kids and cousins to call in (number to come).
  
• DO continually e-mail us on eid@unitychannel.tv, starting NOW.
• DO NOT take the mickey out of us on air.
• DO take the mickey off air.
• DO tell those you know will be interested but won't get a chance to read this till Tuesday about the show.
  
• DO tell your friends and family to give us a look.
  
• DO contact the producers of the channel and tell them what a fantastic job you thought we all did.

So yes, please do watch and contribute tomorrow. The real driver for some parts (like the segment I'm hosting) depends heavily on people calling in, so if you see us struggling with that we'd appreciate it if you picked up the phone. And hey, you get to see me wearing JEANS with a KURTA. Oh dear!