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Nightingale to address SPAA Conference

[press release from Fran Lanigan]

This year’s SPAA Conference will introduce DOCO Day to its programme with a special address by Neil Nightingale, Head of the BBC Natural History Unit, on Thursday, 13 November at 10:30am at the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast.

Neil Nightingale, brought to SPAA by BBC Worldwide Australia, has been Head of the BBC Natural History Unit since February 2003. Since that time the unit has produced a diverse range of natural history content, on television, radio, online and for the cinema, maintaining the BBC’s reputation for definitive and groundbreaking factual programmes that inform and entertain audiences.

Recent programmes include the critically acclaimed and award-winning, Life In Cold Blood, Planet Earth, the Saving Planet Earth season, Wild China, Big Cat Diary, and Elephant Diary to name just a few.

Before leading the NHU, Neil was executive producer on major BBC series such as Wild Africa, Wild Down Under, Congo and the Wildlife Specials, as well as editor of the Natural World, for which he commissioned almost 100 wildlife films from producers all around the world.

Neil formerly worked as a freelance science journalist before he joined the BBC. Throughout his career at the broadcaster he has worked in wildlife, news, current affairs, science and regional programmes. In his first undertaking as a producer, Neil developed a fresh new style for David Attenborough in Lost Worlds, Vanishing Lives. His award-winning Portrait of the Planet in 1990 was one of the first documentaries to take a global view of human impact on the planet.

SPAA’s Geoff Brown says about the introduction of Doco Day, “Following on from SPAA’s delegation of documentary filmmakers to Canberra in June, we wanted to focus part of the Conference on the current issues concerning documentary in Australia. Integrating relevant sessions into one day will provide an opportunity for further discussion and debate. Along with the first SPAA Documentary Forum to be held at the Conference, it promises to be a lively day.”

Sessions throughout the day will include: a spotlight on the Oscar-winning producer for Taxi to The Dark Side, Eva Orner; a Screen Australia plenary; a dedicated session on the Producer Offset scheme, and a panel discussion on Thinking Outside the Box: Redefining the TV Show. A Documentary Forum in the afternoon will provide a comprehensive overview of SPAA’s documentary policy and platforms to those delegates with a particular interest in the documentary medium.

Delegates will have an opportunity to meet with guest speakers, SPAA Councillors and Policy personnel. This will
be the first of 4 annual documentary forums that SPAA will run during the year.

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