The BBC Academy Podcast

Learn how to tell news stories with BBC News presenter Maxine Mawhinney

How does Sima find stories? - Social media is where Sima finds something compelling which leads to a story - Talking to people on the street or at events can lead to a story idea - What makes a good story?Can you explain your story or idea to an 11 year old? - ‘Keep it simple stupid’ (KISS) - Real people with compelling stories, different feelings, personalities, problems and issues - "Be bold, be brave, don’t be scared – go up to that person you think won’t talk and ask them for that interview" – Sima KotechaWhat makes a good reporter? - You have to be an expert very quickly. There is no room for getting anything wrong. Read, listen and talk to people - You need to produce your interviewees to keep them to topic. A phone conversation can help - Be bold, be brave, don’t be scared - Building relationships with contributorsBe patient - Listen - You cannot just show up and start recording - Get what you need and leave, before the amount of material you gather becomes overwhelming - Package makingA typical package for the Today programme is just four minutes long and ideally even shorter at three and a half - Have a dramatic clip at the beginning and a dramatic clip at the end - You have to be ruthless - Go for those bits of audio that you know people at home will go wow!A journalist’s job is to: - Be independent - Conjure up debate - Invite the audience to challenge what they have heard on the radio and make their own minds up - Show both sides to a story - Find answers to questions everybody want’s answers toA journalist’s job is NOT to: - Over complicate things - Say what is right or wrong - Be dictated to by contributors

How a BBC WM 95.6FM ‘takeover’ connected with people in Birmingham and the Black Country to create a big impact on a tight budget.In March 2016, BBC WM 95.6FM invited listeners and members of the local community to 'takeover' the station as reporters, producers and co-presenters for a whole week. In this podcast, the BBC Academy’s Roxanne Ibrahim-Khan talks to assistant editor Sharon Stokes who headed up the WM Takeover project as well as broadcast journalist Steve Hermon who worked closely with participants and two of the stations Takeover stars: M’esha Bryan and Phil George.You'll find advice on how to do something similar for your station or radio show, including: • How WM Takeover came about • How the station selected members of the community to bring into the studio • How the team trained radio novices in editorial, legal, storytelling, radio production and creativity within a very tight timeframe • How it was a great way of unearthing local talent and original local stories • What the station learnt from the project and what could be improved on • Advice on how you could do something similar at your station • If you are new to radio, on how to best seize opportunities like this when they come upSharon talks about how they found the participants and delivered training in partnership with the BBC Academy. She also handled the rota, which was "a bit of a military operation" - swelling the ranks by more than 100 people. It meant taking into account people's busy lives as well as the creative and editorial reasons for participants being part of a particular programme. For instance, the presenters Sunny and Shay Grewal are married so Sharon and the team decided to make the most of that and "put married couples on the show with them". M'Esha and Phil worked closely with Steve who taught them about live reporting and radio package making. You'll hear clips of M'Esha reporting live on air and Phil's radio package on the local economy in Wolverhampton. The WM Takeover project provided great rewards in terms of great content, audience appreciation and making real connections with the local community. For Sharon, building on the legacy and "tapping into that local talent is something we really want to build on".

Learn how the way we think can make us better musicians and software developers.Musician and designer Lee Sankey has conducted research called Brainstruments which suggests that accomplished musicians stop playing the physical instrument and start playing the mental model of their instrument that exists in their head. Lee believes this theory of mental models doesn't just apply to musicians or singers but also software developers, designers and many other creative professions. The BBC Academy's Kris Bramwell speaks to Lee and BBC Radio 3's Claire Martin, who was involved in the research to find out more. Software developer Ashley Taylor also tells us whether he agrees with Lee and tells us how he works when coding a website.

A mentor can help you make the most of career opportunities and aid your personal development. Today programme studio director Rachel Wheeley was able to see a clearer path to working in another area of radio with help from Caroline Raphael, then a commissioner at Radio 4. In this podcast they emphasise that it’s the mentee who needs to put in the hard work. “It’s not an easy option. You do have to work quite hard. It’s not all tea and sympathy,” says Caroline.Mentoring is not a quick fix. It’s a chance to stand back and reassess your career, in search of the best direction to take. Caroline, who runs independent radio production company Dora Productions and is editorial director of Penguin Random House Audio, describes it as “letting you see a bird’s-eye view - how the organisation fits together… that’s quite difficult to do unless you have some support”.Media and leadership trainer Natasha Maw, a partner at Quattrain and founding member of Sound Women, explains how to find a mentor to advise on everything from how to reach your goals to building confidence in your abilities.Rachel is also a producer at BBC Radio Comedy and is to launch the science comedy podcast Level Up Human very soon.

The Shelbys are back! The third series of the hit show, Peaky Blinders, has returned to our screens with a new director, Tim Mielants.Tim is a huge “fan boy” of the show says series producer Simon Maloney, which is something that helped the pair bond easily and build an invaluable producer/director relationship.In this week’s podcast the BBC Academy’s Roxy Ebrahim-Khan speaks to Simon as well as the show’s BAFTA award-winning director of photography Laurie Rose. Simon says he’s got “peaky blood”, meaning he’s worked on the previous series (as a first assistant director specifically); he tells us how he found producing the show for the first time and how he dealt with the head shift.Simon says as a producer “you manage the shoot from a distance” so work closely with a lot of people, including all the heads of departments, secretaries, runners, but also people outside of the production team. So forging great working relationships and having excellent communication skills are paramount. Whereas as a first assistant director, you manage the shoot from the floor, constantly talking to a lot of the production crew, so some of the skills are transferrable and made his first time producing a bit easier.What’s a DoP, you might ask? That’s the first thing Laurie explains in the second interview of the podcast, detailing exactly what his role is and how it fits into the production. It can be a challenge coming onto a show a few series down the line, especially one like Peaky when it already has an established and very distinctive look. Laurie discusses how he put his stamp on it.We cover Laurie’s route to becoming a DoP and some of his other work, including London Spy (which won him a BAFTA), Friday Night Dinner, Him & Her and The Job Lot. And what if you fancy doing Laurie’s job yourself? Laurie dishes out some great advice and tips.

Doctors series producer and writer Peter Lloyd had always wanted to incorporate Shakespeare into the show. With 2016 being the 400th anniversary of the death of the great bard and the BBC celebrating in grand style with its six-month Shakespeare Festival, it seemed the perfect opportunity.In this podcast Joe Godwin, director of the BBC Academy and BBC Birmingham, hears why Peter decided to avoid the well-trodden path of Shakespeare's plays and use his sonnets for a week of episodes.They talk about how creative risks like this can be very popular with audiences. The two of them also discuss the practicalities writing an episode using a sonnet for inspiration and incorporating a reading into each one. Peter also talks about how he worked with the BBC iWonder team to produce a guide to the sonnets, as well as how the cast leapt at the chance to take part with a straight-to-camera reading of a sonnet. Moving away from Shakespeare, Peter and Joe talk about diversity on the show and in drama production in general - both in casting and behind the camera. They then go on to discuss a week of Doctors programmes highlighting homelessness that were inspired by the story of a homeless man Peter met on a night out in Birmingham. Joe also finds out why Doctors is a continuing drama series, and not a soap, and the difference This podcast, edited by Ben Toone, is a recording of a masterclass at BBC Birmingham on 22 April 2016.

National Theatre Live has reached more than 5 million cinema-goers in 2,000 venues across the world. They have arguably had a role in democratising theatre, by taking star-studded, sell-out productions from London’s West End and from New York’s Broadway to the far edges of the country and beyond. Some of their best received screenings include War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and, their most recent success, Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch; which has seen by 500,000 people, so far, in more than 50 countries.

BBC Two’s Later… with Jools is returning for its 48th series. That’s right. The show is in its 24th year.How has it survived when other series such as Top of the Pops and CD:UK have become part of music history?Executive producer Alison Howe says it’s down to the programme’s simplicity in “putting together a show that offers a rich and varied mix of live music being performed in one room in one go”.In one show you can see unknown acts making their debut next to more established artists, as Adele did when she played in 2011 alongside Björk and Paul McCartney.Zoe Nicholson, the show’s production coordinator, is responsible for getting everyone down to the Maidstone Studios in Kent every week. There are sound checks on Mondays and camera rehearsals on Tuesdays before the evening recording and live transmission. Like working on any live TV show, there are quite a few challenges, but the main one Zoe says is “making sure everyone sticks to the schedule!”For Zoe, a music fan herself, there’s a special privilege being in a small studio whilst world-renowned musicians perform together.

Midlands Today, presented by Mary Rhodes and Nick Owen, is a BBC regional TV programme covering areas including Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. The team put out four daily bulletins and in this podcast we find out how.We speak to Hilary McConnell, one of the channel’s two senior producers, Giles Latcham, a senior journalist and reporter, and Sarah Falkland, presenter and reporter (pictured above).Whether you’re beginning your career or already established, finding stories is always the starting point for any journalist. Hilary advises that it is easy to fall into covering crime stories but striking a balance of “light and shade” - lighter stories as well as the the more serious ones - is important for the programme as well as the audience.Finding the stories is one thing, going out there and getting them is another. Giles has worked in national and regional news and says, regardless of whether you’re covering the Zika virus or a fire at a factory in the Black Country, the challenge is the same: finding the best way to tell the story. But it is always “an honour and a privilege” to meet people and hear their stories.Sarah is a reporter and a presenter, and this is another advantage or working in regional news: there are plenty of opportunities to gain experience. Giles says there’s a “great sense of being part of a team” no matter whether you’re a cameraman, reporter, presenter or a producer.We couldn’t not talk about social media. It’s changed not only how the audience consume news but how those in news work.It’s important to remember that social media is a two-way street and one of the great things about it is that it allows the audience to get involved. Weather Watchers is a prime example: anyone can send in pictures and give the weather where they are, and it’s used on regional and national news.