Pre-Production: Contacting Contributors- Liam Allan

I started off searching for Liam and the best place to get hold of him was via Twitter. His account enabled private messaging which was probably the best. He didn't have a press office or anything and that's because he's just a normal boy who has been deeply affected by the actions of a false accuser. We wanted to ease him into the idea to see if it would be something he would be interested in before starting the documentary.

Before contacting I wanted to remind myself of how to work with a contributor and how to keep them on board. I was successful in my second year Directions unit project in keeping actors on board, which was mainly through consistent contact to ensure they all knew what they were doing and were happy. However, I also understand that looking after documentary contributors is a different story all together. I equally had experience with 'Are We Numb' in keeping contributors on board. In research I found Maddy, a contributor to a BBC Wales series 'Peace of Mind'.

Here she offers up some tips to documentary workers about what worked for her as a contributor:

  • the good qualities of a researcher/ producer are listening, being patient, and not pushing too hard when the subject is difficult
  • consider meeting a group of service users at the beginning of the recruitment process this can put people at ease and help to weed out people who aren’t suitable for your show
  • always offer a ‘get out’ at every stage of the production process and make sure that people don’t feel pressurised into becoming involved
  • make sure you are really clear from the beginning of the process about what is going to be involved. Be ready to answer questions and listen to any concerns
  • it's really important for one member of the production crew to build and maintain a relationship with the contributor. It makes things far smoother and brings trust. I found that I was far more willing to be more open when the same member of the team was present.
  • in our case we were working with a brilliant series producer who provided amazing aftercare once the filming was done including texts and calls on the day of the viewing to check how I was
  • it's great if you are able able to give the contributor some control right up to the editing process, people are much happier to take part if they know they can be edited out!
  • think about the crew you are using. Do they have empathy/ mental health awareness?
  • consider including recovery messages, don't just focus on how mental health problems emerge or the lows, also show how people can recover. Details about how someone recovered may help a viewer with their own problems


(https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/media-centre/media-advisory-service/making-documentary/working-contributors)




Hi Liam!

Hope you are well and don’t mind me contacting you. Apologies for the completely empty twitter account, I don’t use this platform often but thought this may be the best way of contacting you. Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase. Your story is something that has really taken the interest of my colleague and I. We are both third year students studying Television Production at the Maidstone Television Studios. For our major project we are looking to produce a documentary on the topic of men who have been falsely accused of rape and the impact this has had on their own lives/careers as well as how it is a potential flaw in the justice system. I understand that you are quite knowledgeable on crime and justice having studied it, we think there is plenty to talk about and lots of room for conversation and would love for you to be a part of our project for awareness. It’s something that isn’t frequently covered in the media as it deserves to be and we feel that having a voice of experience such as yourself would bring so much more to our documentary. If this is something you would be interested in please don’t hesitate to get back in touch. If you find it easier feel free to phone me on 07427657382 or my colleague George on 07548381360. Look forward to hearing from you! 

Best Wishes,
Jack




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