Breakfast with TV's Controllers: Jay Hunt
25 November 11
16th December
8.30am - Breakfast available
9am - 10am Interview
David Lean Room, BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly
BAFTA continues our series of Breakfasts with' the major channel controllers with Channel 4's Jay Hunt. Jay Hunt became Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of Channel 4 in January 2011. The channel is going through massive transition and replacing brands like Big Brother is a huge challenge. As Channel 4 enters its next phase of creative renewal with a revamp of More 4, a raft of new programming and plans to potentially spend its biggest budget yet - £600 million next year - are emerging.
2011 has seen smash hits in Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, 24 Hours in A&E and Hugh's Big Fish Fight as well as drama and comedy shining through in Misfits and Fresh Meat. Jay's early commissions at Channel 4 include Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker's darkly satirical take on the corrosive effects of celebrity culture and new technology, the critically acclaimed The Comic Strip Present: The Hunt for Tony Blair and pioneering food/science series, The Food Hospital.
The newly created role of CCO combines Channel 4 Network's commissioning and creative activities into a single cross-platform content division for the first time. As such, Jay leads Channel 4's multidisciplinary editorial team and is responsible for four broadcast channels (Channel 4, E4, More4 and Film4) as well as for continuing to evolve Channel 4's digital services.
Jay has made working with a wider range of producers, indies and new talent a priority and wants the channel to be mischievous and go back to its risk taking roots. We'll be exploring the opportunities Jay is targeting across an innovative schedule in an on-stage interview chaired by Broadcaster Richard Bacon.
