BBC and Channel 4 Reign Supreme at Edinburgh TV Awards

The Edinburgh TV Awards, sponsored by Cast & Crew, took place yesterday on the final evening of the 2023 Edinburgh TV Festival with the BBC and Channel 4 leading the wins. Hosted by stand-up comedian, actor, writer and musician Jordan Gray, the awards celebrated the incredible range of creativity and excellence of the UK and international TV industry. In a year that saw huge drama launches, big farewells and welcomed genre busting non-scripted formats, it has definitely been a year of TV to remember and the awards last night reflected that.

Dr Laurence Sargent, Co Head International, Cast & Cast and Director Sargent-Disc, presented the Best Drama Award to the BBC for Happy Valley, created, written and directed by the phenomenally talented Sally Wainright.

Dr Laurence Sargent presents the Best Drama Award
Sally Wainwright received the Best Drama Award

BBC COO, Charlotte Moore, was presented with the Channel of the Year award by Jury President, Mobeen Azhar. The BBC had a successful night with additional wins including Best Entertainment Series which went to The Traitors, Breakthrough Presenter to Ellie Simmonds (Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism?), and Best Entertainment TV Presenter for Graham Norton (The Graham Norton Show).

Claudia Winkleman was presented with this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award for her contribution to some of the most popular TV shows. These include non-scripted hits The Piano from Channel 4 and the BBC’s The Traitors alongside the hugely popular Strictly Come Dancing from the BBC.

Claudia Winkleman receives the Outstanding Achievement Award

2023 Edinburgh TV Awards Winners:

CATEGORY
WINNER
Best TV Actor – Comedy
Jamie Demetriou
Best TV Actor – Drama
Kate Winslet
Best TV Presenter – Factual
Ramita Navai
Best TV Presenter – Entertainment
Graham Norton
Breakthrough Actor
Lewis Gribben
Breakthrough Presenter
Ellie Simmonds
Best Comedy Series
Derry Girls
Best Documentary
Children of the Taliban
Best Drama
Happy Valley
Best Entertainment Series
The Traitors
Best International Drama
Succession
Best Popular Factual Series
Rosie Jones’ Trip Hazard
Climate Impact Award
Guy Martin’s Great British Power Trip
Production Company of the Year
Dancing Ledge Productions
Production Group of the Year
STV Studios
Small Indie of the Year
Afro-Mic Production
Best On Demand Service
ITVX
Channel of the Year
BBC One
Ones to Watch Random Acts Live Pitch
TBC
Outstanding Achievement Award
Claudia Winkleman
TV Moment of the Year
Dr Who Regenerates

 For the full list of nominees and more information about the awards, visit the Edinburgh TV Festival website.

A decade of support for NFTS scholars: David Freedman

2023 marks the tenth year of Sargent-Disc providing its annual scholarship for students attending the National Film and Television School (NFTS). The scholarships serve as a key part of the company’s work to recognise the excellence achieved by the NFTS and its students. To mark this special year, we caught up with a selection of the Production Management Diploma alumni starting with David Freedman.

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Sargent-Disc celebrates Pride!

Sargent-Disc and the Cast & Crew family stand proudly with the LGBTQIA+ community every day of the year, but June is a special time for a larger celebration. Throughout the month, the team has been sharing pieces of interest on our social media channels as well as internally with the aim of broadening horizons and inspiring action.

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A decade of support for NFTS scholars

Sargent-Disc’s commitment to the NFTS has helped to nurture the next generation of production talent

Ten years ago, Sargent-Disc (a Cast & Crew company) began its annual scholarship for students embarking on the National Film and Television School’s (NFTS) prestigious Production Management (PM) Diploma course.

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In Conversation with Theresa Wise, CEO of the Royal Television Society

Sargent-Disc celebrated International Women’s Day on Wednesday 8th March. A day, globally dedicated to recognising the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The team marked the occasion with several internal events including an inspiring ‘In conversation with Theresa Wise, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Royal Television Society (RTS).

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Getting to grips with the new Pact/Bectu TV Drama Agreement 2023

The new Pact/Bectu TV Drama Agreement came into effect on 1st January 2023 following a period of discussion sparked from Bectu submitting a request to review the previous agreement in May 2021. The original agreement dating back to 2017 lasted 5 years, whilst the new one has a term of 3 years and will provide some stability for the industry during a time of economic changes.


The agreement sets out terms and conditions and best working practices for those working in TV drama; aimed at improving work/life balance and altering the harmful long hours culture.


With the introduction of the new agreement, UK scripted TV producers need to know the new terms and conditions. The table below indicates the key comparisons between the 2017 agreement, and the new 2023 document.

2023 Agreement
2017 Agreement
Working day type
Introduced additional contracted hrs for select department to replace existing Prep and wrap time concept.

Shooting Day
• SWD = 10 hrs + 1 hrs unpaid break • CWD = 9 hrs + no formal break • SCWD = 9:30 hrs + 00:30 hrs break

Shooting Day – Select Department
• SWD = 10 hrs + 1 hr unpaid break + 1 add cont. hr • CWD = 9 hrss + no formal break + 1 add cont. hr • SCWD = 9:30 + 00:30 hrs break + 1 add cont. hr

Non-shooting crew
• SWD = 10 hrs + 1 hrs unpaid beak

CrewStart Feature: Checkbox feature has been introduced in the time report to manage the additional contracted hour feature which will add 1 hour of extra pay for required crew members.
Working day types with option to choose prep and wrap time.
Overtime & Penalty
• Introduced overtime & enhanced overtime by eliminating existing Camera and non-camera overtime.
• Overtime to calculate at 1.5 T of hourly rate
• Enhanced overtime to calculate at 2T of hourly rate
• Revised min overtime rate to 35 and maximum overtime rate to 70
• Overtime & penalty calculation to follow 15 min increment
• Introduced condition to calc. overtime rate beyond maximum cap of 70 if hourly rate is more than 70.
Camera & non-camera overtime calculated separately with Min 35 and max capping of 45.

Overtime multiplier at 1.5 T.

Overtime & penalties following 30min and hourly increment logic.
6th Day & 7th day rate
• Shooting day to be paid at 1.5T of daily rate
• Non-shooting day Less than 6 hrs = 1T of daily rate More than 6 hrs = 1.5 of daily rate
• 6th day on bank holiday = 2T of daily rate
• 7th day rate = 2 T of daily rate
• Overtime on 6th & 7th day to calc at 15 min increment
6th Day rate = 1T of daily rate

7th Day rate = 2T of daily rate
Night work
• Night work cut off revised to 23:00 instead 00:00 earlier
• Night work calculated at 15 min increment
• Night work paid at 1T over existing pay rate
Night work considered from midnight 00:00 onwards

CrewStart, Sargent-Disc’s onboarding platform, uses Pact/Bectu compatible timesheets. See the screenshot above where new ‘Working day type’ and Additional contracted hour’ fields are visible.


Contact the team at sales@sargent-disc.com for more information on how CrewStart can streamline your production’s onboarding processes.