This month we talk to Mike Cunliffe, Development Producer at Beagle Media, about adventurous projects, the future of television, and really, really good ideas.
Founded as a brand content business in 2011 by Harry Anscombe, after six years working as a producer at ITN and Channel 4 news, Beagle established their Cornwall base in 2017 and opened their television development unit last year. With their Wadebridge office as a production hub, they currently have 30 staff and say that the move to the south-west enabled them to innovate cost-effectively and put money ‘on the screen’, while the London team continued to connect with clients. Mike, who oversees Beagle’s TV development, tells me they quickly had several projects on the slate, including a commission for Discovery about the Cornwall Air Ambulance.
The ten-part series, narrated by Dawn French, gives an insight into the world of the helicopter pilots and paramedics providing critical care to the most seriously sick and injured people in Cornwall. Mike explains that the unique nature of Cornwall is part of what made the commission a success. With over 400 miles of coastline, Mike says that the team leant heavily on the unique nature of the county and its beautiful but dangerous environments. Cornwall calls for challenging missions that you just wouldn’t see anywhere else.
Of course, Mike tells me, they still used every trick in the book to make Cornwall look amazing. But, he says, “Cornwall in the rain is just as fascinating and awe-inspiring as Cornwall in the bright sun.” It would be impossible not to talk about Covid, but Mike tells me that it hasn’t been hugely disruptive to the Beagle team. In fact, during lockdown, they secured two commissions, the second a two-part series for BBC2 with Simon Reeve, and filming has continued on both of these projects over the summer. The busy tourist season has certainly kept them on their toes though – the air ambulance had their busiest ever weekend over the August bank holiday, responding to 18 emergencies in three days.
The Beagle crew, he says, are ‘extraordinarily talented’ and their hard work has made this series possible. ‘Shooting in a helicopter is hard, but shooting with Covid restrictions and with all the issues of compliance with people who are very ill, injured, who may not want to be filmed… that takes a lot of skill, you’re juggling many balls at once,’ Mike says. ‘To do that and also produce something very creative and beautiful out of it – hats off to them.’
In fact, Mike has a lot to say about the people he works with, and the talent pool in Cornwall, which he describes as not just good, but very good. He tells me, ‘You get a type of person I think, who lives down here, who’s creative, and creative enough to not compromise where they want to live. They want some sort of physical beauty around them, or some calmness, or somewhere for their children, and they want that but they also want to do their job. There’s a certain type of professional down here which is really interesting.’
Cornwall’s young talent also impresses him. ‘I see young filmmakers in Cornwall making projects and I look at it and I’m like “wow, that’s amazing, how did you do that?!” And they say “oh, I used a spanner and a thing to slide the camera…” Amazing. They’re hugely resourceful, they just want to get the creative result.’
In what feels like an uncertain time, Mike says that for him the future of television looks good. With multi-channels, and more non-scripted television being picked up by the streaming behemoths like Netflix and Amazon, the landscape for docs is widening like never before. This, alongside increasing opportunities for teams outside of big cities, means Mike is feeling positive. ‘Good times are coming! It’s a time for ideas. Ideas have never gone out of fashion, but it feels like a particularly good time right now.’
And it’s clear that Mike, and Beagle, have a lot of good ideas.
Written by Imogen Weatherly, with thanks to Mike Cunliffe at Beagle
