Jane nurtures and supports emerging documentary-makers to shape their stories through her work with The Whickers and as a mentor at story labs across the world. The former UK MD of Al Gore’s documentary channel Current and Executive Editor, BBC London has worked for Discovery, Turner, BBC Worldwide, UKTV and the Africa channel. She now runs the UK-based production company beechtobeach and is a  documentary director and producer. She also trains people to make films on smartphones for the BFI, Women in Film and TV and other organisations.

Company Bio

The Whickers develops and funds first time documentary filmmakers and audio documentarians. The Whickers Film & TV Funding Award, is open to filmmakers working on their first full-length documentary as Director. Applications for films in late development/early production open from October 2024 until the end of January 2025. Shortlisted applicants are invited to pitch their films at Sheffield International Documentary Festival in June each year, with a top award of £100,000 going to the winning pitch and a runner-up receiving a £20,000 production grant. Our podcast audio award closes for applications at the end of February 2024 and the pitch also takes place at Sheffield.