Media producers from across the North will gather in Leeds on Thursday (March 18) to hear about future ideas and opportunities from the BBC. The BBC Commissioning Briefing is an important event in the industry calendar as both BBC in-house and independent producers gather to hear the channel and commissioning needs the BBC has for the coming production cycle. This year is the first time the event will take place in Yorkshire, having previously been held in the North West.

Around 140 content producers from across the whole of the north will gather at the Green Sand Foundry in Holbeck, Leeds to hear from the people who commission BBC programmes from genres as diverse as comedy, documentaries, sport and religion. The BBC is determined to do more for audiences across the North of England and the event comes with the BBC just over twelve months away from opening a major new network base in the North at MediaCityUK in Salford. Which is a major part of the BBC’s overall commitment to make 50% of network production outside London by 2016.

The day will feature a range of presentations laying down the creative challenge to producers from the North East, the North West and Yorkshire. This year's briefing falls on the same day as the official launch of Bradford as Unesco's first City of Film. Steve Abbott proud Bradfordian and the City of Film's chair will be joining the event to outline the goals and vision for Bradford's place in film heritage.

Peter Salmon, Director BBC North, who last week was at The Hyde Park Cinema in Leeds hosting a special screening of the new BBC1 Kay Mellor drama A Passionate Woman, will be joining the event to deliver a keynote speech. He said:

"These commissioning briefings are crucial industry events - it's here that the ideas for future content can first take shape. It's fantastic that this year's event is taking place in Yorkshire and that we'll be joined by the some of the North's finest creative brains. I am also looking forward to joining many of my colleagues from the BBC in the evening at The National Media Museum for the Bradford City of Film launch and start of the Bradford International Film Festival.”

In addition to Kay Mellor's A Passionate Woman, recent BBC productions commissioned in Yorkshire include contemporary drama Five Days, seen recently on BBC1, comedy The Gemma Factor, currently on BBC3, and for BBC Children's a twenty part series to be made by Yorkshire independent company True North called P.A.W.S. (Pet and Wildlife SOS), featuring the work of wildlife sanctuaries and pet rescue centres across the UK.

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