In 2022, Channel 4 announced that it was on the hunt for fresh faces as part of its digital talent search – aimed at nurturing up and coming talent as well as finding the future faces of unscripted content. This week, C4 unveiled four young digital first stars.
Each of the four is working with an indie production company that brought them to C4’s attention following a brief from the broadcaster. These include Hoot (part of Wise Owl Films), The Connected Set, Renaissance Studios and Rockerdale Studios.
The four content creators include Anisa Farah (aka Badman Lisa), who will work with Renaissance; Rhys Thomas (Chezablonde), who will partner The Connected Set; Ruth Codd, who is teaming up with Rockerdale; and Simmie Kaur, who is joining forces with Hoot. All four will all also work with Channel 4’s digital commissioning team “to develop new unscripted formats that speak to young audiences. They will each be given mentorship and guidance for growing their profiles and careers, and attend an E4 event alongside their indies, with the channel’s senior commissioning team.”
The programme is overseen by director of commissioning operations, Emma Hardy; head of youth and digital, Karl Warner; head of digital, Sacha Khari; commissioning editor Evie Buckley and commissioning editor Mel Bezalel. It also forms part of The E4 Academy, which was set up in 2021 to accelerate the development of new talent, immersing them in the industry and helping them to connect with the E4 audience.
Over the coming months, the newcomers will work with their production companies to produce non-TX pilots, aiming for a TX commission on Channel 4’s digital platforms.
Bezalel and Buckley jointly commented: “We’re really excited to welcome Anisa, Chezablonde, Ruth and Simmie to the E4 Academy. The companies brought us some fantastic talent, but these four are so creative and have a unique take on the world – they immediately stood out. Channel 4 has always been known for breaking new talent and we’re looking forward to supporting the next generation of E4 digital faces.”
