Progress update #2
As 2018 approaches so to does the completion date for the documentary. Equal pay for equal play: football's fight for financial equality is due for release on January 2018. In the last month or so, I have been busy editing and interviewing!
Target audience change
The big change which was made to the documentary making process over the last month was the intended target audience station. The original station was for Talksport; this was picked over BBC Radio 5Live because the BBC has strict editorial guidelines. They require balance and due impartiality for all stories where as Talksport don’t. If I had picked 5Live instead it would've meant me having to find balance but this isn’t what I intended the documentary to be about. I wanted to explore the issue of equal pay without having to offer balance or a right to reply, and if needs be I could've play devil’s advocate myself.
However, after interviewing an FA spokeswoman I released I had already acquired balance and offered a right to reply. As well as this, I wanted to use statistics from a major BBC study which has been carried out. This showed that football had the biggest disparity in pay compared to other sports, and thus was vital to my documentary. I therefore made the decision to change my target station to BBC Radio 5Live to accommodate these statistics.
Securing my final interview
A couple of months after first contacting football agent Jo Tongue, I finally secured an interview. I travelled up to London on 21st December to talk to Jo about equal pay and just how much of a problem it is in the game. The interview was insightful and eye opening. You can find out what she said here as well as in the documentary.
Editing process and scripting
In the last month I have also put together a script and have edited together a draft of the documentary. The next step is for the draft to be cut down by around two minutes and for the finishing touches to be applied!
