PROGRAMMING &PRODUCTION COMMISSION WORK MEETING IN LONDON

The P&PC autumn meeting, November 29th-30th, was this time hosted by the BBC. Noteworthy is that from now on our Mediterranean and Latin American members are more actively represented in the practical work of the P&PC. Two new members were welcomed: Vittorio Sette of RAI, Turin, Italy, and as a corresponding member, Amira Arratia of CTN, Santiago, Chile.

One of the main items on the agenda was of course the preparations for the 1997 FIAT/IFTA Award. Special emphasise will be made on the press information material before and after the Budapest Conference. The new rule, beginning this year, of the nominations being open to non-member organisation will call for further efforts in this area. For instance, the FIAT/IFTA Internet pages will be used more effectively in this respect in conveying the very latest information. A work group for the Award information task was appointed, headed by deputy chairman Karl Maier (already responsible for the coordination of the Award nomination procedures.

The membership can this year, as in earlier years, expect a special Award bag, an Award pin (has already become a real collectors item!) and an Award poster for the promotion of the nomination activities. If you, for some reason, have not got the poster, please write to Karl Maier or our Administrative Secretary Gösta Johansson, gosta@msn.com.

The membership can also soon (this spring) expect the Selections for Preservation Document - as it was presented at the Paris Conference - in print. A "condensed" version in the format of a folder will also be produced. You will be interested to know that the Library of Congress, USA, has asked for permission to print it as an appendix to their Report on the Current State of American Television and Video Preservation. The P&PC has of course endorsed this request.

Tt the London meeting we also discussed the future of the "20th Century Projects list". The P&PC will call for further contributions to this list, aimed at establishing connections between producers all over the world who work on this topic and hopefully facilitate their productions. Contributions to the list (titles of productions, names of persons to contact etc.) should be sent to Lasse Nilsson (e-mail: Lasse.Nilsson@svt.se).

Tn important item on the agenda was the cooperation between FOCAL - the Federation of Commercial Audiovisual Libraries and FIAT/IFTA. FOCAL had invited the P&PC for an informal meeting at "The Machine Room" - a TV post production facilities house. One of the natural connections between our two organisations are the Guidelines for Use of Archive Material document, that the P&PC is presently working on. Our FOCAL colleagues had arranged a screening of interesting examples. These, of course, resulted in a very vivid discussion that we are looking forward to see the continuation of. Among possible future joint projects discussed was also a Researchers' Summer School in London scheduled for 1998. But more about that later.

Lasse Nilsson
Chair, P&PC