Leeds company Art of Truth sets out to 'reinvent the rules' of the TV industry

Lauren York resolved from a young age to work in television despite all signs pointing towards other paths.

When she told her school careers advisor that was what she wanted to do, they recommended she think of something else.

After she did finally get into the industry, a culture of “bullying and toxicity” was at odds with what she had expected.

She moved out of the sector, but tragic family circumstances took her back into it.

Ten years on, she has created Art of Truth, a television production company with a mission to rid the sector of unhealthy working cultures, one which gives talented young people the opportunity to tell their stories.

“This has been my dream since I’ve been young, to have a production company. I mean, it’s always been my dream since I was tiny,” says Lauren, 42, of Leeds.

“When I left uni, and I got into TV, I went into drama. I loved it, but it was also very toxic. And I experienced bullying and that type of thing. And I always thought to myself, one day I’m going do this myself. The thing is, my career just kind of got in the way.”

At the time she decided to take marketing jobs for banks such as Aviva in York and Bradford and Bingley.

Meanwhile, her brother-in-law, Nick Jones, had set up UK Locations, the first northern location agency in a market saturated by London firms, in 2006. Tragically, he later died in the car crash.

Lauren took over the firm, working to build the company back up, and runs a successful portfolio of film, photography and television locations.

She says: “After running UK Locations for 10 years, I’m now in a position where I’ve got an amazing team and I’ve now got the money to be able to work on my dream, which is Art of Truth.”

The Leeds-based company has been selected for the Channel 4’s Emerging Indie Fund, which helps out firms with development funding, increased access to commissioners and the broadcaster’s departments.

Meanwhile, it has been selected as a partner for C4’s Production Training Scheme.

It has also been picked to benefit from the Indie Lab TV Accelerator Programme, which allows it to learn from experts about the best ways to run independent television companies.

With Lauren as managing director, other core staff members are creative director Alison Foster, and assistant producers Joe Lajszczuk and George Grafton.

It may be too early to share details of programmes the company will make – project ideas are in with the likes of Channel 4 – but from Lauren’s perspective it is also their plans to change the industry for the better and to help deal with a “talent crisis” in the screen sector that is worthy of attention.

Reflecting on the unhappier times earlier in her career, Lauren says these seemed to stem from long hours when people were away from home, causing stress and building an environment “where there is going to be toxicity and shouting and bullying”.

She says: “It was horrible at the time, but you know what, that actually has been my impetus to do this. This is why I want to change things and practices with Art of Truth. It’s why I really want us to have a major focus on youth programming and getting young people into TV.”

An early example of that is Art of Truth’s partnership with Notre Dame College in Leeds, where they are working with students to develop TV and digital ideas for major broadcasters.

Cohorts of 15, which change each term, have been giving feedback to Lauren and her staff, and getting their own mentorship in return.

Likewise, the company has worked with the consultants Jensen and Jensen, run by twin brothers Myles and Bradley, who want to help sectors that struggle to get their message out to millennials.

Lauren is also hoping that outreach programmes in schools can take place in the future.

“I’m 42, so there’s no point me coming up with ideas for them,” she says. “We really want to understand what they need, what they like, what their ideas are.”

It’s also important to reach prospective television workers young because of that skills gap in the screen sector.

Lauren says that there is a “talent crisis” across the UK industry in general but it’s particularly acute in Yorkshire at the moment.

“Basically there is a real increase in production in Yorkshire because of Channel 4 moving here. The funding pots that we have here through Screen Yorkshire and those types of initiatives,

it’s really increased the amount of production that happens here.

“But what has happened along with that is that we also need an increase in talent. And that bit hasn’t caught up with the amount of productions that we have happening.

“The other side of it is not only is there a talent shortage, (but) it’s still really difficult to get into TV, even though there’s a talent shortage. We seem to make it very difficult to get into TV. People say, ‘Oh, you need a credit’ or ‘You can’t get a credit without doing any work experience' and it’s hard getting work experience, and there doesn’t seem to be a great funnel at the moment. It doesn’t work very well.”

There are a number of roles people are desperately needed in, Lauren says, which include production managers, editors, location managers and production accountants.

She also believes there needs to be a greater emphasis on young people’s perspectives in television shows and ideas that reflect wider diversity.

In terms of better working practices and training, she is putting in place development plans for each member of staff, and eventually hopes to have hundreds of them.

“You have to change your mindset on that because the thing is, some companies don’t want to train freelance people because they think oh, well they’re just be going off to another company. As a human, you want to do good and for me, I want to train people because they may only stay with me a few months, but within that time, they’ll work really hard and they’ll give the best that they can and it’s how you retain people.”

On starting the company, she says: “I could cry about it because it’s like an absolute dream come true.

“With the toxicity of stuff, we can change that completely, so we’re reinventing the rules and we’re starting as we mean to go on.

“Everyone’s got development plans. We’re putting in situations where people can work hybrid and everyone’s happy and there’s a plan. Everyone knows what that plan is.

“We’re very clear on what the vision is. If I step back from it, it’s unbelievable. I have to pinch myself.”

For more information, visit www.artoftruth.co.uk.