Channel 4 appoints Pegah Farahmand as Editor, Random Acts

As part of plans to boost its short-form arts strand, Random Acts, Channel 4 has created a new position – Editor, Random Acts – and hired Pegah Farahmand to fill the role.

Farahmand joins the channel from Vice Media where she spent 10 years at the heart of the company’s rapid expansion, producing and directing documentaries with talent such as Spike Jonze, Jonathan Glazer, and Sally Potter, as well overseeing the content from Vice’s many brand partnerships including Google, Ford and Nike.  She was the global supervising producer for Vice’s multimedia arts and technology platform The Creators Project, and latterly the company’s Senior Creative Producer.

In her new position she will commission new Random Act short films, work with Arts Council England’s Random Acts Network Centres on shorts from new and emerging talent, oversee the strand’s new web and television platforms, and seek new partnerships and opportunities to expand Random Acts still further. She will work to John Hay, the channel’s Commissioning Editor for Arts.

Farahmand’s appointment is the latest step in a series of measures Hay is taking to ‘supercharge’ the Random Arts strand, expanding its remit, budget and ambition. A new partnership with Arts Council England, which is investing £3m over 3 years, is creating a series of Random Acts Network Centres across the country. Each is charged with finding, training and developing 16-24-year-old creatives and giving them the chance to make films for the strand. At the same time, the channel is giving the shorts a more prominent and substantial TV slot: where previously they were shown one at a time in between programmes, they will now be grouped into curated half-hour compilation shows. The way they’re showcased on the web is also changing to make them easier to find and share. And discussions are already underway with a number of bodies interested in collaborating to increase the strand’s size and reach.

Farahmand begins work in mid-January and will start commissioning from February onwards. Producers with ideas should send a short paragraph putting them as succinctly as possible to pfarahmand@channel4.co.uk and Ellie Kirby, Arts Coordinator at elkirby@channel4.co.uk - but only after 1st February.

Pegah Farahmand commented: “It’s an honour to be joining the Channel 4 family, an innovative brand that has consistently inspired me over the years, and I am thrilled to be leading the Random Acts journey and helping to shape its evolution.”

John Hay said: “Random Acts has long been something of a hidden treasure at the channel, but Pegah is the perfect person to realise its full potential. Short-form, online filmmaking is one of the most exciting and richest areas of creative activity out there, and a huge opportunity for the future. Pegah’s experience in that world – as well as her excellent taste and evident talent - will enable Channel 4 to remain television’s foremost pioneers in the field.”