Dyslexia Documentary

Dear SEN Co-ordinator,

I’m writing to you from Dragonfly Film and Television Ltd.  We produced the Bafta winning series One Born Every Minute and the Bafta nominated Series, The Family.  In January 2012, we broadcast two documentaries on Channel 5, entitled “My Secret Past”.  One featured Kate Thornton discussing her experiences with anorexia, and the second focused on Jodie Marsh’s struggle with bullying as a teenager.  Both documentaries were very well received and were applauded for their sensitive coverage of difficult subjects.  We are now making a second series of four My Secret Past films featuring different celebrities talking about difficulties they’ve experienced.

One of the new films tells the story of Shane Lynch (from pop group Boyzone) and his experience of growing up with dyslexia.  Having struggled to read and write for his whole life Shane, now 35, only found out he was dyslexic five years ago.  He is hoping that by making this film he will not only gain a much greater understanding of dyslexia, but also be able to share his experiences and offer support to children growing up with the learning difficulty, ultimately raising more awareness for parents and children alike.

We are currently looking for schools that are proud of the help they can offer children with dyslexia that would be interested in taking part in the documentary.  It would be fantastic to find a school that has pupils who can speak of their experience of dyslexia – perhaps they’re in the early stages of coming to terms with it and are feeling the frustration or confusion that Shane Lynch himself experienced, or perhaps they have now found ways to overcome most of the difficulties that arise.  We are also looking for teachers who can describe how they deal with such difficulties, whether they are specialist dyslexia teachers or not.  We are keen to hear from schools that may have a handful of dyslexic pupils, schools that specialise in dyslexia, or maybe a school that is using some pioneering techniques to help dyslexic pupils.

You can find out more about Dragonfly Television here: www.dragonfly.tv

You can watch previous episodes of My Secret Past here: http://www.channel5.com/shows/my-secret-past-2

You may be interested to hear some feedback we have had from people we featured in the first series:

  • “The film got thousands of people talking about such an important issue. At the time of my piece on the broadcast I was receiving up to 5 messages per second on Twitter, Facebook. It has created an army of volunteers who are now willing to help me. It’s also inspired young people to request me to visit their schools.  We’ve had over 100 schools request this. I think the biggest effect has been from young people, who have said that it has given them hope and been a shining example of what part people can play to rid the world of bullying” – Alex Holmes, Bullying Campaigner
  • “We thought the programme with Jodie was great and she came across as really down to earth and genuine.  We loved how you ended on a positive note with Alex. Hope to work with you more in the future” – Vari Lambert, Diana Award Bullying Charity Communications Officer

If you might be interested in being involved with the documentary, I would be very pleased to hear from you at your earliest convenience.  My details are below should you be interested or have any further questions.

Best wishes and kind regards,

Jon Crisp
Dragonfly Film and Television Productions Ltd
120-124 Curtain Road
London
EC2A 3SQ
United Kingdom

T: +44(0)207 033 2300
DD: +44(0)207 033 2312
F: +44(0)207 7293086
E: jon.crisp@dragonfly.tv