It’s been a week now since news broke that BBC Creative’s top team, creative directors Tim Jones and James Cross, were leaving the corporation to set up independently after five successful years in the post.
So Prolific North took the opportunity to pull up a laptop and a cup of tea, and sit down with one half of the self-proclaimed “Richie and Fonzie” duo known professionally as simply Tim and James, and find out what happens next.
One of the first questions to arise when the news broke on social media was whether the pair would be continuing their creative journey in Manchester. London clearly presents an undeniable draw for creatives looking for their next challenge, despite the massive steps that the North has made in this field, particularly since the large-scale arrival of the BBC in Manchester in 2011 and Channel 4 in Leeds a decade later. Also, Cross’ career in particular has had a distinctly international flavour, with stints in Berlin and Prague. Could itchy feet be on the agenda? Not at all, according to Jones.
“We’re still in the throes of finalising details, but we will very much be in Manchester. There was never really a question that we wouldn’t be,” Jones assures me. “We’ve spent most of our careers working in agencies outside of London, so when it came to setting up on our own the idea of not being outside the M25 was never one that really came up. We’ve seen the creative talent that is there outside London. The industry can be very London-focused and blinkered by that, but we’ve always seen that first hand. Of course we’ll continue to work with talent in London, with production companies in London, with creatives in London, but being in Manchester has always been sort of a lifesaver for us.”
Jones adds that if one good thing has come out of the pandemic, it’s the solid proof that you don’t really need to be anywhere specific to work efficiently: “Where you are now doesn’t matter. We’ve seen that we can tap into talent across the country, across the globe,” he says. “We’ve been creating remotely in different countries, wherever the talent lies, and the same with client matters as well. We’re proud to be setting up in Manchester, but we will be defined by our work. We don’t want to compete with Manchester agencies, we want to compete with everyone, and you can do that. So that’s the plan.”
