understand how hard it is. walk in our shoes. walk in our shoes, and then you'll know what it's like. judith moritz, bbc news, bradford. a vast "raft" of volcanic rocks stretching over one hundred and fifty square kilometers is drifting through the pacific ocean, scientists say. the sea of pumice — the size of 20,000 football fields — was first reported by australian sailors earlier this month. experts say the mass likely came from an underwater volcano near tonga, which erupted around the seventh of august. this has been the hottest late august bank holiday on record — though it is not a holiday in scotland. temperatures rose to more than 33 degrees celsius in west london — beating the previous record of 28 degrees two years ago. richard lister has more details.

it's europe's biggest street party, and this year the notting hill carnival was hotter than ever. over the past two days over a million people danced their way through temperatures in the 30s. officially, today's temperature record was broken rather more quietly here at tibenham in norfolk when the thermometer here hit 28.6 celsius. in frinton, a nearby resorts in essex, beach—goers were undeterred by a possible contamination issue that made 150 people seek medical attention yesterday after swimming in the sea. today they couldn't get enough of it. fantastic, yes. amazing, loving it. i've never been here before, so... yes, i didn't even know this was here in england. amazing. there was loads of space on the beach. just a gorgeous day. because of yesterday's contamination scare the official advice on this stretch of coast is still don't go in the water. well, you can see how much notice people here are taking of that. with no more problems reported, most people in frinton are more concerned about staying cool.

these lake swimmers had the same thought in bradford. the temperatures weren't record—breaking everywhere in the uk, but hot enough. and just what the organisers of the reeth show in north yorkshire had been hoping for. a prize—winning bank holiday monday. around the country, people made the most of the last public holiday before christmas. from sand castles in sunderland, to relaxing in regent's park in london where for a few sunbathers it was even a bit too hot. it's a day which ended with sunburn for some and plenty of sand in the car, too, but bank holidays don't get much better, or hotter, than this. richard lister, bbc news, frinton on sea. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. it has been a scorcher of a weekend for most of us. it has been a bank holiday weekend of course and a

record—breaking lee hot late august bank holiday. we start to see a change from the atlantic, slowly turning cooler from the west, some rain showers and may be some thunderstorms ahead of the rain as we destabilise this hot atmosphere. we will continue to see a few showers across we will continue to see a few showers gci’oss western we will continue to see a few showers across western parts of england and in towards wales tonight. this weather and bringing for cloud, outbreaks of rain, more ofa for cloud, outbreaks of rain, more of a breeze to the far south—west of the current —— to the far north—west of the country but for the south east, a very warm night. warm on central into eastern areas, another hot day on tuesday, thunderstorms becoming more widespread, turning cooler and showery, look at the temperature difference, 31 degrees in the south—east, not quite as hot as sunday and monday but those temperatures continuing to fall away as we head deep into the week. increasing breeze and rain from the west. hello this is bbc news. the headlines...

the prime minister says he's marginally more optimistic about striking a brexit deal after meeting g7 leaders in france — saying it's the job of everyone in parliament to deliver on time. leaders at the summit pledge $22 million to help tackle the devastating fires in the amazon rainforest. the largest earthquake thought to be caused by a fracking site in the uk, has been felt in lancashire. now on bbc news, talking movies explores the role of the producer in both big hollywood productions and smaller independent films. hello and welcome to this special edition of talking movies, devoted to the producer, one of the top jobs in the film industry.

what does the public think the producer actually does? do you know what a producer does? not at all, not at all. do you have any idea what a producer does? not really. like, they help set up the film and make sure the lighting is ok? all the production stuff, i guess? movie producer... do you know what a producer does? produces a movie, right? assembles the crew to produce a movie. he is in control of everything. he calls the shots. you have to produce and create everything, technically. if i'm right. i believe i'm right. i know they handle the financials like the director handles the execution. they make it all happen. they get the money and hire the people and make sure everything happened on budget and on time. maybe.

i think some guys get producer credits as favours. that's how the industry works. i'm not sure what he does. evidently, there is confusion when it comes to the producer. but on the biggest night of the year for hollywood, the oscars, the producer is always there and grabbing the limelight by picking up the best picture prize. the cult of the producer began with the decline of the studio system in hollywood. as the studios began to lose their power and divested themselves of their theatre chains et cetera, as more actors started to become free agents and directors became free agents, producers became more important because a producer now had to put the movie together. a producer could not merely rely on what the studio determined, they had to package it themselves. who's that? that's rhett butler. there are many different ways to evaluate the success of a producer. the first is, obviously, did the movie make money?

the second is was the movie any good? and there are plenty of producers who keep working because even though their movies have not made money yet they make good movies. another metric is did the producer manage to attract serious talent in front of and behind the camera? did the producer actually run a good set? did people on the set have a good experience? so much that they would work with the producer again? there are many different ways tojudge producers. as far as hollywood is concerned, it usually comes down to did the movie make money. one of the most dynamic producers in hollywood today is will packer, who has established himself as one of the most successful african—american producers in the world. tristan daly went to meet him. how did you get started in the movie business? i met a buddy in college and i actually helped him to make

a small movie on our campus. that movie was called chocolate city. no—one in hollywood cared about the movie, it was a terrible little movie shot on super 16 millimetre film, it was grainy with bad production value. but those who cared about it were the students at a university. we were actually able to sell tickets to our little movie starring us, about college life as we knew it and that was how my film career got started. will packer and his then partner, rob hardy, made a few more independent films together before landing their first certified hit. ultimately, we did make a film which caught the attention of hollywood in a real way and that movie was called stomp the yard. we sold it as a dance movie but at the core it was about kids at a historically black college pledging sororities and fraternities and then we put the step in and we wrapped it up in a bow of a dance movie.

that is what you need to do in hollywood. you need to figure out an angle they can use to market a film. that was successful for us. that movie opened number one. finding that angle has been the speciality of packer. since stomp the yard, he has achieved numerous openings, using his knack for marketing and enlisting the help of his collaborators and film stars. some may argue the placement in his movies help boost the careers of now well—known faces like idris elba, kevin hart and tiffany haddish in the 2017 hit girls trip. historically, this symbiotic relationship between actor and producer has been quite common in the film industry. so hollywood is changing and stars are not as much of a safe bet to fill seats at the theatre. do you feel this is happening? how do you respond to this phenomenon? i have never been somebody who has been beholden purely to the hollywood star system. i have given some starring leading roles to actors and actresses who have not gotten them before but who deserve them,

who i knew there was an audience who wanted to see them and i knew they had the skill set to do it. but other people were not giving them that opportunity and that meant it was a chance for me to do it. so the star system does not affect me in the same way. i have always been somebody who makes concept—driven content. do you see it as a positive development? it is part of what i call the great democratisation of media. i think it is a good thing because it means that consumers have the power in a way that they never had before. it means that filmmakers like myself need to adjust and recognise that and make our content and tell our narratives accordingly. critics do not always appreciate your films and movie—goers use sites like rotten tomatoes to decide what to see at the theatre? does that affect your box office numbers? definitely. every filmmaker today is affected by the critical aggregators like rotten tomatoes, because people do look. does it have a strong effect

on the box office of my films and those of people like me? probably not. it is usually the people on the fence that make the decision based on well, let me see what the rotten tomatoes score is first. i try to make films that have an urgency to them. that i want to see, i want to see it opening, when does it come out?! put the date down, i am going to see that movie! girls trip was a comedy, a high rotten tomatoes score, certified fresh, that was great. did that help the box office? it certainly did not hurt it but the audience who wanted to see it, they were going. they did not need rotten tomatoes to validate them wanting to see what they saw on that screen. packer is confident that the largely white and male critics whose reviews populate these aggregate sites do not represent his core audience. although the film industry on the surface seems to be championing underrepresented artists, many filmmakers still voice frustration about an industry that does not make room for new stories and perspectives. packer has been making profitable films that feature black people prominently in times when the industry was less inclusive.

there is a dearth of actors who look like me and what that means is that these are stories and perspectives that are not being told. i think that hollywood traditionally has not valued having that voice in the room. now if you are not telling a story that feels like the world, that starts to feel dated. audiences want stuff that feels current and very much like the global society we are all connected in which we live. for 30 years, rebecca 0'brien has worked with filmmaker ken loach as a producer to make socially conscious thought—provoking movies which together with writer paul laverty have brought them the palme d'0r, the top prize at the cannes film festival twice. what is it like to work as an independent producer? well, emma jones went to meet rebecca 0'brien. hello.

come on in. this is sixteen films. this is the office where everything happens. soho, london is not the obvious place for revolution. but this is where rebecca 0'brien and her director have been fighting what they believe is a good fight for three decades. ken loach was already celebrated when they met. i was a huge fan. i saw cathy come home go out on the telly and when it went out i saw in the mid—60s i saw, i went to see kes when i was about 13. people sometimes ask me if i produced kes and i sort of give them short shrift. london—born rebecca 0'brien always had a desire for the difference even as she worked her way up the film industry. she was location manager on 1985's ground—breaking same sex love story my beautiful laundrette. don't get too involved with that crook. we have the men

who did the shooting. 0urjob is done. a shared interest in ireland eventually led her to produce loach‘s 1990 film hidden agenda and they have been together ever since. a dozen of their films have competed at cannes, including two palme d'0r winners — the wind that shakes the barley and 2016's i, daniel blake. most recently they made sorry we missed you, a classic ken loach tale about the injustice of insecure zero hours contracts in britain. i am there from the inception, right through all the way to the archive. i'm looking after the film and i am the first second opinion all the way through at each stage of production. and it is a family, really. together, loach, 0'brien and their long—term writer paul laverty have told stories that few filmmakers in britain would dream of and shooting in corners of the country that are often overlooked. i, daniel blake was a film

of blazing fury at britain's benefit system and was shot in newcastle as was much of sorry we missed you, in many ways, its companion piece. the political side of the films is very important to me. i, daniel blake, the one thing we asked for and we got, was we asked for it to be made available for community screenings. so that people could get in touch with the distributor, e1, and say we want to do a little screening as a fundraiser for our localfood bank or in the church hall. there were probably about 700 of those screenings. getting a completely different audience to go and see the film that way was very special and it meant that the film was owned by its audience and i think to me that is really important. why did you choose independent film? have you never been tempted to take the studio dollar? funnily enough i did do that.

when ken was making carla's song, i did another film for working title, the first mr bean film. that is probably as close as you can get to a studio film. and myjob was to keep it, keep it the british film it was. and basically go and work with that team in la. which was bonkers. but that was my studio experience. i have been there, done that. bought the t—shirt and very happy to be back here making independent films. the nature of working independently and film is too often walk a hard path alone. yet rebecca 0'brien is lucky — she is part of running a successful family business. while women may be encountering resistance in the film industry when it comes to directing, opportunities are opening up or producing.

kitty cox has been speaking to two independent producers who are very excited by changes taking place in the film industry pertaining to women. producer shruti ganguly is celebrating the premiere of her latest film already gone, executive—produced by actor keanu reeves. just seven years out of film school, she has worked with a—list actors, won the nora ephron award at tribeca and launched her production company hont088, bringing fresh perspectives to storytelling. why did you decide to become a producer? was it something you always wanted to do or did you kind of fall into it? i'm a producer and a director and that's not a very typical combination where for years, people have thought you could either be a producer or director. you can't be both. and strangely, i found more of that resistance being a woman. in fact, someone even told me, you can't produce and direct or,

you know what, just go marry your boyfriend and then you can do whatever you want. and i rememberjust kind of facing that type of resistance and there are stories that i really want to make, that i want to write and direct and then, at the same time, there are stories that my friends really want to make and i know how to get them made because i also do have a producer brain, i'm not scared by the numbers, the dealmaking and of looking at the big picture of how to make a project happen and bring it from idea or script to screen. ganguly is carving her own unique path but she has a theory on why some women gravitate to producing instead of otherfilmmaking rules. i think that women have a great knack for multitasking. it's like grace under pressure, grace under fire and i think that ithat s something that women are very good at managing and balancing. it's when things are going a little awry, how can you really guide that process and lead with kindness and in a certain way,

that just ultimately gets the movie made and done and managing those situations. creating a supportive environment for women in film and presenting diverse stories on screen is something that producer christine vachon has championed during her 30 years in the industry. when she started as a production assistant in new york in the ‘80s, she had little support or mentorship from women but now through her production company killer films, she regularly works with female direct is and has backed critically acclaimed films like boys don't cry and still alice. way well before it became the buzzword, killer was working with more female directors and other companies, for example. the other thing i'm very proud of as well is we talk a lot about female directors because it's important. but it's also important that women are shooting films, that women are designing films, that women are producing films. vachon thinks a lack of support for mothers,

particularly in the role of director, which requires gruelling hours, steers more women into producing but she's careful not to pigeonhole producing as female. i think producing maybe allows women a little more flexibility because you can juggle a couple of different projects so that you can spend some of the time you want with your family and still get yourjob done. i mean, i know there is also things around women and producing, the ability to multitask, the ability to nurture, all those things, but i don't love to lean into things that we say are typically female as, you know, as why we are good at one thing or another, you know what i mean? because it's just too broad a spectrum. what does someone, particularly a woman, need to do in order to be successful in producing? i think really what's important as a producer is you have to have a certain fearlessness.

there is a lot of risk involved and you kind of, you have to have a bit of an iron stomach about it and of course, you have to have a really good eye and good taste and the ability to really say no and walk away from something if it's not good enough. the movie industry is changing rapidly these days, providing challenging times for young producers who want to make sure that their films reach audiences. despite the obstacles, they are forging ahead, as noah cattell reports. producing is the art of getting things done and these determined young producers are finding their way in an increasingly volatile industry. roan bibby is a young producer with a single feature under his belt, the browsing effect. the film, a comedy drama about dating in the era of tinder, did not receive a theatrical release but it's now streaming

on amazon prime, which could mean a larger audience. i watched him work on the set of his latest film, the surrogate, and saw a producer who places a high value on setting the tone for the day, making sure everyone is relaxed and ready to work. alright, that's a cut. it's all morale, especially on lower—budget projects. again, no—one is doing this for high day rates or for their immediate career so i think being gracious and calm and making a fun environment for the crew is pretty paramount to executing the day and getting good stuff. i think i kind of grew up with an innate sense of why leadership is important and some basic skills but yeah, after that, just practice, i think, is a necessity because i think if you're in that role, you need to be a leader and need to mobilise people and motivate them and keep morale up. rowan studied film production in college but he says he learned how to produce by doing, and he's more than comfortable operating in the shadows.

in fact, he says that's how it should be done. part of producing is, sometimes it does help to kind of keep the curtain up a little bit and to keep an air of mystery. you don't necessarily want to show all your cards all the time. i don't know if there's anything people need to know. i also don't want to make my competition any harder. producing a film at any level is hard work but young independent producers face some unique challenges. the digital revolution has changed producing for good. digital video has made some aspects of film production simpler and less expensive, but it's also lead to an exponential increase in the number of films made, which makes it harder for single project to stand out. thank you so much for being here. my name is marttise hill, i am one of the producers and directors. this is the biggest challenge faced byjulius pryor and marttise hill, a young new york based producing team with two films under

their belt, cronies and how to tell you're a d—bag, which have both found success on the circuit. i attended a table read on their next feature where they talked about the challenges they faced that filmmakers of previous generations may not have encountered. the industry has changed so much over the last decade or so since you guys have been making movies. what issues do you think you face that are relatively new to producers? something that we deal with as the new generation of filmmakers is figuring out how our projects can cut through the noise. because everybody has got a camera, everybody has got an iphone and is watching youtube and figuring out how can i make my short film look amazing with my iphone and $100? and figuring out how can we take the projects that we are self—generating and collaborating on and making them original and unique that can make their way through the gamut of other films and stories and

people trying to make films today. even though these producers have their eyes on the challenges ahead, one thing that keeps them motivated is the satisfaction that comes from working with fresh voices. any collaborative endeavour, it's a marriage of sorts, it's a journey and as great as any script can be, you want to make sure the people you are going to work with are great as well so i think the people certainly are supplementing access to a project. we may be interested in a filmmaker off ofjust interactions we've had with them, not knowing full well what they've written or what they're working on but that'll be window. hey, what are you working on and how can we maybe enhance it? while the last decade has seen a radical transformation in the landscape of film production, no—one knows if the biggest changes are already behind us or if in this digital age, the medium will continue

to rapidly develop. what's clear is whatever problems arise, filmmakers will continue to rely on their producers to turn those challenges into opportunities. well, that brings our special producers edition of talking movies to a close. hope you've enjoyed the show. please remember you can always reach us online at bbc.com/talkingmovies and you can find us on facebook as well so from me, tom brook, and the rest of the talking movies production crew here in new york, it's goodbye as we leave you some images of producers from the show.

it has been a scorcher of a weekend for most of us. it's been a bank holiday weekend of course and a record—breaking hot late august bank holiday. the next few days we start to see a change from the atlantic, was slowly turn cooler from the west marine, showers, may be some thunderstorms ahead of the rain as we destabilise this hot atmosphere.

we will continue to see a few showers across western parts of england and in towards wales tonight. this weather and bringing for cloud, outbreaks of rain, more of a breeze to the far south—west of the current —— to the far north—west of the country but for the south east, a very warm night. warm on central into eastern areas, another hot day on tuesday, thunderstorms becoming more widespread, turning cooler and showery, look at the temperature difference, 31 degrees in the south—east, not quite as hot as sunday and monday but those temperatures continuing to fall away as we head deep into the week. increasing breeze and rain from the west.

hello, i'm nuala mcgovern, this is 0utside source. global trade, the amazon, iran and brexit dominate the last day of the g7 in biarritz. iran emerges as a key issue. president trump says he hasn't ruled out meeting iranian leaders. they have to be good players. you understand what that means? and they can't do what they were saying they're going to do. because if they do that, they're going to be met with really very violent force. we have no choice. president trump was optimistic about another rival too, china, saying he thought their offer of trade talks was sincere. also at the g7 — as devastating fires take hold of the amazon rainforest,

leaders agree to pledge more than