It’s an exciting time for PAK7 as our interns are busy producing Urdu language programs which they hope will transform attitudes towards Christians throughout their nation.

Producer and PAK7 intern, Sana, took some time out from post-production to talk about the series she and her team have been making. Point of View is an up-to-the-minute program which investigates the opinions of young people on a variety of current issues. The series includes interviews with Christians and those of other faiths about hot topics such as climate change, depression and drug abuse.

“It’s been so much fun, recording this show on the road,” she says, “talking about so many different issues, to so many different people. Of course some of them are shy of the camera, and need to be persuaded to speak, but they usually want to have their say!”

It’s perhaps not usual in Pakistan for young people to have their opinions taken seriously and this show aims to engage viewers by challenging them to think about what they believe on the different issues and to show people of all ages and faiths sharing their ideas.

Unusually, Point of View is actually being simultaneously recorded and produced as three separate series, each aimed at a specific audience. The first is for national television where there are strict regulations about religious content, the second to show on Christian TV, and a third set of short video articles for use on social media.

It’s been a challenge to produce the three shows, Sana admits, but she is enthusiastic about presenting Christians in a good light on national television, and enabling them to promote Christian values on air. “In the Christian version of the show we use the actual verses from the Bible” she says, “in the national TV version, we say the same things, but using simple Urdu words, but the wisdom is there.”

The interns have worked as a team through the whole process, from coming up with the idea and pitching it to the PAK7 team, through writing and recording to post-production and working with experts to get a professional quality show. “We’re a great team with lots of different skill-sets” says Sana, “You have to be very organised to be a producer, but for example, Sharoon is a great writer and Romail has really good director of photography skills, while Maheen and Serish look after the audio and make-up as well as directing and managing production for different parts of the show. Right now we’re all learning about post-production. It has to be professional quality, so we’re working hard and learning a lot!”

Sana speaks animatedly about the chance being a PAK7 intern has given her to learn and to gain experience in the industry. Not many Christian women get to have this kind of education or opportunity and she’s determined to make the most of it. She smiles as she tells me that her dream is one day to take Christian values to the screen through producing feature films.