The Show You Cannot Afford To Miss

And miss it I do – in September, I spent four fantastic weeks doing work experience at Watchdog at the BBC’s New Broadcasting House in London. I never quite got over the excitement of stepping into the iconic building each morning, flashing my pass at the guards before they let me in to where some of the world’s top programmes are made.

Going in to it, I assumed I would be spending much of my time making cups of tea, as is the stereotype with work experience, but the reality could not have been further from the truth. I was always kept busy with a wide variety of tasks, including research, logging letters, transcribing footage, making and sourcing props, and collecting and delivering items to other parts of London and beyond. I also got to go on location for a few filming days, which gave me great insight into how the features are made.

Whilst there, Anne Robinson announced she was leaving the show, and she was replaced by two new presenters, Michelle Ackerley and Sophie Raworth, both of whom I was lucky to meet whilst filming some pieces to camera. They were absolutely lovely, and Sophie also started out doing work experience on Watchdog, which gives me great hope for the future! I look forward to seeing the show with its new team of presenters – it’s going to be great.

Everyone I worked with was kind and patient, and more than happy to answer any questions I had about their roles. So much hard work goes in to making the show – you really have no idea just how much until you see it first hand. I had an absolutely fantastic four weeks, and I wish it didn’t have to end!

The Network 2015

Four days. Six masterclasses. Twenty four hours to produce a show. The Network 2015 at the Edinburgh International Television Festival whizzed by in a blur of intense hard work and fun!

I arrived, excited and raring to go, on Tuesday 25th of August. I didn’t have to wait long to get started, as we went straight into CV clinics, in which I spoke to various Talent Managers about my CV. The tweaks they recommended were very helpful, but it was the advice I got about what steps I need to take next to get into the industry that were the most useful. Within the first twenty minutes, I already had a much clearer idea of what I want to do in the industry!

In between clinics, I ducked out to take part in my Presenter Experience. Run by a team from CBBC and CBeebies, we had been put in pairs and given the task of presenting a two minute interview in front of the camera. As the interviewee, I was asked questions about my volunteer work with the British Humanist Association. It was quite fun, but went by far more quickly than we were expecting – two minutes really isn’t very long!

The afternoon was filled with an ice breaker quiz and tips on how to network and how to get into the industry. The evening brought together the two talent schemes at the festival – us Networkers joined those on the Ones to Watch scheme – to take part in a quiz run by the QI Elves, which also had a little bit of Only Connect thrown in. My team, ‘No Such Thing As A Quiz’, reigned supreme!

 

Wednesday brought a variety of masterclasses: Jay Hunt, the Last Leg team, David Glover, and producers of digital content all gave insight into their fields. We also attended the opening of the festival: ‘Edinburgh Does Big Brother’ hosted by Emma Willis, which gave us the impression that people in this industry are a little mad but have a good sense of humour!

That afternoon we split into our workshop groups for the first time. I was part of the Production Skills workshop, and it was our task to produce the final show, ‘The Network Live’. This is the big finale of the the four days, and is the time when all of the groups present what they have been working on. It seemed a little daunting – there was a lot to do – but we had that night to come up with ideas to fill the 75 minute show.

Then came one of the highlights of the festival: the MacTaggart lecture. This is the biggest event of the festival, and this year it was delivered by Armando Ianucci, who gave an inspiring yet humorous speech about the current state of the British television industry, and the BBC in particular. If I didn’t want to protect and work in the industry before, I certainly did after listening to his rousing words. 

 

That night I faced the one thing I had been dreading: actual networking! All of us industry newbies were blown away as we stepped into the ITV drinks at the National Museum of Scotland – so many people in such a beautiful room! I left at the end of the night feeling very proud of myself, as I had actually managed to talk to a few people and even exchanged business cards! 

Industry newbies attend the ITV Drinks

Things got serious on Thursday, as it was time to start working on our show. We began at 8am by bringing together our ideas to create a running order. My idea to do a spin on ‘Blind Date’, in which three Networkers compete to go on a coffee date with a Talent Manager, went down well, and ended up in the final show.

After all having a go on various equipment – cameras, sound desk, and vision mixing desk – we had a few practices of a news segment. We were then given our official roles for the show – I was named Director and Vision Mixer. This meant that we could start preparing in earnest: the Producer and researchers finessed the content of the show, whilst the camera operators, VT operator, Sound operator and I started blocking and running through segments. We were very lucky to have Blue Peter presenter Lindsey Russell with us throughout rehearsals – her experience and professionalism were utterly invaluable to us as we all quickly got to grips with our new roles. We managed to have a full run through by the end of the day, which put us in very good stead for Show Day. 

First rehearsals for the show

But the day did not end after ten hours of work! We then attended the Edinburgh Television Awards, which were hosted by Frankie Boyle. His typical style of acerbic humour had everyone on edge! I was also lucky that night to attend a screening of ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’, the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. No spoilers, but I very much enjoyed it!

To round off the long day, we headed to the 40th Anniversary party, during which I accidentally stepped backwards into someone, only to discover that that someone was Martin Freeman! My first nightclub experience will certainly be a memorable one!

I didn’t party too late, as we were up early the next day for Show Day! We had just over four hours to bring everything together and rehearse. The problem was that we were waiting on material from other groups, most of which didn’t arrive until right before or even during the show. This meant we had to change the running order right before we started, and then changed it many times during the show itself. 

This increased the pressure, but I had a fantastic time nonetheless. There were four cameras, and the operators were great, all making sure I had good shots to work with and responding well to the sudden changes we had to make.

A (totally posed, as it was taken after the show) picture of me in position at the mixing desk

Before I knew it, it was over! I was on such an adrenaline high, I wanted to do it all over again! 

After four days of being on the the go almost non-stop, we suddenly had to say our goodbyes and head back to reality. I had an utterly incredible experience, one that I will never forget, and my determination to break into the industry has been well and truly reinvigorated.

Many thanks go to Jane, Ewan, Sheila, and Sarah who ran the Production Skills workshops, to Lindsey for presenting, to the technicians who put together all of the equipment for us, and to everyone who spoke in the masterclasses. Thanks also to everyone at The Network: to all of the stewards who looked after us, especially Alice who was with us in the Production Skills workshop and who ran around Edinburgh getting supplies for us, and also to Campbell, Holly, and Rhiannon, who organised everything (special thanks to Holly for interviewing me and deciding that my passionate, nervous ramblings were enough to give me a place!).

If you’re looking into getting into TV, I highly recommend that you apply to the scheme next year. One of the best experiences of my life so far!

The Production Skills team take a relieved selfie with presenter Lindsey after the show

Getting my toes in the door…

A couple of weeks ago, the first anniversary of my graduation passed. It is hard to believe it has been a year since I left university – back then I was looking optimistically yet realistically at the bright, open future that lay before me. There was no denying that it would be tough – the media industry isn’t easy to get into, what with its lack of clear entry routes or career paths – but I had a good degree, some great experience, and a broad set of skills. I didn’t know where I was heading, but I felt I had the tools to get started on my journey.

I walk optimistically towards my future at the end of my film ‘Realisation’ – I can’t believe I made this over a year ago!

Flash forward to a month ago, when I was beginning to give up on getting into the industry. I’ve had some successes this year – filming various events and lectures for the British Humanist Association has been good, as have my experiences at the Hay Festival and National Student Drama Festival. I’ve also worked at Waterstones (a delight for a bookworm such as myself), attended some fantastic workshops thanks to the much-missed IdeasTap, and, throughout all of these adventures, I’ve visited places I’d never been to before – Scarborough, Bristol, and Oxford, to name just a few. But I’d had more rejection than I could count, and unemployment was starting to get me down. It was time to ask myself at what point I should begin looking into a different career. I had no idea what else I would do. But I had no idea how else to go about trying to get into the one industry I have spent the past seven years dreaming of working in.

Keble College, Oxford, where I was lucky to stay whilst filming the World Humanist Congress

Suddenly, within a few weeks, everything changed. I was offered four weeks of work experience at the BBC, working on Watchdog in September. I’ve applied to the BBC for work experience many times, and I have no idea what made this application different, but I cannot wait to work behind the scenes on such an iconic programme. It will give me great insight and valuable experience – even though it is temporary and unpaid, it will mean a great deal.

Then, even more surprisingly, I was offered a place on The Network, a talent scheme that runs in association with the Edinburgh Television Festival. I applied last year and got no where, so I was surprised to have even been invited to an assessment day this year. The interview day itself was a great experience – I met so many lovely people and had such an enjoyable day that, even if I hadn’t make it into the scheme itself, I would have considered it a positive experience. Yet to my absolute shock and delight, I was offered one of the fifty places on the scheme. I absolutely cannot wait until August, when I’ll be travelling up to Edinburgh to meet the rest of the delegates for what I’m sure will be an exhausting yet thrilling four days of networking and learning.

The last time I filmed in front of a green screen was a steep learning curve!

So I have two excellent opportunities ahead of me, when a month ago I was considering a change of career altogether! There is no telling what will happen – I could get the job of my dreams because of these experiences, or nothing whatsoever could come out of them – who knows? But things are starting to look up, and it has been a timely reminder that, no matter how difficult and unlikely things seem, in this industry, you must never give up.

Filming the British Humanist Association’s Annual Conference 2015, Bristol

On Friday 19th June, I travelled to Bristol, where the British Humanist Association were holding their Annual Conference. I have been a volunteer camera operator for the BHA for almost a year now, and was more than happy to help out on this occasion when they asked.

The view from my hotel window

We weren’t required to film any events until the Saturday morning, but we arrived the day before to set up the equipment. This turned out to be a very good idea, because at 5.15pm, the Events Manager received a text saying that the tripods and memory cards he had ordered would not be arriving until Monday – after the conference had finished. 5.15pm on a Friday evening is not the best time to try to find equipment, but Jon (the other camera operator) and I knew that, without tripods and memory cards, we would be in a very difficult situation indeed! So we went into Mission Impossible mode.

Our adventure began in a camera shop that was conveniently just 200m down the road from the hotel in which the conference was taking place. There, we bought the last two memory cards that they had in stock, and the staff helpfully gave us the names of companies that might be able to lend us tripods – neither Jon and I are Bristol natives, so we were very glad of their advice! We rang around the companies and soon found Stage Electronics, who were very helpful and reasonably priced. The only problem: they closed at 6pm. It was now 5.30pm, and Google Maps told us that it would take 25 minutes to drive to the warehouse. Undetered, we ran through the streets of Bristol to the nearest taxi rank and found a cab. It was tense: the clock was ticking and the rush hour traffic hindered our progress through the city centre. But it was also quite fun – I couldn’t help but feel like a candidate in The Apprentice, rushing to complete a task! The unexpected journey also meant that I got to see parts of Bristol that I wouldn’t have otherwise – I took this picture of the stunning Clifton Suspension Bridge through the sunroof of the taxi.

We made it just in time – 5.59pm. We returned to the hotel that evening triumphant, with all of the equipment we needed.

The filming itself went well. We had two cameras, one at the side for close ups, the other at the back for wide shots. We were filming the lectures and discussions that took place during the conference – there were some very interesting speakers, including Professor Alice Roberts, Samira Ahmed, Dr Phil Hammond, and Professor Richard Wiseman.

Samira Ahmed interviews Professor Alice Roberts

I also had some free time to explore Bristol, which is a beautiful city. On Saturday, I walked to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, having driven under it during our adventure the previous evening. It really is an incredible feat of engineering, and the views from it are beautiful.

The Avon Gorge as seen from the bridge

In all, it was an excellent weekend: interesting, fun, and with an unexpected adventure to boot! The BHA are always looking for people to help film and/or edit videos for their YouTube channel, so if you’d like to help, you can find out more here. I would certainly recommend it – you can read about one of my previous experiences with them here.

National Student Drama Festival 2015

On the 27th March, I headed up north to the beautiful seaside town of Scarborough for the National Student Drama Festival. Shamefully, I had not heard of the festival until recently, despite its 59 year history. Therefore, I had no idea what to expect from the week ahead.

When I arrived, I was in awe of the beauty of the town. Grand, Victorian buildings line large, open streets which lead to a gorgeous coastline. The main hub of the festival was in the Spa complex on the shore front, so I was always greeted by glorious views of the sea, even if, most days, we weren’t lucky enough to have such beautiful weather as we did when I first arrived!

As part of the Management Team, my role was to act as a steward, ensuring the attendees were safe and in the right place. This meant that I got to sit in on a number of workshops lead by some of the impressive Visiting Artists who attended the Festival, and also did Front of House for a couple of shows.

When not working, I was able to watch the shows that had been selected for the Festival – twelve in total, of which I managed to see ten. I was extremely impressed with the quality of each production, even if they weren’t all to my taste – there was a nice variety in the style and theme of the shows. My personal favourite was Walrus Theatre Company’s ‘Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons’, a play that explored the importance of language within relationships.

I also had some time to explore Scarborough, including the cliffs, Castle, and cream teas!

In all, it was an excellent week that inspired me to look into areas of the industry that I hadn’t previously considered working in. I would highly recommend the festival to anyone between the ages of 16-25 who is looking to work in theatre: it is an excellent opportunity to meet people in the same situation as you. In addition, the Visiting Artists are very accessible – they actively encourage you to talk to them during the week, so you can get helpful advice from people who have ‘made it’. So whether you want to submit a play of your own, work on the Management or Technical Teams, or simply attend and watch the shows, it is certainly worth keeping an eye out for next year’s festival.

Love IdeasTap

When I received an email yesterday morning informing me that arts charity IdeasTap will be closing in June, I was devastated.

Breaking into the arts industry is very difficult. There is no clear entry route, no linear career path, and no guarantee that your formal qualifications will even mean anything. It’s trial and error, it’s luck, it’s who you know. But IdeasTap helps with that. IdeasTap provides opportunities and training, it’s a place to advertise jobs, to network. It’s even a useful place to put a portfolio and CV. And soon, it looks like it will be gone.

IdeasTap has been a saviour for me since graduating last year. Thanks to them, I have been on two scriptwriting workshops where I received excellent advice from people in the know. I attended a Technical Theatre workshop, where I picked up new skills. And I will be part of the Management Team at the National Student Drama Festival at the end of this month. All thanks to one charity, without whom I would be struggling even more right now.

There’s a movement to save IdeasTap (which is, unsurprisingly, called Save IdeasTap), and so if anyone is reading this, it would mean a huge amount to me and to the thousands of creative people like me if you could sign this petition to help raise awareness of this. The petition is just the beginning – it seems that there is a huge number of people determined to get this done, but it won’t be easy.

It would be a huge shame if IdeasTap closed. It’s difficult enough to break into the arts, let’s not make it even harder.