Forever Friends

People might say reading my previous posts that I was disillusioned with TV but I am not. I love working in TV and all that entails if I didn't I would have got out long ago and got a boring 9-5, but frankly I couldnt think of anything worse.

Friends

In the industry you meet so many different people and like I said in TV a family affair its not what you know its who you know. The people I would call my best friends I met working in the industry and even though one has migrated to a 9-5 and we dont see each other as often as we used to I still know Dimmock is willing me on.

Mental Asylum

We met on my first day at the studios working in Manchester. We have worked together on many shows since and have been through lots of random TV experiences together. Exploring a derelict Mental asylum and locking Dimmock in a cell was great fun although a little cold. I think it snowed while we were there. We survived the delirium of the white corridor together and over many cups of coffee and cake have planned or futures.

White corridor

Jet2 is another person I met whilst working on the long white corridor. We have been on holiday together and as they often work abroad I got to have a cheap holiday staying out in Menorca with them, this wasn't my finest hour I got horribly drunk, sang meatloaf, spoke german, was sick all the way home, thought I was going to die before going snorkelling, and got food poisoning. Their boss now refers to me as the "sick friend"! I will tell you all about this at another time as it has nothing to do with working in TV! Whilst working with Jet2 on a dating show we encountered many a funny story involving London being in Britain and how a microphone works.

And of course I met Whippet if someone will save you from a dog then you cant not be their friend.


So through working in TV I have met some of my closest friends, I have met good friends and I have made a lot of connections, this industry can be a small place and you can bump into people on different jobs that you haven't seen for ages or that you always seem to be working with. But I love it.

"I think I saw you on TV!"

The dreaded words you dont want to hear as someone who works behind the camera is "I think I saw you on TV last night!"....

Hiding behind Lord Seb Coe

If you are it means you were either not doing your job right or the director made a mistake and cut to the wrong camera. This is the main worry on a live programme when you do your upmost not to be seen. All crew mostly wear black to blend into the background and most of your time is spent avoiding being seen rather than making the programme. I am forever spending my time diving to the ground hiding behind the audience or behind the scenery. This week Lord Seb Coe became my human shield on a BBC debate.

This was an unusual day as we were given crew tops when we arrived that were white. White is not a good TV colour. It glows on most backgrounds and adds a halo around you, and all TV environments are filthy.

Wet Paint

The equipment is dirty the floor is dirty and there is wet paint and dust everywhere. After picking up the camera I had black streaks down my nice white top. All I did was pick it up! During rehearsals you plan out your shots and where and where you cant fit. At the same time the set team are touching up the set covering over marks and moving the set after lighting and cameras point out gaps or symmetry errors. so stepping backwards I walk into a screen that wasn't there originally and has just been painted I now have a nice blue line down my back. Now if I was wearing black this would have been fine as you wouldn't really be able to see it, but white shows up everything and now I look like I'm part of the set team not the camera department! As the show starts I'm onto my third crew top and the Unit Manager is beginning to think I'm stockpiling them or something to sell on.

Wide Shot

So you do your upmost to avoid being seen and still someone says they have seen you... on a live show at some point this is inevitable as things happen and people don't stop on the mark they where supposed too, someone says something different that throws the action somewhere unexpected or you are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But on a pre recorded programme its very unusual. This means that there has been a mistake and to cover it they have cut to a wide shot, this is usually a camera on a lock off at the back of the room, an unmanned camera just there as a back up. Sometimes they use this out of context to cover up a jolt, or a boom that slips in, or a shadow, and you can see yourself in a wide when you know at that point you were somewhere else entirely.