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.

you've joined the TV family

Once you have earnt your runner stripes, and people in the industry get to know you you can start to build your CV.

If you make your self invaluable then people soon hear about you, and pass your details on to other people looking for runners. Its not what you know in this business its who you know. Just like in my previous blog TV a family affair once people know you and know that your good and committed then your in, you've joined the TV family.

This was true in my case, we had a new coordinator on the show and she seemed to like me and could see I was good at my job, when she moved to a new show she took me with her. This show was a afternoon chat show and involved me carrying furniture onto set, ironing tea towels and arranging cream cakes. On the show I meet lots of celebrities mostly Z list but still celebs none the less, and I soon realised that its the ones you least expect to be diva's that are, and the ones you expect too be that aren't.

Gordon's Alive

None of them were on a pare with the stories I have heard about Maria Carey and a dressing room filled with puppies but there were some that I was shocked at.

I did meet Brian Blessed tho who had us all in stitches backstage with his constant reciting of "Gordons Alive". Those of you to young to understand this, I suggest you watch Flash Gordon, you'll know what I mean then.

Nancy Lam

We also had Nancy Lam on the show a few times.
This women is mad! I cried with laughter at her cooking segment. During rehearsals we had some stand in's to represent the guests and audience. This is where I met Stop. He was a stand in for the show but was quite good and seemed to have lots of energy, I later put him forward for a runner job on the daytime talk show I work on and he's been there ever since. Now Stop is a slightly buck toothed camp little character who can be hard to keep quiet, and during rehearsals would wear his trousers slung low so the crouch is somewhere near the knees and we all got to see tomorrows washing. Nancy had took a liking to Stop particularly as they looked similar. "I like you" she had said to him one day with her oriental broken English accent. "I like you cus you have bucked teeth like me."

Stops Face was a picture

We had been practicing the cooking segment for a few minutes when all of a sudden Nancy rounded the desk she was cooking on, making a beeline for Stop who was stood with his back to her, she cupped her hand reached between his legs and yanked at his trousers, telling him to pull his trousers up all the time while cupping him. The look on his face was a picture. Needless to say these days he wears his trousers correctly!

So when you work in TV and don't want to be groped by the 'talent' always ensure you are dressed correctly!

TV a Family Affair

Right I'm fresh faced and just out of university and have to decide where I want to live.

London would be the obvious choice. It's fast paced, lots of work, plenty of networking opportunities and lots of TV companies. It's also expensive, I don't know anyone there and  did I mention it was expensive? No? Well it is expensive.

I lived in the Midlands at this point and there was not much going on there. The Mailbox had just opened but no TV companies where using it so I had to look elsewhere.

Whilst at University there had been rumours of the BBC selling up and moving to a new site in Manchester. Manchester was cheap, it had a TV studios that was producing work and lots of independent companies too. I'm sure one will give me a job. I thought I'd get established up there, get to know people up north, get the industry to know me, and when the BBC do move there I'll get a job with them easily. I'll know the area and it will be prefect!

So I set about moving to Manchester. Looking for jobs and trying to network.

TV a Family Affair

This is easier said then done. Not the moving to Manchester that was easy, it was the networking and job hunting that was difficult. Unless you have a sister, brother, mother, father, aunty, uncle or next doors pet orangutang working in the industry already its difficult to get your foot in the door. It really is a family affair. Just in the one production house you have numerous amounts of fathers and sons, uncles and daughters working along side each other, all helping each other get a job on the next production.

Finally there was an advert online for runners on a new talk show in Manchester. I spend hours filling out the application form and wait to hear back. Nothing....... And then a phone call I hadn't got the job but would I like to come in for Work Experience.

Work experience is the word we all dread both sides of the barrel. If you are being offered work experience you dread it because it will involve you working your butt off for hours making tea and proving yourself for free. Thats right no pay and no guarantee of a job at the end of it. The other side of the barrel is if you are employing a work ex its a nightmare, they invariably don't want to be there but have been forced to find work as part of there college course and will want you to fill in an evaluation of them after. Or they really want you to employ them so are over keen and annoying. Asking questions and talking about themselves to much. The key is to strike a happy medium between being keen and asking the right amount of questions.

If I'm going to get my foot in the door though I'm going to have to do it, its for a one of the UK's leading channels and hopefully I'll make some links and found out better places to look for work.

So off to work I go.