Ahhh - don’t you just love it?
Up until the age of about 14, I knew exactly what I wanted to do in life. There was no doubt about it, I had a clear and well-planned route I was going to take and I wasn’t going to be stopped. But once I developed a slightly more realistic outlook on life and began to listen to the people around me that pointed out that joining the US Armed Forces as a Naval Aviator, following in the footsteps of fictional hero; ‘Maverick’ wasn’t a particularly obtainable goal (especially seeing as I was British).. I started thinking a little more low-key.
I knew that whatever career I ended up would have to offer several important attributes. It’d have to be exciting enough to keep me entertained, varied enough to keep me from becoming bored, pay well enough to put a decent roof over my head and it’d have to have clear, definable goals… no never-ending daily grind that leads nowhere.
I thought for a long time about journalism, but in the end - it didn’t excite me enough. Before university I worked in hospital radio and thought for a long time that I was destined to be a radio presenter. But it wasn’t until I turned up for my first week of lectures for my wonderful, ex-polytechnic (in the ‘Top 10 of New Uni’s as voted for by reluctant Guardian writers through gritted teeth) that my head was turned by the prospect of working in television.
Of course! It made perfect sense! Why the hell had I not thought of it before? Everything seemed right about this. A different challenge everyday, cool people to work with, all full of artistic and exciting ideas, real working TV studios and cameras to play with - I could even add in some English modules in there too, to make people taking real degrees think I was almost clever enough to talk to!
The degree was fantastic, at least from my perspective it was. I felt like I was learning a lot and it didn’t feel like I was getting an easy ride - it was actually pretty hard work! But three years later when it was all over and I trotted down to London with a spangly new BA (Hons) in hand - I could have been forgiven for feeling a little pissed off with what I found when I arrived.
I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting - maybe at least an industry where hard work, determination, intelligence and loyalty are rewarded with career progression, fair pay and plaudits for excellence. What I was faced with was something quite different. Don’t worry - this isn’t going to be a gloomy first post and I’m assuming that if you also work in TV, you know what’s coming anyway.. so bear with me.
Firstly, I was made aware very early on that my degree counted for absolutely bugger all. Nobody asked about it, nobody wanted to hear about it, nobody wanted to know what skills I had displayed or interests I had developed during my three years studying. It appeared that the only useful nuggets of knowledge that seemed to be transferable into the world of telly were being able to tell the difference between a DVCAM and a DigiBeta and knowing that ‘TC’ means timecode. The rest of it I was going to have to start from scratch, because nobody cared if I’d shot a short film, mastered 3-camera gallery directing or taught myself to use Avid. What mattered was being able to follow orders, having enough common sense to get around problems and also not collapsing through sleep-deprivation or exhaustion.
My journey through TV had begun and I’m still here today, working my way through. It’s been an interesting ride so far and thankfully it has to be said that I’ve met far more ‘good eggs’ than arseholes. Although, there are a lot of the latter, which you’ll be hearing about in great detail. I’m not quite sure of the purpose of this blog just yet, or if anyone will ever read it… but maybe some of my stories will ring true to a few fellow TV workers and maybe give people thinking of getting into TV a bit more of an insight before they do.
No stone will be unturned in this blog. You’re going to get the highs, the lows and the very lows. I’m also probably going to comment on any topical media-related subject which take my fancy - which again, may not interest anyone at all… but I’ll enjoy doing.
I hope you enjoy the blog… I’m looking forward to reading your comments.
The Mole