Working in TV – the picture edit!

…I know I said this was “the picture edit” – and it is, there are quite a few pictures towards the end – but this is me and it just wouldn’t be right to have a post without me rambling on for a bit first. So here goes…

I never actually intended to write about TV that much as I
know most people reading my blog are here for the fashion or beauty side of
things (although let’s face it, you’re probably extremely disappointed on the
beauty side!) but a couple of nights ago there was a bit of a twitter explosion
around the topic of needing to go to Uni to work in TV, which actually really got me thinking. (I know, me..thinking? I’ll try not to hurt myself) So because I’ve been
asked this quite a lot, and in the off chance that anyone reading this does
aspire to one day work in TV, or even just fancies hearing a bit about my job,
I thought that here was the best place to add my 2cents worth!

First of all I want to start by saying I am by NO means an
expert, nor will I ever claim to be, but I have been lucky enough to work on a
few big productions such as The X-Factor (and Xtra), Britain’s Got Talent and Young Apprentice
to name but a few, so I’m just taking what I’ve learnt from that in the
hope that my knowledge (Yep I do have some…unbelievable eh?) could in some way be useful, one way or the other. In
my experience, Uni isn’t/wasn’t necessary. Now I’m not saying to you screw uni
and try and get a job in TV straight away because the likelihood of doing that
is highly unlikely – the majority of my friends all went to uni first and then
went on to look for a job after – but what I am saying is that if you find
yourself in the position where uni isn’t an option, or rather it’s just not
what you want to do…then please don’t worry, you don’t need it!

The most important thing, in my experience, is experience. Whether that be
interning, apprenticeships, work experience placements or just shadowing someone in the
industry, the more you know about the way TV/the industry works and the more
contacts you make, the better! The hardest thing for me was getting a foot in
the door (I wrote literally 100’s of letters and emails before I finally landed
my first placement) but once you have that – along with working as hard as you
can, being polite (manners go a long way!!) and making the most of every situation
etc.- the world is your oyster!…and if you can make a good tea or coffee, that doesn’t go amiss either 😉

I could literally go on forever but no one deserves that punishment, so I thought it would be nice to leave you with just some (it would take years to upload all trust me) pictures from my ‘TV journey’ so far (wow, that has got to be one of the cheesiest phrases I’ve ever used!) Now I really don’t want to put a downer on things, I am so incredibly grateful for the experiences I’ve had and feel so genuinley lucky to wake up happy to go to work every day BUT, remember that you can’t take pictures of 20 hour days, pressure and just general stress. As much as I love my job its not easy, and one thing I will say is if its not 100% what you want to do/cant imagine doing anything else then don’t bother, because all the hard times won’t be worth it…luckily for me, they are!

Oh and just one more thing – I promise it’s only one more – never ask for pictures while you’re working. Its so unprofessional, there’s a time and a place for that and for me and my friends, that just happened to be at gigs, in the bar, wrap parties and after parties…well you know what they say, work hard, play hard! 😉 

Working on ‘This Morning’…the beginning 🙂

                      The X-Factor 2011, to which I still feel unbelievably lucky to have been a part of!

Another amazing perk of the job is being invited backstage at gigs, these are just a selection of when some of the crew and I were invited down to support some ex contestants perform at G.A.Y. In case you think the camera angle is a bit funny it’s because we were actually ON the stage, which was weird to say the least. Can I just say I completely lived out my childhood dream up there, to be a popstar haha! Oh…and I had to add this because it just makes me laugh, can you guess who the idiot in the background, on her phone!!! is? Guilty as charged!
      

        

 We were lucky (unlucky for everybody who had to watch) to stand in for the judges every week at the dress rehearsal. Yes we did comment, and yes I did make a total twat of myself on a regular basis. Believe me there’s only one thing worse than embarrassing yourself in front of A LOT of people, and that’s Kelly Rowland telling you she’s been watching every week playing her. Yeah…to say I died of embarrassment is an understatement!