The Only Way is (Succ)Essex

The phenomenal success of TOWIE shows no signs of abating, turning some of the cast into overnight celebrities, introducing us to the vajazzle and phrases such as ‘reem and ‘well jel’. It has spawned rival copycat scripted reality shows but TOWIE remains the firm favourite with viewers (and critics alike). Claire Faragher, Series Producer on Series 1 and Executive Producer on Series 2, discusses the reason for its success.

Why do you think TOWIE was such a big hit?

We had an incredible cast of colourful (orange) characters, a lot of laughs, relationship dramas, and a unique way of filming the show, which gives it a cartoonish, hyper-real style. And then there was the high-speed and high-quality editing and structuring. The production team got to know the characters inside out and they had enough trust in us to allow us to film some of their best and worst moments. And due to the speed of turnaround the show was more reactive than anything that has come before or since in this genre (it’s a 24/7 operation). The production team worked very hard and there were a lot of brilliant people who made it such a great series. Some of us worked double shifts or more throughout, came up with the structure pre and post pilot and basically pulled off what many thought was impossible, with between three and nine HD cameras filming every scene and with at most 3.5 days to film and cut each episode. Also, ITV Marketing & Publicity gave it a massive push and at our press launch night I’ll never forget the immediacy with which the tabloids embraced our show. Oh, and not forgetting the hard work and talent of the production team I employed…have I already mentioned that??!!!

One Guardian blogger described TOWIE as “Beyond Trash TV.” How do you respond to TOWIE haters?

I have a number of favourite negative quotes about The Only Way Is Essex that make me hoot with laughter. They are:

“shallow, vain, dim people being shallow, vain and dim”
“real people playing themselves incredibly badly’”and
“fame-hungry oddballs delivering petrified forest performances” and
“The Only Way Is Essex is hilarious for about 10 minutes then you wish you were dead”

I realise that some people will always hate The Only Way Is Essex and I understand that. It’s funny because it’s actually one of, if not the toughest, genres of TV I have ever worked on and it’s certainly not as easy and as smooth as we made it look in series 1 and 2. It’s meant to be light relief and entertainment – the disclaimer says as much at the top of every show. We’re not pretending to be Newsnight.

How real is reality television?

Structured reality and reality TV aren’t quite the same thing. Look at Big Brother: from what I can see, and I am happy to be corrected, a group of people who have been cast for a specific reason and generally do not know each other all live under the same roof, with no access to the outside world and are filmed 24/7 by a fixed rig and are given tasks and challenges to do and are slowly voted off. Their reactions and emotions may be real most of the time but they will also depend on how self aware they are and how they may or may not be playing up to the camera or attempting to project an image of themselves. So when I look at reality TV I think in many respects that’s not really very real at all and a lot of things are produced within an inch of their life. And then if you look at Geordie Shore you can see it’s related to BB as they have fixed rig but they also have hand held cameras and the cast have access to the outside world too. But they do have someone giving them tasks to do. But even if a situation, night out or conversation has been given a helping producer’s hand there is still a lot of scope for scenes and sequences to play out in a more observational way and it’s mainly shot in that way. The cast also do interviews talking about events that have occurred in the past/present tense and appear to be happy to talk about each other positively or negatively safe in the knowledge that the show will transmit at a much later date. This could possibly be termed ‘constructed reality’ or ‘constructed factual’. And I know when I made a series called Last Man Standing that some people deemed that to be ‘constructed reality’. (Although we took them to places further afield than the Bigg Market!)

Have you used your 3 minute media upload allowance?

Every PB member now gets 3 minutes of media upload time as part of the standard package. Uploading media to your profile allows employers to instantly view your work without having to navigate away from the site.

Utilise this by uploading a showreel and/or some images. Here are few pointers!

• Upload media which supports your current work ambitions and strengths.
• You don’t have to be the director to upload the clip.
• Title and Tag your media in the most appropriate way.
• Use the Playlist creator to put together collections of work.
• Expose your media by sharing it with others.

Members can upgrade to the Plus package at anytime to enjoy 4 hours of media upload exposure. To learn more about uploading media to your profile click here.

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

A TX experience with accompanying Tweets

This week, award winning documentary film maker, Elizabeth Stropford, discusses how her latest C4 documentary ‘We Need to Talk About Dad’ was received on Twitter, and what a “real time” response means from a filmmaker’s perspective.

Watching my latest documentary ‘We Need to Talk About Dad’ go out on Channel 4 was a novel experience because its transmission was punctuated by an ongoing commentary – courtesy of twitter.

The ‘water cooler effect’ of people talking about your show afterwards has now been superseded by the immediacy of being able to ‘listen in’ on what people make of it in real time.

I’d spent over 6 months producing the documentary ‘We Need to Talk About Dad’ through Rare Day for Channel 4. The Johnsons had twenty years of happy marriage, professional success, a lovely home, blond-haired children. They were nicknamed the ‘Sunday Supplement family’ by locals, and appeared to have it all. Then one day, Nick Johnson, told his wife he had a surprise for her, led her blindfolded into the garden, and committed an awful act of violence.

As a filmmaker building a relationship with the family, I was very aware of the weight of responsibility in handling such sensitive material. The mum, dad and two boys had each developed ways of avoiding the crux of the ”incident” that had shattered their family idyll 7 years earlier.

Made through the eyes of the eldest son, Henry, ‘We Need to Talk About Dad’ is much more about the failure of communication in the aftermath than the attack itself. But a preview feature in the Guardian – headlined ”THE DAY DAD TOOK AN AXE TO MUM” – made me realise that once it is out there, it is out there, and people will interpret it as they will. Bluntly, in this case.

So the response in the Twittersphere was fascinating for me. First up, I was both amused and bemused to read several young females piling in – in the midst of this shocking story, to share their rather personal views:

”I know this is bad but I’m watching ‘we need to talk about dad’, its sad, but all I can think about is how the son is hot”.

”Watching ‘we need to talk about dad’ – really gripping c4 doc, shouldn’t really say this but henry is gorgeous! I just wanna comfort him x_x”

”Watching this and all I am wondering is how could such a f***ed up father give birth to two such beautiful sons?!…”

Fortunately this wasn’t the only talking point. I was encouraged to hear people reflect, too, on what they would do in this extraordinary situation…

”We need to talk about Dad – bizarre! I would never take back anyone who cracked my head open with an axe, let alone make them Xmas dinner!”

”watching we need to talk about dad, why would you let someone who tried to kill your mum back into your life #weird”

”I’m watching ‘We Need to Talk About Dad’. Fascinating and horrifying at the same time. Are we all capable of doing something so terrible?”

”I have just watched ‘we need to talk about dad’. What an amazing family. No judgement-xx”

”Feeling a lot better about my life!…”

Some of these hit at the heart of the issues. It was good to hear people grapple with – and try to relate to – the family’s predicament. Then there were those who didn’t seem to know what was going on at all…

”I’m watching ‘we need to talk about dad’ and I’m slightly confused”.

It was unclear to me whether this person meant ”confused” in a good way. I assume not. But it’s possible that if he/she paid more attention to the TV rather than tweets about how fit the son is, he/she would have a better idea?!…

As a filmmaker, it can be excruciating to know that your viewer is most likely making a cup of tea, sending a text message and checking out other domestic homicide cases on their ipad, while simultaneously watching your programme. I suppose, as we toil away in edit suites for hours on end, we have to operate under the delusion that people will really be watching, otherwise we’d become slapdash and just plaster the whole thing in commentary (I think the penny must have dropped for a good few producers, as an increasing number seem to be taking up this far more sensible approach).

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• They remove every single task so you’ll be able to focus on what you’re good at – making programmes.
• You’ll get your very own account manager – that is with you every step of the way.
• From the quick setup process or simple transfer from your old accountant, to looking after all that boring paperwork from HMRC and Companies House.
• You’ll have an expert accountant to talk to, precisely when you need them – especially when you know you are not being charged by the minute.
• They are there to answer all your accountancy and tax questions as well as checking everything you do is correct before it’s submitted.
• Designed for the non-accounting mind, its one of the easiest accounting systems available.
• You’ll be sending invoices in minutes, dropping in expenses and seeing the health of your business instantly.

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

Freelancer of the Year Awards – Nominate that Unsung Hero

The summer is drawing to a close (boo…), the days are starting to feel a tad colder (double boo…) so it can only mean one thing; it’s the start of the awards season.

Here at PB towers, we are delighted to announce that nominations are now open for this year’s Freelancer of the Year Awards. As in previous years, it’s a great opportunity to celebrate the talent of some of the unsung heroes in television and film production – we all know who they are; they do lots (and lots) of hard work, make things happen, always have a smile on their face and still have time for everyone else while their social life takes a back seat (well, more like the spare seat… in the boot).

There are four categories that cover the first jobber to the seasoned veteran so there’s no excuse for anyone to miss out:.

Runner of the Year – A runner that has made a fantastic contribution to the production team. Puts in the hours, is there for everyone and does much more than make great tea.

Outstanding Freelancer of the Year – Someone that has made exceptional contribution to a production, did way and above the job description and made the difference.

Production Manager of the Year – Sometimes the unsung hero – this person put together a great team, was the glue to making the production happen, was always on hand and was the calm head in a sea of anxiety.

Beyond the Call of Duty – The person is an inspiration to those around them – has nurtured people through their careers, given great guidance and been selfless in getting the very best out of people. Is the real star in most people’s eyes.

We all know people that would fit into one of these categories, perhaps you have someone in your team that deserves a pay rise because of the effort and hours they have put in but the budget won’t stretch that far? A colleague you know that is the lynchpin to everything that happens, they have a few days leave and while away the world looks like it will cave in? Certain jobs simply don’t get done because this person knows where everything is, how everything works and where the bodies are buried?

If you know someone like this then why not show your appreciation by putting them forward for one of the above categories.

As in previous years, we have an esteemed panel of judges from the world of television, print media and production and the awards will be hosted by Matt Allwright.

The closing date is October 15th so please hurry and get those entries in.

The nominees and winners will be announced at our networking event at The Hospital Club on Thursday 17th November.

Further details of the event to follow – so watch this space!

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

Get people caught in your own web(site)

 

Since we launched the fantastic new upgrades to your membership, we have had a great response, in particular, to the inclusion of your own website.

It’s a fantastic way to showcase your profile and as its part of your PB package, saves you lots of dosh on running and maintaining your own site.

But are you utilising it to its full potential? Here are a few key reminders of getting the best out of it:

Make sure you add the URL to your email signature and business card – it increases the potential of production companies contacting you.

• Your website can be accessed by anyone at anytime.
• Employers and colleagues do not need to be logged into PB or be active members to see your site.
• Your website can be searched via the various search engines in the usual way.
• The content displayed replicates your internal PB profile so there is no need to write duplicate information.
• You’re in control! If for any reason you want to go incognito, you can use your Privacy Settings to restrict the information people see about you.

As always, the PB team are on hand to take you through any questions you may have on this great new facility, so give us a bell if you need profile and set up advice.

020 7935 5378 or email: info@productionbase.co.uk

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

Your External Webpage – Be a Show Off…or Not

Since the recent media hosting upgrade, all members now have an external webpage, as well as their ProductionBase profile.

As default, these external profile pages are set to appear in internet searches, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing etc. This is great for people who want to show their profiles to people who are not members of PB, as you can give the link to anyone, or add it to your email signature for example.

However, if for any reason you would like your external profile NOT to appear in searches conducted via search engines, then please follow these simple steps to remove it from public domain.

1. Log into your PB account and click the “Profiles” tab from the top navigation.
2. Click “Edit” on your freelancer profile (found on the left).
3. Under the profile settings, click the “Edit” button, located next to the text “Your External Showfolio URL & Privacy Settings”
4. Under “Searchability options” choose the option “No” to appear in searches.
5. Click “Submit”

This will remove you from any search engines, where people may have been able to find you.

Please note – the time it takes for you to be removed from the searches is dependant on the search engines itself. Search engines use differing technology to crawl the web, and each has different time-scales in finding your URL and removing it.

We hope this helps but please get in touch on 0207 935 5378 if you need any further information or assistance.

Kind regards,

PB TEAM

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

Reality TV in Spain

Post  production Assistant,  Tom Strachan shares his experience working in Spain on a reality tv series ‘ Geordie Shore; Summer Special’

After a successful first series two hour long episodes were commissioned. The plan was to take the stars of the Newcastle based reality show to Magaluf. The show centred around eight young people who party hard, dress to impress and don’t look for relationships. Working in the reality TV genre you never can predict how things will go so you always have to be ready for it to go crazy.

The set was a luxurious villa complete with swimming pool, many large bedrooms and on the edge of the sea surrounded by expensive yachts. In Newcastle we’d worked out of a luxurious house but nothing compared to this. The heat was in the 30’s everyday and we all know how much easier it is to be happy in the sun.

You forget just how easy it is to find everything you need in the UK. When you run out of ink cartridges or batteries in Spain, it’s a lot harder to find them and to converse with a local shopkeeper to make sure you get the right one. Things that are second nature become paramount now, you don’t want to end up somewhere without travel adaptors and need to charge the camera batteries!

Being in the hot sunshine as well gave you a totally different set of activities you could provide the cast with, if you suggested going out on a boat around Newcastle it would have been met with a pretty grumpy reply. But you also lose a lot of things you need. The cast are very careful about their looks and so a Gym had to be found willing to accommodate them, hairdressers, places to get eyebrows done, waxing etc, and that was just the boys.

The working conditions were pretty similar to the UK shoot, I was kind of lucky here as I had wondered in advance how it would be. We had slightly less room in our setup for laptops but with a smaller crew it worked fine.

I learned that you don’t want to spend all your PDM’s on beer, remember you’ll want to wear suncream all the time. Even if you’re mainly inside you might end up having to rush outside and not have time to apply it.  Try and learn some basic phrases you’ll need. A normal trip to Spain you might only need to know the words “dos cerveza por favor” but on a shoot you may end up needing to converse with people who don’t interact with tourists regularly and don’t speak as much English.

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

You’re Now the Media Host with the Most

Last week saw ProductionBase launch an array of fantastic new upgrades to your membership. If you missed some of the marketing emails and other missives (well done you), we have PB’s Joe Mahoney to take you through what is now on offer.

I hope you will forgive me for taking over this spot to espouse the fantastic new media hosting service that was launched last week.

Here at PB Towers, we have been feverishly working away to create some fantastic new features that we hope will go down a storm with you. Or, failing that, will at least make you feel that we haven’t just been swaning around the office of late, fiddling with our keyboards, idly looking at exotic holiday destinations with shimmering views of palm trees, white sandy beaches and trying to decipher the ingredients of elaborately made cocktails (we usually would but it’s the school holidays and prices are sky high).

It’s very competitive in media land and we feel that the more shiny special things we can add to your profile the more you will look truly irresistible to your fellow professionals and employers alike.

So, what have we done then? Well, I’ll tell you.

First up, you get your very own external webpage – which you can share with colleagues, employers or social sites for maximum exposure. Now there’s no need to pay expensive hosting fees and having to constantly update your own website – you now have a new state of the art site that’s entirely yours to use and abuse (try not to show any abuse, of course – it can put people off their lunchtime sarnies).

Media hosting for all – yep, as standard membership, you can now upload up to 3 minutes of media with a 1GB capacity – your bestest video clips, stills and audio for all to see. If 3 minutes isn’t enough then you can take up the massive 4 hours upload package on offer (with a mighty 2GB) – there’s really no excuse to not show your work off.

All your clips are linked so they’ll appear on more company searches.

There’s more…

You can create and share playlists and thereby spreading the love even further. You don’t need to be an IT developer to be able to use it either – we tried it on our mums and got the thumbs up. The dads were a bit rubbish though.

We’ve added a Like It function which will remind you of how good your profile is by fellow members and whether you actually have any friends. I’m sure you have – we can always pretend to be your friends and click on the Like It feature if your numbers look embarrassingly low.

And I haven’t mentioned the brilliant high quality video and HD player. Ok, job done.

You see, we have been busy.

We hope you enjoy these great new features and if you need any help or advice on using them, just give the (uber) friendly PB team a tinkle and we’ll gladly talk through you anything you need to know. But don’t ask any us any maths questions. We don’t like those.

Joe Mahoney is Managing Director of ProductionBase

We would love to hear any feedback that you have on these changes. So if you have something to say, please feel free to comment below…

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent

Making the Payroll with Tom O’Brien

How do you go from office dogsbody to your first paid role, when you have just two weeks of work experience to prove your worth? This week, television producer, Tom O’Brien, shares five points worth bearing in mind when you’re trying to make an impact.

Ok, so, you’ve jumped the first hurdle and you’ve bagged yourself two weeks of invaluable work experience. Congratulations – but here’s where the real game begins. How do you make it count? It’s ultra competitive out there, more and more people are coming in at the bottom – how do you make sure that you’re one of the people who bags a job at the end of it? Of course there are no cast-iron guarantees. On the whole, a career in the media is about being reactive, spotting opportunities, being ready to act on a whim. But still, there are a series of key disciplines, which ensure, should an opportunity ever blow in your direction, you’re ready and willing to take it.

Here’s my five key tips worth bearing in mind as you take your first baby-steps into the world of television…

“DID SOMEBODY SAY JOB?”

First things first: there isn’t always a job available. The majority of companies take you on for work experience and only that. If the circumstances are right, it may, just may, transpire there is a job at the end of it – but don’t live in vain hope; vain hope will leave you frustrated.

My advice would be this: ask around and assess the opportunities. After a week of proving your worth, do some digging, informally and see what sort of job options there might be in the company. Questions you might ask are: Are there any productions coming up in the future? Are they looking to expand the development team here? Are there any staff roles available? Do any of the MD’s need a runner or P.A.? Direct these at the runners and researchers and you might get an answer.

Surveying the scene like this helps you to work out if there are actually any specific vacancies you’re suited to. If there is, you can tailor your gameplan accordingly, by making sure you establish contact with the correct people, impressing them, and doing whatever you have to, making sure you’re at the forefront of their mind when they’re mulling over that big pile of CVs.

” SHOOTING AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR”

Bear in mind this specific holy watchword when you begin your career in television: flexibility. The lines between work and personal life in this industry easily get blurred. All of us at some point, have had our plans for dinner or drinks scuppered at the last minute by a sprawling beast of a show. Last minute shoots, late night photocopying, midnight read-throughs it happens to everyone, so be ready to do the same. If something comes up at the last minute and you’re asked to help out, cancel your plans, because this time your friends will have to wait. If you don’t do it, someone else will. And if that somebody bags a job off the back of it, it lives eternally as the one that got away.

Two weeks work experience means consigning two whole weeks of your life to the job evenings and all. The dedication could pay off.

“THE TWITTERATTI REPORT”

If you’re young and fresh and just out of university, the odds are you’ll be more au fait with new media than your many of your seniors. This is your strength, use it to your advantage. If you’re asked to prepare research packs of any sort, you should be engaging on as many different platforms as you can, to wow and surprise the producer you’re working for. Scour Twitter. Search Facebook. Stream video. Then, take it all and put it in one easy to read, multi-media fact-pack. Engage with new media, so they don’t have to. Give them a shortcut into a world you know intimately.

Here’s a quick list of tools you worth knowing about: Snapz Pro. Openbook. Getty Images. Rex Images. GeoMeme. In conjunction, they should give you most of what you need. Unless, God forbid, I’ve just revealed myself as that out of touch senior I just mentioned.

“CAN ANYONE MAKE LOGOS?”

Another thing that can set you apart from others is a solid understanding of the different computer-programs that are now part of the everyday architecture of programme-making. What do I mean? Photoshop, PowerPoint and Final Cut Pro. Having a rudimentary understanding of them all will put you in good stead.

It’s a simple equation. If you can edit, create graphics and source music, for said production, the budgeters, might not have to pay a graphics company, an edit-house and a sound library for the use of their services. The sum-savings on that equation are substantial, so if you can, try to get handy with these programs, because the more value for money you offer, the more of an attractive prospective employee you become.

Also, specifically in the development side of things, more and more each day, these tools are proving essential to the way we do business. Low-fi (not always) taster tapes are de rigueur, pitch-sheets are daubed with fancy graphics, the pressure’s on to create multi-media shop windows for our show ideas – if you can help, great; we’ll probably want to keep you around.

“SOMEBODY GET ME MY CHAI-LATTE!”

It’s a simple one, but must be re-iterated again and again and again. If you’re visiting a production company for your work experience, make sure you have a broad overview of what they make, what they do and who they are. If you draw a blank when somebody mentions the companies biggest-hitting show, then you’re in trouble (although, it must be said, it happens to all of us at some stage). Familiarize yourself with the company’s body of work and form opinions on as many shows as you can. Then, when the vital question is dropped which it inevitably will be you’re ready to tell them exactly what you think about last night’s episode.

Secondly, being able to put names to faces is a great thing. If you know Mister X is the producer of show Y – which you love – take the opportunity to ask questions. TV, by it’s nature, is filled with egos, a genuine viewer asking the how, what, where, when and reallys is both flattering and shows that you’re already keyed in to the company mentality. Also, of course, when the pin-eyed, deshabille man in the corner whose been eyeballing you all morning, gruffly demands his Chai-Latte, knowing he’s the MD who was at last night’s BAFTA awards and fetching it ever-so-quickly could put you in the good-books.

“WEIGH THE ODDS IN YOUR FAVOUR”

So that’s it for now. Five good starting points for anyone hoping to get the most out of their work experience. It’s a learning curve and nobody expects you to come in as the perfect article (believe me, all of the above I learnt through my own major mistakes), but taking just some of these points on board, makes you a stronger, more prepared, more employable would-be employee. On the surface, you’re there to gain experience via exposure. Truth be told, go in ready and you might just bag yourself a job at the end of it.

Tom O’Brien is a TV producer at Two Four Productions.

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ProductionBase – Insider Network for TV Jobs, Film Jobs and Commercial Production Talent