BBC Blackstaff Studio, Belfast- so this is where the magic happens! Over the years, hundreds of important people have walked in and out of these gates, and for the next two weeks, I have the opportunity to as well. And working as a runner on a brand new day-time quiz show for BBC One, the pressure is on.
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My phone began to ring as I made my breakfast, ready to start the day. It was Clare, a family friend. “Why would she be phoning me?” I thought. I quickly answered the call, curious to what this could be about and she told me she has an exciting opportunity that she thinks I could be a good fit then asked if I could meet for a coffee that afternoon.
I walked into Café Nero in the city centre where she greeted me, I’ve known Claire for years yet for some reason I was feeling really nervous, what on earth could this opportunity be?!
She told me she is the production manager for a new BBC One quiz show, The Finish Line, and they were looking for runners. I didn’t even know a runners’ job existed at this point, so I bombarded her excitedly with questions. Impressed by my enthusiasm, Clare offered me the position right there and then, alongside another young girl who she had previously worked with…
This is the start of my career in television!
Reflecting on my first day and aspects of my overall work experience as a runner on The Finish Line, I will be using Boud’s model of reflection.
“In the context of education and training, though, the term is often used specifically to signify an important stage in the learning cycle where a complex and deliberate process of thinking about and interpreting an experience is undertaken in order to arrive at a new understanding of events and our part in them.” (Boud, 1985)
This model of reflection is particularly effective in critically analysing and reviewing the highs and lows as my role as a runner and also exploring the outcomes once my experience was complete.
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Experience
The experience is the first component of Boud’s reflection model. In this area, I will be exploring the nature of the job and what behaviours were necessary, ideas and my overall feelings about these elements on my first day and other aspects of my role. My role as a runner was, as you’d expect by its name, fast paced and each day was different!
“As a runner, you’ll act as a general assistant, working under the direction of the producer and other production staff to undertake whatever basic tasks are required to ensure the smooth running of the production process.” (Prospects.ac.uk, accessed 2023)
“Your team will be depending on you, however humble your role, so fundamentals like being on time, greeting people politely, offering a helping hand, making yourself useful at all times and just getting on happily with others are absolutely critical. If you don’t feel you can do this, then you won’t fit into the industry.” (Careers in Media and Film : The Essential Guide, 2008).
On my first day, I felt really out of my depth. Everyone already knew each other from pre-production meetings and I didn’t know anyone apart from Clare. Thankfully, just a year before, Niamh, the other runner, was in my shoes. Niamh took me on a tour of blackstaff, introducing me to anyone she knew from her experience working on other shows filmed here. I was so grateful and now feeling a little more confident that I can do this. This day was the run-through day so nothing was being filmed and our hosts, Roman Kemp and Sarah Greene wouldn’t be arriving in Belfast for a few hours, so it was time to help set up their dressing rooms. I was sent out to Marks and Spencer’s to retrieve any particular food and drink items either of them had requested, along with a courtesy bunch of flowers as a welcome to Belfast. Then I went to the Maldron Hotel down the street and collected the pre-organised lunches for our crew and handed them out accordingly.
When we came back from our lunch break, immediately I was brought into the studio. I was confused at first but so excited when I was told why I was needed in there. I was going to be used as a stand-in contestant for the run-through! The contestant podiums on The Finish Line move, so at first I was used as a stand in from a technical point of view, making sure that everything worked properly and was definitely safe for our contestants, but then Roman and Sarah arrived. This meant I was now going to play the game
Myself and the casting team lined up at the side of the stage, one by one being introduced by Roman, and then having to adlib a conversation before playing the qualifiers. I was so star-struck! I love Roman Kemp on Capital Radio, and well… between you and I, he is also one of my celebrity crushes! I felt so intimidated as I’ve never spoken to a celebrity before but he was so friendly, and I knew that I was going to have to be looking after him as part of my job so I swallowed my nerves and amped up my confidence for this first interaction.
As it turned out, this confidence also impressed the casting team. The following day they took me on for the rest of the experience in addition to running to help warm the contestants before going on the show. This meant doing karaoke, dancing warm ups and also just keeping general conversations flowing. I felt like a natural at this as I have quite a silly, bubbly personality!
Each day my recurring and most important responsibility was taking the rushes to the edit suite at the end of filming. This meant that I had to do some late nights alone waiting around for the content to be uploaded onto the hard-drives before driving to KaBoom edit suite in Weaver’s Court. Prior to filming, I went to meet head editor Zach, who showed me how to set the drives up ready for ingest as well as giving me my own key-fob to access the building late at night. The next morning, I then would drive back over to KaBoom and pick up the drives again, ready to go for filming again. This seems like a small task but it was actually really crucial! It was stressful the first few times as I was on my own and worried I was doing it wrong but after some reassuring phone calls with Zach my confidence was restored.
Reflection
On reflection, I learnt a lot, not just about the industry but myself as well. I had a lot of anxiety to begin with, every day I left my house with a pit feeling in my stomach of not being good enough, especially because this was my first ever job in television and being a runner, you can’t particularly plan what you’ll be doing that day, you’re just given a task and have to be on it asap. I also think that because this was my first ever television job and I wasn’t sure what to expect, there were many times I felt like I should be doing more even if there were no tasks to be done at that moment of time.
Yet, these feelings haves proven to me that I have a good work ethic and ambition, wanting to prove myself so early on in the industry I am striving to work in and alongside this, learning that I have a good level of resilience despite my anxieties throughout. I reminded myself every day that I wouldn’t have been given this opportunity if these people didn’t think I could do a good job and that was very useful in removing the imposter syndrome I continually felt. “Imposter syndrome—sensations of not belonging; feeling that one’s competence and success are fundamentally fraudulent and inauthentic; tand the fear that it is only a matter of time before this is discovered… popularly understood as an individual problem of faulty self-esteem.”(Feeling Academic in the Neoliberal University, 2018)
Outcomes
There were lots of beneficial outcomes for me from doing this work experience. It firstly has given me a fresher perspective on what roles I actually am interested in. As a runner, you get to see each different department and catch a glimpse of what each role does in order for production to go smoothly. In particular, I really enjoyed casting and would highly consider applying for a casting researcher job when I graduate.
Alongside a new perspective, my confidence has tripled! Being so out of my comfort zone was such a growing opportunity for me, even though it was only in the space of two weeks, by the end I was feeling like a new woman!
Another great outcome from working as a runner was the opportunity to network with other parts of the crew.“Networking allows you to present yourself in a much more personal way than a CV or standard job application form can ever do. Many of the jobs you will be hoping to find are not even likely to be advertised in the first place. This is because media jobs are frequently filled by ‘word of mouth’.” (Careers in Media and Film : The Essential Guide,2008) . Since working on The Finish Line and having it as my first credit on television and my CV, I have been asked to work on Mastermind, a series of comedy shorts for BBC iPlayer and also asked to work on The Finish Line again in the new year.
Work Cited
Breeze, Maddie. “Imposter Syndrome as a Public Feeling.” Feeling Academic in the Neoliberal University, Palgrave Macmillan, 30 Jan. 2018.
Gregory, Georgina, et al. Careers in Media and Film the Essential Guide. London Sage Publications Ann Arbor, Michigan Proquest, 2008.
“Runner, Broadcasting/Film/Video Job Profile | Prospects.ac.uk.” Www.prospects.ac.uk, www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/runner-broadcasting-film-video#:~:text=As%20a%20runner%2C%20you%27ll.
Wilson, John P. Human Resource Development : Learning & Training for Individuals & Organizations. London ; Sterling, Va, Kogan Page Ltd, 2005.