It's been a crazy couple of weeks since I last wrote on here. When I say "crazy", I mean it in the most positive sense of the word (if there is such a thing), akin to hectic, busy and crammed full of activity as opposed to being clinically insane or doolally. Still, if I carry on at this rate I may just end that way!
My most important and noteworthy news is that I am now officially an auntie to a beautiful baby boy, Alfie. He took his time - bless him - arriving a few days late, but he is absolutely perfect and doing well. I have seen him a couple of times now and he doesn't really do much yet when I hold him, other than sleep. In all honesty, it makes a refreshing change because I normally don't get on too well with babies. They usually just cry when I am within a yard of them or perform some sort of bodily function either on me or aimed in my direction. Anyway, when he is a little older, I fully intend on being his favourite auntie and win his favour by spoiling him rotten and taking him on cool days out and the like. I believe I am in the running for the title, seeing as his I am his only biological auntie living in the country. (Not taking into account his millions of "aunties" who are friends of my sister or her boyfriend, their next door neighbours or the milkman etc). Heck, I'm the only one on this continent... his auntie on the other side of his family lives in New Zealand! Actually, I would settle for being his favourite aunt in the northern hemisphere I think, so as to not cause problems with his other aunt... It is a sufficiently grandiose title after all. I wonder if Hallmark would make a card to that effect: "To my favourite auntie in the northern hemisphere. You are the best in Europe, North America and most of Asia, but not Indonesia". Anyway, I digress...
In the meanwhile, I have been cracking on with the job hunt. After jury duty finished, I thought to myself that I had to seriously knuckle down and do some serious networking and research. The question then, however, was where do I want to be... in television or radio? (Cue the "You've got a wonderful face for radio" comments... I've heard them all before!) There seem to be a lot of people who have started in radio and have transitioned to TV and vice-versa, such as Graham Liver (to name a local example... he works on BBC Radio Lancashire and North West Tonight), Vanessa Feltz, Terry Wogan, Dermot O'Leary, Chris Evans... the list goes on. (Note: To clarify, at this point I am trying to get a behind-the-scenes role, not a presenter job, but I didn't know where to start).
I figured, the only way I was going to find out which area I wanted to start off in at least, is to get out there and do it! I have lots of experience with hospital, student and community radio but zilch for TV so I started to aim my focus there.
Twitter has been a great help on this front. A lot of people moan about twitter, but, if used correctly, I honestly believe it can be an extremely useful tool. It is where I find out about most job vacancies and get in touch with people who otherwise I may find it hard to contact. (i.e. important people at the BBC). It was on there that I saw a job advertised as a "runner" in a post-production house in Manchester city centre. This role is basically like an assistant to all the people who work there, and your responsibilities include answering the phones, keeping the place clean and making cups of tea and coffee for the staff and guests. With this industry, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up, which I am more than happy to do. So, I went along for an 'informal chat', (which was really an interview) but I didn't feel it was for me. Post-production is when scenes from TV or adverts are edited and special effects are added or any graphics or CGI. Although I am desperate to "get in", I am definitely not a technical person, and couldn't tell you anything about editing software, graphics or technology. My mind is simply not wired that way, I am a creative person! I don't think going to the 'interview' was a waste of time though, it helped me on my way to figuring out where it is I need to be. I think I'll get there by finding out what I don't want to do (or can't do) first, and then by trial and error, I'll end up in my dream job!
So, that experience told me I probably want to focus on production. A few days later, I saw a tweet which said there was some work experience as a runner going at a TV and Film production company in MediaCityUK and that you should send in your CV asap. So, that's exactly what I did. Within half an hour, I had received a reply saying they liked my CV, and asking me if I was available the following week. Obviously I said yes and that's where I have been for the past fortnight.
The company creates adverts for a lot of famous brands such as CSL, Oak Furniture Land, Lambrini, P+O Cruises and many many more. During the past two weeks, I have been helping out with admin work and answering the phones, making cups of tea and running errands, but I have also had the opportunity to assist with a casting process and also go on a shoot down in Bristol and over in Widnes for DW Sports. The days are very long (I get up at 6am, and travel 90 mins each way to get in and back home, and often get home at 8:30pm) but, it's great for my CV.
It's unpaid, but the boss has offered to pay my expenses which is definitely something. I have been told I am a great help, so who knows what will happen? I am still waiting for my placement at Key 103 to be confirmed, and I have also applied for the November/December round of work experience at the Beeb. The application process has changed though, and now you can either apply for TV or Radio... not both. Not knowing which one to go for, I ended up applying for TV. I have some work experience promised to me from an important radio station, but TV is a lot harder to get into or get experience of in my opinion, so if I could get in at work experience level at the BBC, that should help clarify which one I am better suited to.
Working at MediaCity these past two weeks has been an absolute dream. I know I want to work there, I just don't have clear in what capacity! I'll keep on running, as it were, and see what happens. :)
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
They think it's all over...
Hello and happy October!
It's been a long two weeks since the last time I posted, but jury duty is finally over and the job hunt, and therefore blogging, can continue. I have to admit that it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do... when all is said and done, you are deciding the fate of someone else's life, not to mention countless others who may have been affected by their actions. It's not as easy as you may think.
Still, I learned some invaluable life lessons from it and intend to take those with me. Let's not dwell on it, but move onwards and upwards!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, I was watching X Factor the other night, (was that too dramatic a change from the previous topic?) and it suddenly dawned on me that if I were to enter, I would be classified in the "overs" category. (Do not worry, I will not be entering any time soon. I have the musical abilities of a drowning cat and the moves of one as well, come to think of it...)
However, the realisation in itself was rather harsh as, although you accept you are getting older, it doesn't feel as though you are, at least not to me. But, something like that puts it in black and white, you are in the "overs" group, which implicitly means that you are past your prime. The word "over" in itself means finished. Done, dusted. Take "How's your boyfriend? I dunno... we're over" as an example. It just has such negative connotations in so many ways... overweight, overrated, over the legal limit... What good can come of being "over"??
In all honesty, nobody expects an "over" to actually go on and win the programme, do they? I mean, sure, Steve Brookstein won the first season but then he disappeared back into the blue from whence he came.
I can't help thinking that this is a shame. I think some of the "overs" have incredible talent this year, and it's true for other seasons too. If age really ain't nothin' but a number, why is it so easy to say when somebody's number is up? I, for one, refuse to believe that being 25 or above (note the intentional avoidance of the term "over") means that you cannot aspire to greater things.
As a bit of a cheer-up, I have collated some proof that it is never too late to follow your dream or change your career: (*Majority of info found on Wikipedia... may or may not be accurate).
1) Let's start with probably the most famous one of all. Jesus Christ. It is commonly known that he was a carpenter. In Luke 3:23 it says "And Jesus himself, when he began [to teach], was about thirty years of age" so he started as a carpenter, had a career change at 30 and did alright for himself, what with being the saviour of the human race and all.
2) Then we have another carpenter... Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones). He had had 'bit' parts and uncredited voice work in a few films, but when this didn't prove as lucrative as he had hoped, he turned to carpentry to support his then wife and two sons. As a result, he was hired to build cabinets at George Lucas' home, who then cast him in American Graffiti at the age of 31. From that he went on to work with Lucas again in a little film called Star Wars. Have you heard of it? Me neither. It just goes to show, when one wooden door closes, another one opens.
3) Colonel Sanders of KFC fame didn't start franchising his restaurants and finger-licking-good recipe until the age of 65! Prior to that, he had worked as a farmer, insurance salesman and a fireman.
4) Sting (of "Sting and the Police" fame) worked as an English teacher before achieving fame as a rocker. Who knows? Maybe those experiences helped him to write some of his lyrics.
5) Speaking of writing... J.K Rowling hasn't done so badly for herself, has she? She was living on benefits, got divorced and was a single mum, only for the idea of Harry Potter to pop into her head whilst on a train from Manchester to London. She even taught English abroad (like me!) Who would have said that half a decade later she would be a multi-millionaire?
6) Walt Disney embarked on a career as a newspaper editor, only to be fired for "lacking imagination and having no good ideas". Enough said.
7) Apparently, many of Albert Einstein's teachers thought he would never amount to anything. He didn't start speaking until he was 4 (I started when I was 3... does that make me a genius too??) and he failed many of his exams, causing his teachers to brand him as lazy and insubordinate. He managed to graduate (just), but struggled to find a job due to the fact that nobody wanted to write him a recommendation. He started work as a patent clerk, which he ended up doing for 7 years. It wasn't until he was 26 (in the "overs") that he had his first theoretical papers recognised and published.
8) On a similar note, Thomas Edison, one of the world's most prolific inventors was labelled as "too stupid to learn" and was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive". He was 46 when he invented the first 'commercially practical incandescent light'. I love the irony now, that when somebody has an idea it is often depicted as a lightbulb. In your face teachers.
9) A source of national pride, Winston Churchill finally became PM at the age of 62, after many years of political failures and defeats. If at first you don't succeed and all that.
And finally...
10) Good ol' Elvis Presley was told by a concert manager, Jim Denny: "You ain't going nowhere son. You oughta go back to driving a truck!" when he was just 19. He kept on working, and did alright in the end.
So there you have it. It ain't over until the fat old lady sings, or writes a book, or becomes prime minister. She can change whenever she wants to ;)
It's been a long two weeks since the last time I posted, but jury duty is finally over and the job hunt, and therefore blogging, can continue. I have to admit that it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do... when all is said and done, you are deciding the fate of someone else's life, not to mention countless others who may have been affected by their actions. It's not as easy as you may think.
Still, I learned some invaluable life lessons from it and intend to take those with me. Let's not dwell on it, but move onwards and upwards!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, I was watching X Factor the other night, (was that too dramatic a change from the previous topic?) and it suddenly dawned on me that if I were to enter, I would be classified in the "overs" category. (Do not worry, I will not be entering any time soon. I have the musical abilities of a drowning cat and the moves of one as well, come to think of it...)
However, the realisation in itself was rather harsh as, although you accept you are getting older, it doesn't feel as though you are, at least not to me. But, something like that puts it in black and white, you are in the "overs" group, which implicitly means that you are past your prime. The word "over" in itself means finished. Done, dusted. Take "How's your boyfriend? I dunno... we're over" as an example. It just has such negative connotations in so many ways... overweight, overrated, over the legal limit... What good can come of being "over"??
In all honesty, nobody expects an "over" to actually go on and win the programme, do they? I mean, sure, Steve Brookstein won the first season but then he disappeared back into the blue from whence he came.
I can't help thinking that this is a shame. I think some of the "overs" have incredible talent this year, and it's true for other seasons too. If age really ain't nothin' but a number, why is it so easy to say when somebody's number is up? I, for one, refuse to believe that being 25 or above (note the intentional avoidance of the term "over") means that you cannot aspire to greater things.
As a bit of a cheer-up, I have collated some proof that it is never too late to follow your dream or change your career: (*Majority of info found on Wikipedia... may or may not be accurate).
1) Let's start with probably the most famous one of all. Jesus Christ. It is commonly known that he was a carpenter. In Luke 3:23 it says "And Jesus himself, when he began [to teach], was about thirty years of age" so he started as a carpenter, had a career change at 30 and did alright for himself, what with being the saviour of the human race and all.
2) Then we have another carpenter... Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones). He had had 'bit' parts and uncredited voice work in a few films, but when this didn't prove as lucrative as he had hoped, he turned to carpentry to support his then wife and two sons. As a result, he was hired to build cabinets at George Lucas' home, who then cast him in American Graffiti at the age of 31. From that he went on to work with Lucas again in a little film called Star Wars. Have you heard of it? Me neither. It just goes to show, when one wooden door closes, another one opens.
3) Colonel Sanders of KFC fame didn't start franchising his restaurants and finger-licking-good recipe until the age of 65! Prior to that, he had worked as a farmer, insurance salesman and a fireman.
4) Sting (of "Sting and the Police" fame) worked as an English teacher before achieving fame as a rocker. Who knows? Maybe those experiences helped him to write some of his lyrics.
5) Speaking of writing... J.K Rowling hasn't done so badly for herself, has she? She was living on benefits, got divorced and was a single mum, only for the idea of Harry Potter to pop into her head whilst on a train from Manchester to London. She even taught English abroad (like me!) Who would have said that half a decade later she would be a multi-millionaire?
6) Walt Disney embarked on a career as a newspaper editor, only to be fired for "lacking imagination and having no good ideas". Enough said.
7) Apparently, many of Albert Einstein's teachers thought he would never amount to anything. He didn't start speaking until he was 4 (I started when I was 3... does that make me a genius too??) and he failed many of his exams, causing his teachers to brand him as lazy and insubordinate. He managed to graduate (just), but struggled to find a job due to the fact that nobody wanted to write him a recommendation. He started work as a patent clerk, which he ended up doing for 7 years. It wasn't until he was 26 (in the "overs") that he had his first theoretical papers recognised and published.
8) On a similar note, Thomas Edison, one of the world's most prolific inventors was labelled as "too stupid to learn" and was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive". He was 46 when he invented the first 'commercially practical incandescent light'. I love the irony now, that when somebody has an idea it is often depicted as a lightbulb. In your face teachers.
9) A source of national pride, Winston Churchill finally became PM at the age of 62, after many years of political failures and defeats. If at first you don't succeed and all that.
And finally...
10) Good ol' Elvis Presley was told by a concert manager, Jim Denny: "You ain't going nowhere son. You oughta go back to driving a truck!" when he was just 19. He kept on working, and did alright in the end.
So there you have it. It ain't over until the fat old lady sings, or writes a book, or becomes prime minister. She can change whenever she wants to ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)