In autumn 2010 I began work on what has turned out to be the pilot version of Me In TV.
The original idea was simply to give the young people their first contacts in the industry. The whole group would meet, chat for a while, then split off into pairs – each young person would be matched with a TV pro who is experienced in their specific area of interest (so a youngster interested in camera work would be paired with a cameraman).
The idea took shape
in my mind over a few weeks. As soon as I started discussing it with other people, though, it evolved beyond all recognition.
Thinking bigger
Jamie, a friend who does executive coaching, encouraged me to think bigger: more people, more time, and more benefits all round.
Then I found Mark, the colleague who was to help me run the programme, and he made that more ambitious vision a reality: it turned it into a full day of practical skills, close contact with TV pros, and career advice.
We ended up giving three young guys a morning of camera training, an hour of on-screen training with a well-respected presenter, and an afternoon of edit training.
Better yet, everything they learnt contributed to a tangible outcome: by the end of the day each participant had created a 60-second film that focused everyone’s minds and
can now serve as a showreel.
Here’s one of the films:
None of that would have happened without the input of the two guys who transformed my original idea.
That’s a law of unintended consequences: through discussion
with others, an idea can develop into something you could never have imagined alone.
Up next…
This one-day project taught me a bunch of useful and interesting things, several of which I’ll write about in the context of this project.
It also sparked the idea for Me In TV. It wasn’t supposed to be the pilot version of anything – I just wanted to try something new – but the response from everyone involved was so great that I’m convinced there’s huge potential in the basic ideas:
1. Bring people with overlapping interests together
2. Give them a shared goal
3. Introduce the right amount of structure, and leave them the right amount of freedom
Somehow, accidentally, that worked out pretty well the first time around. Let’s hope it’s even better the
second time.
