I haven't been on here for absolutly ages and I'm pretty sure not many of you remember me being on here at all. However, I have not been idle in my time away and have actually done some pretty exciting things that I thought you might be interested in. I started University at Exeter this year and got involved in the uni tv station. There I have had fantastic oppertunities to actually film what I have written and have worked on a couple of sketch shows, which was a great experience. Then, after christmas things have got exciting.
I have recently played the lead role in a new sitcom/comedy drama series wriiten by some 2nd/3rd years especially for me to be in. This was filmed and uploaded online in secret and then publicised with a poster campaign. We have had an amazing reaction to the first episode, breaking all viewing records for the station and giving me the tiniest experience of fame on campus. The show is called Finals and it has been nominated by the station for Best Drama at this year's NaSTAs ( National Student TV Awards)and I have been nominated for Best Onscreen Male, the results of which will be announced at an awards ceremony next weekend.
To make things even better I have recently been elected as Head of Creative for the tv station, which puts me in charge of all comedy and drama output, which as you can imagine is a dream role for me and one I am relishing starting after Easter. Now the really exciting news...today i was told I have been given a 10 minute one-on-one meeting with Paul Jackson (ITV Head of Comedy and Entertainment and the man who produced The Young Ones and Red Dwarf) in which he will watch my showreel and I can discuss the business of getting into TV, getting writing looked at, etc. I am really excited to meet a man with such experience in the world I'd love to break into and i can't believe i'm getting this oppertunity within a year of being here.
So don't ever let anyone tell you that University is a waste of money, because it isn't. the oppertunities it gives you are at times amazing and almost always invaluable let alone incredibly enjoyable. I'll give a short update on how the meeting with Paul Jackson goes, what advice he passes on etc, and how we do in the NaSTAs soon...
Hope everyone is good and well, and might see you guys for the meet up in the summer!
Wow - that's really fantastic news, yes... Best of luck with the new role and the meeting at ITV...
Also re: the online sitcom, you should definitely contact the 4Laughs team so they can promote the links to it in the 'Comedy News' so everyone can watch and enjoy it...
Hey, just a quick update on my update. I had my meeting with Paul Jackson, and it was amazing to meet the man who launched the careers of people like Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall, if not a little daunting. But he turned out to be a really decent bloke, very easy to talk to. His main advice was to throw yourself into any oppertunities that come your way, be it at uni or after, as so much of the TV industry works on experience. He also said it is important to choose what exactly is your main focus: whether its writing, or performing, or producing, etc as TV people like people who are focused and know exactly what they want to do. Other than that he said keep plugging away, sending your work to people and be persistant if you want to get a break. One of his favourite things in my showreel he commented on was Bloody Quick News, which led me to mention this site and he said he was interested in checking it out, so hopefully he glances his eyes across some of the fab stuff on here. As for the NaSTAs, I failed to win Best Onscreen Male (boo!) however, the pilot episode of the comedy-drama I'm in won a Highly Commended Award for Drama, so we were delighted with that. If you want to check out the comedy-drama then there is a link to it on my profile page on this site (B_S_D). Hope everyone is well, and continuing to make some wicked comedy!
