I’m Lee Bacon and I’m the head of digital and short form at the Natural History Unit and that means that I’m in charge of running the team that makes all the stuff that goes on Facebook and Youtube and Twitter. So, if you’ve ever seen anything from “Seven Worlds, One Planet” or come across a funny animal meme, that’s likely to be coming out of my team.
So, at school, I actually kind of enjoyed school. I never found it too bad. I did things like, at GCSE I did English and Computing, which kind of weren’t that related to what I do, but actually the key one for me was Media Studies. So, I studied at school and I got my GCSEs, moved on to A-levels and did Media Studies like I said and from there I managed to get a place at university studying Film and Television Studies.
So then, after I left university, I moved to London and started working as a runner in a lot of different production companies, a lot of different creative agencies. And so, if you don’t know what a runner is, that’s basically the most junior person in a team. So, you’re responsible for delivering packages, opening post, getting people teas and coffees. If there is a big company where people have breakfast in the morning one of my jobs was to load up all the cereals and, although it’s really hard work and you’re kind of at the lowest end of the ladder, what you do get is an insight into how these businesses work and just how many people go into making all of this content. So, I managed to work my way up from there and work at various companies before ending up at the BBC where I’ve managed to work right up to being the head of digital and short form.
So, working in digital and short form in the Natural History Unit, every day’s really, really different. So, I could be doing anything from looking at scripts and reviewing edits, to having meetings with Facebook or YouTube, to talking to the producers and exec producers who make the content at the Natural History Unit to find out the best way to support those huge shows with David Attenborough in that are gonna be coming down the line. So, every day’s really different, but it’s great just to be kind of talking to so many different people and so many different parts of the business.
So one thing I would say is that you might be sitting there thinking that getting a job at the Natural History Unit or the BBC is gonna be impossible. Wherever you may be from you may feel like that’s really, really far away. But all kinds of people work here, and I never thought I’d end up at the BBC when I was younger but, actually, you know, there’s so many different journeys into the business and so many different ways that you can work here, that it really is for everyone. So, if it is something you’re interested in it’s definitely an option for you as you get a bit older.
So, if someone wanted to join the BBC in any role, I’d say start thinking about the type of things that you’re interested in and the skills you could finesse. So, if you know a little bit of photo editing or a little bit of picture editing, those skills are really, really useful and I think they’re only going to become more useful as things go forward. So, putting a bit of practicing into those is really, really helpful. But there’s also BBC apprenticeships that can kind of be an early way into the BBC, where you’re going to get a really good view of the wider business, so you should definitely keep an eye out for those types of opportunities as well.
Credit: Source link
