I’m interested in floor managing and I know someone who works on The One Show so he put me in contact with the floor manager.  I was lucky enough to be offered work experience and be able to go to London to see behind the scenes of The One Show and This Morning. I had a really interesting, enjoyable and rewarding experience.

The first place I visited was The One Show studio at BBC New Broadcasting House near Regent Street. My afternoon was very exciting, I started off by watching one of the editors editing together a VT about the Children In Need Rickshaw challenge. I found it intriguing to see how VTs are put together for a successful prime time show like the One Show. I then went on to shadow the Floor Manager, where I attended a production meeting with him, the director, editor, two presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones as well as a few other crew members. During the meeting they went through the script for that evening and discussed any changes they could make to the script and new ideas anyone had about the interviews and chats about the VTs. The guest for that night was Derren Brown.

I then went with the assistant floor manager to the dressing rooms to get the presenters and check that they were ready for the rehearsal in the studio. I found the rehearsal very interesting as I got to see just how much the presenters work with all of the crew to make sure they are comfortable with how the scripts sound and what they will be doing. During the live show I watched how the floor manager worked. I was given a ‘talk-back’ in my ear so that I could hear what was going on in the gallery and what they were saying to the studio floor. The live show was very exciting and I really enjoyed seeing how all the roles we have learnt about in multi-camera work in live television.

The next morning I visited the ITV Studios and This Morning. When I arrived and met the Floor Manager, Tim, I watched Gok Wan and his Dad rehearsing a live cooking demo. I found this really interesting as I had always been curious as to how they did cooking live on TV especially when they show the food that they made earlier. The live guests then arrived and the floor manager briefed them on what would be happening and what they would need to do. As this was happening the camera people were filming shots of advent calendars that would be spoken about in the show so that they could be sent to graphics and prices and details could be added to them so they could be shown in the live programme.

The live show started at 10:30am and I watched the crew and presenters Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby and how they put together the live show. The guests on the show included Paul O’Grady, Gok Wan and his Dad and guide dog trainers.

I have seen that live TV is exciting and very interesting but working under pressure can be very tense which leads it to be extremely rewarding when the live show finishes and goes well.

The floor manager at This Morning said that I’m welcome to come back at any time and he can show me more of his job, which is good news!