Streamlined cross-departmental production operations across BBC Studios’ Los Angeles slate of productions.
BBC Studios Los Angeles Productions is the LA-based production arm of BBC Studios, developing and producing content for U.S. audiences. In this role, I streamlined collaboration between production, legal, finance, and IT teams, managed vendor onboarding and invoices, and maintained organized production systems to support the company’s slate of productions.
Behind the Scenes
Where were you?
Los Angeles, California
What’s the moment things went sideways?
Within my first two weeks starting there, there was a lot going on with prepping the shows that were coming down the pipeline. We had some bad news come our way when we found out some of the glass panels from one of our stages had broken, possibly during transport into storage the previous season. Those panels are the top layer of the stage that lets our lighting effects shine through for dramatic moments, like when the game gets more intense or a contestant answers correctly and moves to the next level. Since they’re custom made, that kind of damage is never a quick fix. The other thing we had to work around was that during one of our other shows one of the talent had a pet Magpie which is a very territorial bird. So this was a new one for us and the insurance company. How do we manage this with the crew and our equipment? It was a learning curve for me and the team, but one that was fun to learn about.
A crew or cast story that still gets told
BBC had theme nights in the office that ended up being one of my favorite parts of working there. The work day would wrap up a little earlier, and around dinner time there would be food served, usually timed around a show premiering. One night we had a huge charcuterie spread, and another night was tacos, with Jo Malone even coming in with candles, some of which they would engrave for you if you wanted one. Since we were spread out across different projects at times, these nights were a fun way for everyone in the office to socialize, get to know each other, and find common interests outside of work.
What would a viewer never guess?
Working on the corporate side of television is a lot of fun. Being able to work on several shows at the same time really helps you see how it all comes together. Developing shows is fun. It’s an amazing opportunity to take a concept as a starting point and build off of it: getting a budget together, scouting locations, and making sure all the right companies and steps are in place to start building, and then finding a cast and crew who will work to make it come to life. After months of hard work and constant emails and meetings, the show is finally being filmed. Then it gets edited and shown to an audience, and you get to watch them connect with something that started out as just a concept.
What were you actually running day to day?
It was a lot of self-starting work, but our director was expecting us to meet our deadlines, especially when the shows that we were working on were going to be filming in less than a month. It was such a great team, we were great about communicating with each other, so we all knew where we stood and what needed to be done. It was great to be a part of that.
What are you proudest of on this one?
Before my temp time was over, it was amazing being on the sets. After seeing renderings and then sitting in meetings that ranged from insurance to the production team that was going to be on set every day. It was just a full circle moment. Though this was a temporary job, this was my dream. This is what I first thought I was going to be doing and thought what television was all about. So being able to live out that dream for the college student version of me was just an amazing feeling.