December 15, 2020 - 926 views
A Coleg Llandrillo media student is "still in dreamland" after being chosen to work on UK television's biggest show of the year: 'I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here'.
Lucy Sharpe, 20-years-old from Dolwyddelan - who is currently studying on the BA (Hons) Creative and Broadcast degree course at the college's Rhos-on-Sea campus - has spent the past few weeks mixing with and attending to a group of Britain's finest film, television, radio and social media stars…not in the Australian bush, but in a castle in North Wales.
When Lucy found out that the TV show was relocating from its usual base in the southern hemisphere to Gwrych Castle in Abergele because of the Coronavirus pandemic, she immediately submitted her CV to the show's bosses.
Then, her whirlwind week began. Two days later, she got a call from ITV Studios "Could you start straight away if offered a position working on the show?"
Lucy replied: "I can start immediately!"
She then received another call on the Friday from a member of the ITV Studios team, who provided Lucy with information on the logistics: the length of the working day, what's involved in the job role, health and safety measures etc.
On Monday, ITV Studios phoned back and offered Lucy the job as a Covid marshal / runner! Two days later, she started work on the show.
On her first day she attended several ITV Studios training courses, which provided crucial information on Covid restrictions, general health and safety procedures and how to act appropriately on set.
Lucy's job roles included regularly testing the temperatures of stars and staff, sorting out all the security wristbands on set, and working with proximity buzzers. The latter relates to whom a person / persons has been in contact with - an in-house test and trace system.
Lucy said: "Everyone was fantastic from start to finish. They were so welcoming and down to earth…even the directors. I have always wanted to work in the medium of film, and have never even thought about reality TV, or TV in general.
"But, after this extraordinary experience, seeing the set designs, speaking to camera operators and the editor in the actual editing room, I am really open to working in TV. I was so surreal juggling my studies at college with working with the stars!"
She learned about all the different roles within the television industry, as well as valuable industry insider knowledge gleaned after talking to various members of the ITV Studios production team, who were "extremely impressed" with the breadth of Lucy's knowledge of broadcast and media.
Lucy was perfectly prepared for this chance-of-a-lifetime, as the college's Media courses afford students with the opportunities to access to the college's outstanding facilities, including the dedicated TV Production Studio, Sound Recording Studio, Multimedia Lab and high-spec video cameras.
The BA (Hons) Creative and Broadcast course can lead to employment in a wide range of fields within the industry: Media production practitioners operate within television, photography, film, radio, web, graphics, games design, animation, multimedia, post-production, journalism and other areas.
The courses can be studied on both a full-time (1 year) and a part-time (2 years) basis.
