Putting your career in focus

To coincide with The Boar’s careers issue, Boar TV spoke to Peter Baron, facilities manager at Karma Crew and Creative – a London-based video production team whose credits include Champions League football coverage, Come Dine With Me and Extreme Fishing with Robson Green!

Boar TV: Tell us a little bit about your career working in television.

Peter Baron: I started as a runner for an Outside Broadcast/Post-Production company in 1985, and then moved up to OB Unit Manager and Studio Unit Manager fairly quickly. I moved across to production in 1990, where I fulfilled a multitude of roles, spending time as production and floor manager, event promoter, series producer, presenter and even voice-over artist, before moving back to facilities and production management in 2006.

TV: You now work for Karma, in London – what sort of work do they do in the filming and production of television?

PB: Karma provides facilities and technical crew (camera, sound and lighting) for many British and international broadcasters and major production companies, including the BBC and ITV. We also have our own in-house production company and post-production suites, which allows us to utilise our own facilities as well as generating quality programming for external clients.

Every day is different in the job – the variety definitely helps to keep us all fresh

TV: The Karma website suggests that your role as facilities manager means that you are best at “keeping your head while all around are losing theirs”. Does working in the television industry get stressful at times?

PB: In short, yes! It’s all about planning really – there are so many factors to consider that being well prepared is essential. Our clients don’t necessarily need to know what planning we do but we often require information from them to be properly prepared – if this information is late getting to us then requests for the facilities and crew can come on very short notice. When this happens, it can get pretty frantic and people invariably get quite stressed. Personally, having worked in most areas of programming I can see the direction in which things are progressing and predict what is needed. Usually if one person can keep their cool and see the bigger picture then it will all work out!

TV: Working at Karma must be a diverse and exciting job given the range of your clients – how much does that keep you on your toes?

PB: Every day is different in the job – the variety definitely helps to keep us all fresh. The experience you gain in the job really helps, as it ensures that you can react quickly to any new project with your existing base of knowledge. As a team, our credits include coverage of the London 2012 Olympics, Masterchef and some of Rihanna’s music videos, as well as numerous TV adverts, so that gives you an idea of the range we encounter week in, week out.

TV: What type of television and/or commercial is your favourite to produce?

PB: Commercials are great. They take a lot of time and planning to create a really effective piece – a short film needs everything to be perfect. Having said that, live broadcasts definitely have an extra dynamic of adrenaline, because everything has to be pre-planned and anticipated so that any mistakes aren’t made (or spotted!)

TV: What is your favourite aspect of working in the industry?

PB: I really thrive on the team-work and the confidence and professionalism that comes from working with great friends.

TV: What TV-based work experience did you gain whilst studying at university?

PB: I studied Film & TV at Leeds University, so much of my experience came through the course. We were required to participate in all aspects of the media, so we filmed, edited and produced, as well as writing scripts and doing some acting.

TV: What advice would you give to our readers who are looking to follow a career in television?

PB: The first thing I would say is to make sure that you gain some experience. It can be in any capacity really – anything that allows companies to see the qualities that you possess through something that you have produced yourself.
It’s also important to have a solid understanding of the roles and needs within the industry. Once you have a decent knowledge of these and have gained some experience then you can decide which area interests you – whether it be facilities, production or post-production – and then hopefully you can get a toe in the door. Once you’re in, you’re in (fingers crossed!) and you can move around to different areas of the industry through the various people you meet and projects you work on.

TV: And finally…what is your favourite ever TV programme?

PB: It has got to be Only Fools and Horses!