CBB Eviction

Today I did all my usual office duties as well as helping the researchers with cue carding. As I was helping the researchers more today I had more time to chat to them and network and find out how they became a researcher and where they wanted to go. I also spoke to another runner and told him how I was thinking about a career in casting and he usually works on Big Brothers Bit on the Side and he said I should try and work with the audience team on that as that is kind of like casting as they need to make sure they have good speakers. I'm going to try and do this but I am quite busy at the moment and don't know if I will have time but I will definitely bare it in mind for next year.

Big Brother

This summer I have been working on the live Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother Live eviction shows as an office runner.

My duties were:
Keeping the office tidy and emptying the bins regularly
Making sure everyone involved in the show had up to date running orders, schedules and scripts
Signing talk backs in and out
Making sure everyone had lunch and dinner tokens and going out to get food for those who needed it
Keeping the live office table stocked up with drinks and snacks so that the crew could help themselves when every they came in for anything.
I had to setup the meeting room every live day for the script meeting
I had to do regular tea runs

I have really enjoyed my experience especially the days when I got to be a stand in and live out my dream of walking down the catwalk to get interviewed by Brian and then walking up the stairs and stepping into the house.

I have learnt alot from my experience on Big Brother and I have made alot of contacts and been able to talk to people in all different departments of the show. I also found it really interesting talking to the runners and seeing what they want to do in the future. It was funny to think that we are all starting off in the same job but there is so many different career paths people want to take from some people wanting to be camera operators to others wanting to be presenters. It was also good for me to see how people have moved up the ladder already going from runner to header runner to researcher in under a year.

The experience has made me excited about my future as there is so many different avenues open to me its just deciding now which one I want to take.

I've still got 3 more shifts left on Celebrity Big Brother and then I'm finished. I will miss being part of a big production like that and of course the people but I am not going to miss the long journey especially in the evening.

Celebrity BB Launch Night

Today I was again a stand in rather than office runner but this time I had more to do as it was introducing the new housemates rather than bringing the old ones back. This time I had to walk down the catwalk waving to the audience and posing for the press and then I had a short interview with Brian and then I had to walk up the stairs and into the house. Today was alot of hanging around again but not as much and again it gave me a chance to network and see the role of the people which was a change from seeing what the production team do.


This is Laura from this years normal version but this is basically what I had to do in rehearsals for the launch of the celebrity version.

The Big Brother Finale

Today instead of being an office runner I was a stand in contestant. I had to pretend to be the evicted housemates returning for finale night. There was a big group of us and we each had a different housemate to be. We had to take it in turns to walk out of the iris, down the catwalk, waving to the audience and the press and then stand in order on the stairs. Even though with this job there was a lot of hanging around for hours when we were actually doing something it was fun and exciting pretending to be the contestants. Even though for me it was quite boring because it was alot of hanging around it was an important part of the production as Brian and the cameras had to rehearse and as the actually contestants were not around we had to stand in. And as there was alot of time hanging around it gave me a bit more time to network which was a bonus.

Harry Potter Tour

Back in April I went to visit the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Tours I was a bit worried at first as I didn't know what to expect and I had only seen the first 4 Harry Potter films and the 4th one I had seen in Germany so I didn't really know the whole story. When I got in there there were hundreds of massive Harry Potter fans dressed as the characters and crying over the experience and this was just in the queue to get in. I kept thinking why am I here. But once I got into the actual tour I became quite excited at what I was seeing and loved learning about all of the hard work which went into creating these huge blockbuster films. Where as some people were excited about seeing pieces from their favourite films and being close to the characters and the story I was excited thinking about how I would like to be part of a project of this scale in the future. The experienced opened my eyes to so many jobs I hadn't ever considered and made me start thinking about what it was I wanted to do in the future.

I would definitely recommend the tours to anyone. It is fun for everyone from someone who has only seen the first film to those who have dedicated their lives to HP.

Networking on Big Brother

On Big Brother I networked with alot of people and as I was in the Live office all the time I spent alot of time with the producers, script writers, researchers, production co-ordinators, the production manager, the production secretary as well as the other runners. I spent alot of time talking to the researchers, runners, production co-ordinators and secretary and learnt how people got into their jobs, what path they were on and where they wanted to end up. I didn't spent too much time talking to the producers and script writers as they were always very stressed and busy. I also spent time talking to the guys doing the editing and watching what they were doing. I also spent time talking to the on site medic and the health and safety officer and found out what their jobs entailed as they were both roles that I had never come across on out little projects.

I spent alot of time talking to the other runners and it was interesting to hear about what direction everyone wanted to go in. We were all doing the same job and starting off in the same position but everyone seemed to want to go off in a different direction, some people wanted to be camera ops where as others want to become producers or directors. I spoke to a few of the the runners and told them that I was interested in casing and one of them suggested that I ask to work on BOTS helping find the audience. I think I might try and do this but time is running out, I will definitely try and get on the audition tour next year and try and work with the casting team on that as I think it will be really interesting to see how they whittle down the thousands of applicants to the little group of people who actually enter the house.

I have made some really good contacts on this project and I will definitely continue to talk to people to try and get even more of an understanding into what goes into a massive production like Big Brother.