Next steps

My name is Darren. In recent months I was lucky enough to be granted a place on BBC Outreach’s ‘Face2Face’ program, which welcomes a diverse cross-section of people of differing ages, backgrounds and interests onto a training course where our first task is to make a film called Is the BBC for me?

At the end of the programme we all applied to win one of four paid work placements. I was fortunate enough to be offered a placement as a Runner within the Factual department. I was told that I’d get to experience a few different productions, the first of which being DIY SOS, which was made clear to be both exciting but also very hard work (the latter suggestion often accompanied by an ominous seriousness in tone).

So after working so hard to get here, what is it actually like working for the BBC?

Having now spent a week in the office with the DIY SOS team and a further week getting stuck-in on their latest build, I can confirm that the placement is indeed far from a walk in the park. I’ve had to slot into a long-established team, travel 200 miles with them Northeast and help to gut, extend and begin re-decorating a bungalow under the pressure of a looming deadline for the big ‘reveal’ to an expectant family.

Whilst my mind has been tested by the high-pressure working environment and the multitude of tasks flying in my direction from every corner of the building site, my body has been equally tested by sub-zero temperatures, long hours and more manual labour than I’ve tackled in perhaps the last six months combined.

So would I recommend the BBC to other people? Is the BBC for me? It’s been tough admittedly, but it’s also been character-building, great fun, very rewarding and equally positive in a dozen more ways so I guess the answer to that original question posed so back at the beginning of our training would have to be yes!

*Face2Face is training scheme for young production talent in Bristol. Currently in its fifth year, the scheme is managed by BBC Outreach. Around 70 people have completed it so far, with four people each year continuing to a paid full time placement for three months.