BBC Fresh Profile: Fran Baker

RTS award winning documentary maker Fran Baker talks about how her career in television began.

Fran Baker began her successful career by being "dressed up in humiliating costumes" for comedy reconstructions on the 90s TV series The Sunday Show.

Watch film-makers Aneel Ahmad, Zoe Callan, Graham Hughes and Fran Baker talk about short films

How did you get started in film production?

I stumbled on to a degree course in Broadcasting at Leeds University, despite having been told by a careers teacher that people like me didn't get jobs working in TV. As part of the course I got 6 months' work experience in what was the BBC's Manchester Youth & Entertainment department. It was an amazing experience and I loved every second of it, even though I spent much of the time being dressed up in humiliating costumes to be filmed for comedy reconstructions for a series called The Sunday Show. I felt so lucky to be doing anything at the BBC. Not long after whilst still a student I got to work on an Obs Doc as a runner. The series was about young people doing jobs no-one else wanted and I got to help make a film about some young people being made redundant from a food factory. It may sound mundane, but it was a defining moment in our contributors' lives which I felt honoured to be allowed to share. It made me realise that this was what I wanted to do, to make films about real people and the things they cared about.

Can you list some of your production credits?

I have made a combination of Obs Docs and presenter led films, including:

• Don't Call me Crazy (BBC Three)
• Exposed: Groomed for Sex (BBC Three)
• Small Teen, Bigger World series (BBC Three)
• Sam & Evan: From Girls to Men (BBC Three)
• My School Prom (BBC Three)
• Ann Widdecombe versus Girl Gangs (ITV1)
• When Satan Came to Town (BBC One)
• Future of Food with George Alagiah (BBC Two)
• Saving Becky (BBC One)

What do you love about making documentaries?

Every time someone lets me in to their life and shares their story with me I feel honoured - I am in such a privileged position to help them tell their story. Not only do we empower people and give them a voice, we also get to highlight issues that can make viewers feel less alone or understand others better. I find the process of making films incredibly exciting too - trying out new cameras, making something look beautiful, experimenting with new visual devices... Very few people get to be creatively fulfilled, feel like they are doing something useful and get paid for it - and that's why I will always feel lucky to be a film-maker.