Broadcast Magazine – 22 August 2019

42 | Broadcast | 23 August 2019 broadcastnow.co.uk

The path to television success

NFTS graduate Lucy Smith is one of Edinburgh TV Festival’s Ones to Watch 2019.

She explains how the MA course helped her become one of TV’s ‘best and brightest’

What made you opt to attend NFTS and to

choose the course you did?

I’d always loved watching, deconstructing

and coming up with TV shows, but having

grown up in the Yorkshire countryside, I

didn’t know anyone in the industry. I was

working in marketing when a colleague

introduced me to Sean O’Riordan – a devel-

opment exec at the time and an NFTS alumnus,

whose career trajectory was hugely inspiring.

He suggested I consider the Directing and

Producing TV Entertainment MA course.

The NFTS offered opportunities to meet

world-class producers, leading commissioners

and industry tutors. I loved that the course

allowed me to work on projects with other

students across departments – composing,

cinematography and editing – and learn from

their expertise.

Another big draw was the technical focus.

I only had experience with handheld cam-

corders, but after graduating I could shoot on

C300s and FS7s, edit on Avid and Premiere

and had the technical confidence to single-

and multi-camera direct.

However, primarily I was excited by

the prospect of developing and producing

formats that could reach millions and have

huge commercial potential.

How did the course prepare you for your

career and what were its most valuable

and enjoyable elements?

Everyone’s a ‘preditor’ in telly – able to

produce, shoot, edit, write the theme tune and

sing the theme tune. The NFTS course was

demanding, but immensely rewarding and

equipped me to take on the challenge. Where

else would you get the opportunity to multi-

camera direct or pitch ideas to Phil Edgar-

Jones within weeks of starting your career?

In particular, developing and producing

my graduation pilot, Against All Odds,

really fast-tracked my skills as a producer.

During this project, I worked alongside my

NFTS colleague Jamie Minty to develop

an original gameshow format, which we

pitched to commissioners. We were com-

pletely involved in the production pipeline –

from negotiating access to filming on

location and polishing the online edit.

It was full-on, but the skills gained on my

graduation show have proved invaluable in

my career. The format itself has since been

optioned by Betty and was awarded Best

Unscripted Pilot at the New York TV Festival

in 2017 – a testament to the hard work of our

brilliantly talented crew.

Another great part of the course was the

opportunity to take industry placements. I

worked on Strictly Come Dancing and with

core development teams at the BBC and Zig

Zag Productions. The contacts I made helped

set me onto a career path in development.

What have been the achievements in

your career to date and what are your

ambitions now?

I’m currently working as a development pro-

ducer at MultiStory Media and have enjoyed

working with brilliant teams at Firecracker,

Betty and BBC Creative Label. Particular

career highlights include working on ITV

series Gone To Pot from development

through to production and helping develop

and secure MultiStory’s first Netflix commis-

sion. It was also a real honour to be chosen

for Ones to Watch scheme at ETVF this year.

Over the next few years, I hope to climb

the development ladder to run a team, and I

have big ambitions to establish my own

factual entertainment indie in my home town,

Leeds. With Yorkshire’s creative industries

already thriving and Channel 4 moving there

soon, NFTS is now opening a Leeds hub. I

hope I’ll get the opportunity to play my part

in transforming the county into a region for

some of the best creative work in the world.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given

during your career?

“Be nice to people on the way up, because

you’ll meet them on the way down.” I’ve

heard so many stories of executives firing

runners, only to have them turn up as com-

missioners a few years on. I’ve worked

with some mightily impressive runners

and researchers that I have no doubt I’ll

be pitching to in the future. n

Lucy Smith: ambitions to open a

factual entertainment indie in Leeds

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

The NFTS offered opportunities

to meet world-class producers,

leading commissioners and industry

tutors. Another big draw was the

technical focus

LUCY SMITH

NTFS GRADUATE

Applications are open for the NFTS

Directing and Producing Television

Entertainment MA until 20 October and

the course starts in January 2020. More

information at nfts.co.uk/tvent