How to be a
presenter? was the final part of the first season of RTS Futures e
vents\, playing out to a sold-out audience aboard HMS President on the Vict
oria Embankment\, London. Offering their advice were two presenters —
Rule one: Be yourself
“You can’t be anything
else\,” said Steve. “I present T4 52 weeks a year. If I were to put on
an act\, it’d be draining. Never\, ever try to base yourself on another
presenter.”
“If it wasn’t true we would have told Alan Car
r to get his teeth fixed and Justin Lee Collins to cut his air\,” said An
dy\, who brought together TV’s oddest duo to front The Friday Night P
roject. “On an individual level both were great performers. We had n
o idea they would have the chemistry they do but we did think they would se
rve different roles in a show: Alan is a stand-up comic and very good at on
e-liners\; Justin is a great enthusiast who drives the show forwards.”
Paul asked Fearne about the potential pitfalls of presenting as a
double act\; she had fronted ITV1’s Holly &\; Fearne Go Dating with her friend\, Holly Willoughby. “It’s really important that you
ve got some natural chemistry and a real friendship\,” she opined. “If
you try and establish your role\, rather than both trying to do the same j
ob\, that makes it a lot easier and more fun.”
“I’m never
going to please everyone\; there ‘s always someone who won’t like me on
TV or who will text into my radio show and tell me I’m a ‘knob’\,”
she added\, “but you have to be yourself or people will see through you.
”
Francis said he was searching for new presenters who were
unlike anyone else. The reality is that you can’t be the new Davina McCa
ll because Davina already exists.”
Steve revealed that he had
recently turned down work in the States because it would have involved not
“being himself”: “I was having a meeting with a production company an
d they asked If I could present in an American accent\, to which I replied\
, ‘Could you kiss my arse?’”
Rule two: Be f lexible
The second rule of presenting\, explained Jackson\, could be summar
ised as: “When an opportunity comes\, take it.”
Steve's brea
k came on HTV Wales show The Pop Factory. When he moved to London\
, he auditioned for Five’s challenge show\, 99 Things To Do Before Yo
u Die\, which illustrated how flexible a presenter has to be. \; H
e was asked to \; “neck as many pretty girls as you can find”\, but
confounded the production company by choosing a 75-year-old woman as his v
ictim and landed the job. ‘If you get an opportunity\, you’ve got to po
unce on it\,” he said.
Fearne recalled an incident from CBBC s
how Record Breakers\, in which she agreed to abseil down Canary Wh
arf. “It’s always good to challenge yourself\,” she said. “Having t
hat fear is a really good thing to see on camera and I was quite visibly sh
itting myself on that piece of film.”
Francis\, however\, poin
ted out that there was little point in putting presenters into a position i
n which they were not going to be convincing. “We all know it’s not as
simple as ‘you’re only as good as your last show’\, but it’s never
the producers who get blamed\,” he said. “But\, if someone is a good br
oadcaster\, ultimately they should be able to cover all areas as long as th
ey have some kind of interest and understanding.”
“Increasin
gly\, genres are being mixed in television\,” argued Auerbach. “Is
The F Word an entertainment show or a cooking show\; it’s sort of so
mewhere weirdly in between. As genres get blurred so too do presenting tale
nts.”
Steve\, though\, admitted to “a vague annoyance with m
usicians and footballers presenting. Do you see me releasing a hit album or
playing for Arsenal? No\, piss off. Let’s employ good people.”
Rule three: Be prepared
Paul told the audience that beco
ming a presenter would involve “hard\, hard work. You’ve got to graft a
nd nobody ever owes you anything.”
“You get disappointed so
many times when you’re first starting out\,” said Fearne\, who admitted
auditioning for show after show before getting her break on ITV’s Di
sney Club at the age of 15. But even after gaining screen experience\,
it still took Fearne three attempts to land a presenting job on BBC kids
series\, The Saturday Show. Initially\, rejection hurts\, she sa
id\, “but as you get older and wiser it [becomes] water off a duck’s ba
ck and you know that you’re not right for that specific job.”
Steve’s advice was to bone up on the subject of any programme you want
to work for: “You wouldn’t believe how many people we have coming to T4
for researcher positions who say\, ‘I don’t really watch the show’.
The presenter’s biggest tip\, though\, was to “be nice. I
f you get two presenters up for a six-week reality show in the Caribbean an
d one’s a talented arsehole and the other\, although not as talented\, is
a lovely person\, that lovely person will get the job every single time. N
obody wants to be stranded on an island with a dickhead.”
Fear
ne added that presenters had to respect their crew: “Just because you’r
e on TV doesn’t mean you’re any different to anyone else in that produc
tion team — everyone is integral to that TV show.”
“Do you
r homework\,” added Francis. “The smart people look into who somebody i
s. If I was going to write to Paul for a job in TV I might say that The
Young Ones was my favourite programme. It might grab his attention fo
r 30 seconds.”
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SUMMARY:How to be a Presenter DTSTART:20080617T181500 DTSTAMP:20081122T064027 SEQ:0 LOCATION:HMS President\, Victoria Embankment\, London\, EC4Y 0HJ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR