Making of The Writers Bureau TV advert

By Susan Metcalfe – Chairman of The Writers Bureau

I kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t rain.

“It’ll be fine.” Steve our producer reassured me. “Even if it chucks it down, we can sort it.”

Such is the confidence of TV folk. I crossed my toes too. Our budget was small for a TV advert, but large enough for me to worry about getting it right.

When I arrived on set, it was heavily overcast and dark clouds loomed ominously on the horizon.

“This is perfect for our lighting,” beamed Steve. “Bright sunlight causes us such problems. We can control this. It’ll be fine.”

And fine it was. Whether it was Steve’s will or the cloud gods smiling on us, we could see the rain circumnavigate its way round the set.

We all had a great day. Our star, Christina, was amazing. She was in front of the camera for six hours (with breaks) – following direction, delivering lines and giving a fantastic performance! All this against the background of lens changes, the script being tweaked and the noise of cockerels, airplanes and washing up.

Watching her perform you’d never know Christina was shaking like a leaf inside. She looked so confident and delivered her lines like a pro. The crew were really impressed.

Reg, our Director, was wonderful. He managed to interpret Steve’s ideas perfectly, bring out a great performance in Christina and in post production, together with Mat the editor, cut the advert beautifully.

And, the crew were brilliant – really friendly, great fun to work with and extremely professional.

The rain did eventually arrive – but just as we were packing up. “See, I told you it’d be fine,” grinned Steve as I climbed into my car.

A huge thank you to all involved. It’s a great advert for The Writers Bureau and I’m confident it’ll get the message out that, with our help and their perseverance, people can fulfil their writing dreams.

I can now uncross everything. What a relief!

'James and Stuart sorting the sound'

'Steve Scott measuring the light'

'Christina and James'

'David and Reg'

'Greg'

'Reg, Christina and Debra'

'Ready for another take'

Producer – Steve Bettridge

www.Phaebus.co.uk

Autocue – Michelle

Production Manager – Emma Cheetham

Make-up / Hair – Debra Sutton

Director – Reg Sanders

DOP – Greg Cheetham

Electician – Steve Scott

Sound Recordist – James Butler

Runner – Stuart Kirwan

Talent – Christina Jones

Editor – Mat Thompson

For The Writers Bureau - Susan Metcalfe and David Pendlebury

Thanks to Etherow Garden Centre, Compstall, Cheshire for providing the plants and set dressing. A special thanks to the Allen family for letting us take over their lovely courtyard for the day.

Read Christina’s account of the day here.