Whats it like meeting Celebrities

As you can Imagine a cameraman’s job is pretty varied. Standing in the cold and wet outside No 10 Downing Street or standing outside in a Jordanian dessert are not unusual. Then we have the days when we meet the rich and famous, The Royal family, film and rock stars amongst that group of people. I have always just treated a celebrity as a normal person, they do a job they are good at and so do I, some can be very nice and some make sure you know that don't want to be there. Normally the reason for the filming is because they are promoting a film, book or new record, these are commonly known as junkets and normally take place in London hotels, the PR company will take over a few bedrooms in the hotel, have the bed removed add a couple of chairs and leave it to the TV crews to make the rooms look amazing. The general rule is I will arrive on location with the reporter and producer around 90 minutes before the interview starts, we meet the PR team who allocate us a room and hopefully supply us with tea and coffee. I then rig the camera kit sometimes on my own or if lucky another camera person will help. We set up a minimum of 3 cameras, one on the guest one on the reporter and a wide shot showing both on them, the lights go in anything from a minimum of 4 but 8 lights are not unusual, sound in the environment I work in is done by me, again if I’m lucky and it’s a big production we get a sound recordist, who are worth their weight in gold. While this is going on, it takes around an hour, the producer and reporter plan out the questions sometimes the PR company will want us to only ask questions about the product, particularly in the celebrity has been involved in something, that might not make them look good.

An example was the bullying stories that surrounded Strictly Come Dancing , we went to an event to interview the celebrities and their dancers, but what we also wanted was to ask one dancer about the bullying rumours, let’s say when the question was asked it didn’t go down to well.

The interview starts when the last one has finished, so normally late. I would say in most cases the interview goes really well and everyone is in a good mood, but you always get the bad egg, may be they are tired, bored of being ask the same questions over and over again or just in a bad mood, sometimes their personal PR is just annoying and wants to interfere with the filming, saying things like your lights aren’t in the right place, the trick is to say you will change the then don’t.. You know its going to be a tough interview, when they turn up don't speak to anyone, no shaking of hands just sit and wait for the first question. We once did a multicamera interview with a James Bond actor, who was obviously in a bad mood, at the end the apprentice camera opertaor asked if he could have a selfie, said Bond said "why would I want to do that"? and walked off set...just rude. So back to the question, best and worst celebrity, in the picture above is Usain Bolt, I was lucky enough to go with Blue Peter to Jamacia to shoot a film with him. Top bloke, nice around the crew and fans alike. Sex Pistols front man Jonny Rotten was also a dream to film with and very funny as well. Prince William his wife Kate and Prince Harry are very easy going, though there are rules you must follow when with them. As to the worst... If I named names I might be sued, so let’s say a James Bond, a British Ambassador, the PR team of a British Actress who danced on roofs, she was lovely by the way and a girl group who were amazing when their career started but "really really didn’t want” to do the PR stuff as they became famous.