End
Spent an enjoyable day at work (sorry, nurses and emergency service people, but it's all I'm qualified to do), helping to fill three hours of 6 Music's New Year's Eve schedule playing loads of tunes from 2009, including my three favourites from the year, none of which get airings that often on the radio - Cellz by Doom, Rave On by M Ward and Rumpus by Karen O and the Kids from the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack. I was going to risk bringing the station crashing to its knees and losing its licence by playing the pop song The Promise by pop group Girls Aloud, which has been one of my favourite songs of the year but turned out to have been released at the very end of 2008 and thus did not qualify (glad I checked, although I suspect nobody would have noticed). Anyway, it was nice to contribute to the gaiety of nations, and then go home in time for a long evening of catching up with the cream of US TV: Breaking Bad, Prison Break and House.Frankly, if you'd told me at the beginning of 2009 that I'd be ending it on 6 Music, even in a maternity-leave cover capacity, I'd have been surprised. I thought I was off the subs' bench, and it seems I am very much not. That's been one of the happier surprises of the year, professionally. All the other stuff, well ... my first priority of 2010, professionally, is to complete the second draft of my sitcom pilot script, which is in development with BWark, the eminently aproachable production company who make The Inbetweeners (which I belatedly discovered this year, thanks to Richard's recommendation, and his DVDs) and The Persuasionists, the BBC2 sitcom starring Adam Buxton I've script edited this year which is due on TV in January, I think. My first script editing gig, and a positive experience, although I did galvanise my desire to write my own and have someone else edit it. Also in the immediate New Year, I'll be writing on 7 Day Sunday, the Chris Addison discussion show for 5 Live which we've been piloting, and having those early meetings about Season Four of Not Going Out. I currently have a number of other sitcom projects at various stages of pitching and development, and I'll reveal all when any of them hit a more tangible milestone. Don't wish to jinx.I fully intend to carry on with the Collings & Herrin podcast, for as long as we both enjoy it, and with two gigs already in the diary, let's hope there are more. I'm considering taking my own show up to Edinburgh, but there are financial considerations, and we're not out of the recessionary woods yet. Still, who knows what might be around the corner?
Rave on, then.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 3:03 PM
19 Comments
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19 Comments:
keep doing the podcasts. even if Richard becomes tiresome. good luck with the script in 2011.
Happy New Year, Andrew :)
THis may be the first thing I have written on the internet THIS DECADE.
Hope it's a goodun!
/DRINK
thanks for all yours and Richards good will in 2009, it is much appreciated, as is the storming music you bring to 6 music....you enlivened a very dull 30th Dec office day, especially liked the classical piece you played first off, was it Phillip Glass? This was off off iplayer so might have been the show immediately previous to 30th... AND you mentioned my all time favourite band... the Janitors... all the best to you and yours for 2010 and to all who contribute to this blog...
Jim
melancholic - is that a word?
funny how a year turns out
back on the bench eh, or maybe on the pitch.
bon chance '10
Good luck with all the writing projects! And a Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Andrew!
I never usually comment here (shy, that's me...) but I've been reading your blog for ages and listening to the podcasts from the start, and I wanted to let you and Richard know how much the effort you put into producing them is appreciated.
It's not been a great year for me personally, but you and Richard have brought some much-needed laughter (and filth) into it, and for this I'm very grateful.
Good luck with all your projects in 2010 - may your pear cider supply never dry up!
Vic
Thanks for a great 2009, Andrew. Put me down for a ticket to your Edinburgh show.
All the best.
Doug.
Good luck for 2010, AC - and that also goes for every other good soul who frequents your blog.
Andrew,
Who is that girl in the picture? She looks very bored (or is she annoyed because she isn't out on the town?)
How many people were 'running' that show (apart from yourself, I assume a producer and that bored looking female?
Also, and I assume it changes with each studio, how long does one need if you need to visit the little boy's room? Because this is live radio I assume also that you have to let them know if you are going for a number 1 or 2s right?
After all if it's the latter you need a longer tune playing don't you? I know I would :)
Happy new year and here's to a prosperous new year for you.
Adam Smith - you assume that lady is bored but in doing so you ignore all the other possibilities. She could be sniffing the parfum she previously smeared on her wrist. It's possible she cradles and munches a Twix in an unusual way. Or perhaps she has an eczema itch?
Never assume, Adam Smith - for it makes an 'ass' of 'u' and 'I'.
Never assui.
To protect the honour and professional reputation of Jenny, she's the programme's BA (or broadcast assistant). Each programme on 6 Music also has a producer, which was Adam in this case, and he was out of the studio at the moment when the webcam took its little photo - probably grabbing a printout from the printer of a text or email.
On Radio 2, they have the same team plus an SM, or studio manager. But it's nice and tight at 6, and I prefer it. I have the controls, and I expect to press the buttons. At 2, you have a co-pilot, effectively, who does all the pre-fades etc. On 6, unless the producer is "driving the desk" (this only happens with inexperienced presenters), you do it all.
I sometimes go a whole show without needing the bathroom. It's just outside the door, so you can easily pay a visit while a song is playing. I have never needed an extended visit - that would be emergencies only.
And Jenny wasn't bored. She was looking at her screen. (If she was bored, she covered it up well.)
I'd say that girl doesn't look any more bored to me than the boy sitting in Andrew's chair. And at least she's hand-jiving; what's he doing? (He won't want to hear this, Andrew, so don't tell him, but at that angle he looks exactly like the thirteen year old version of me. That's quite unnerving.)
I think I might actually prefer Nick Berry's version of Heartbeat to M Ward's version of Rave On, I hate it that much. But each to their own. Girls Aloud leave me cold too: is that just me?
I was made redundant on New Year's Eve 2008. If you'd told me then that I'd still own my house on New Year's Day 2010, let alone that I'd have my old job back and my fairly substantial debts more or less cleared, I wouldn't have believed you. There's still no job security, but at the very least that brings a focus. With an office job over time you come to think that you're being paid just for turning up and being you. Now I feel much more like I'm getting paid for what I do and that, in that sense, I'm living off my wits. And that's actually a good feeling.
As a freelancer, that really is how you're living. You must be pretty chuffed to have so many irons in the fire. I seem to remember last year wishing you a more artistically and financially rewarding new year. So, ditto. And obviously that goes for everyone else too.
As regards Edinburgh you could always do your show as a Free Fringe gig (at least two organisations pull such programmes together - PBH and Laughing Horse). Not particularly remunerative but the outlay to the artist is not draconian.
If not, there's the Five Pound Fringe to consider - you'll risk more money but will get more selective audiences.
Just a thought...
When does 7 Day Sunday begin? (I have looked on the schedule and couldn't see it - though I have been inept of late.)
Where abouts in Prison Break are you up to, Andrew? It kind of goes a bit ridiculous near the end (and the special dvd-movie they did after the finale is terrible) but overall it's worth watching, it has some great moments I feel.
Just started S2 of Prison Break. Enjoying it so far, although how they got four seasons out of it, I do not know! It's preposterous but hugely entertaining.
S2 is a winner, enjoy :)
I read that RH has been killing insects on hols...
He has succumbed to the blog.
I got a Roberts internet radio for Christmas (a wondrous invention) and one of the many great things about it is that I've been able to listen to 6 Music while pottering about downstairs without carting my laptop around the house (I'm in Ireland, so can't listen to the station via digital radio). Anyway, I've really been enjoying your stint on Cerys's show all week, so it's good to hear that you'll be doing it for a bit longer. Alternative radio in Ireland has become sadly full of landfill indie these days, so 6 Music is a breath of fresh and exciting air, and you've been playing great stuff whenever I've listened to the show. Thanks for keeping me (and my spouse and cat) entertained in our ice-bound house!
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