Hi, I’m Kelly, originally from London. My friends and family see me as funny and caring, although a little bit argumentative. I came to Bristol to study Law, but I’m looking for a career in TV – behind the camera, definitely behind, ideally a scriptwriter or producer.
I tend to think outside the box as well. I’ve always loved TV as a consumer, I love storytelling and being creative and I think I just realised that TV is a great way to tell stories and to share voices from underrepresented groups. I think TV does impact culture and can change society, even in a small way.
Through Babbasa I recently had a placement with Plimsoll Productions. Being in that environment is great! During my placement, I had a rotation through the four TV programmes Plimsoll are working on, which are at different stages of production, so it gave me a good breadth and overview. You get to see research, the editing process, meetings, it’s really good. The highlight was being asked to be a runner, that was two days of paid work, and now I have TV experience that I can put on my CV from a well-known TV company.
I think, especially if you’re BME or a woman or depending on how rich you are, it can definitely be harder for you. I mean if not for Babbasa I definitely wouldn’t have got this experience. Even when I was there people assumed I knew someone who was working there, that was very enlightening. Opportunities can definitely be really hard to come by. Sometimes it feels like who you know, not what you know.
In ten years I’ll hopefully be in the TV industry, somewhere halfway up the ladder, assistant producer or director. I think it’s important to just work hard, and not to give up.