The Network

Last weekend, I was in Edinburgh to take part in The Network, a scheme devised by the Media Guardian to sit alongside its International Television Festival. The scheme is aimed at young people eager to launch careers in the media, providing masterclasses, workshops and talks with people in the industry.

I can’t begin to explain how great this experience is. There is no way you would get an opportunity to meet and question such a wide range of media professionals in one place in any other forum. In four days, I have been to talks by MTV and BBC bosses, Q&A sessions with Russell Howard and a team of TV station high levels, had masterclasses with the hilarious Charlie Brooker and Inbetweeners writer Damon Beesley and stars of the show Simon Bird and James Buckley.

I had the opportunity to be part of a workshop team working with Sky Creative to devise a 360 digital media campaign for the Sky Arts show Songbook (one of our campaigns will actually be used by Sky). We were lucky enough to get to listen to the (now infamously controversial) McTaggert lecture by James Murdoch, attend the Television Channel of the Year awards hosted by Michael McIntyre, attended by media professionals and actors such as Dominic West (McNulty! McNulty from The Wire!), plus lots more. Not only all this, but all the while the Fringe Festival is taking over the city and any spare time we had could be spent seeking out quirky, hilarious, off kilter performances in the most random of venues.

The Network is free. You have to get yourself to Edinburgh, but from then on, food and accommodation is free and there’s even some free drink thrown in for good measure. You have to apply for the scheme by providing a short TV show pitch and other such questions, and from these applications (three thousand this year), they chose one hundred and fifty people to participate in the scheme. Its exclusive, but it’s amazing. If you have any interest in a career in television, or the media in general, you should get yourself on the Network.

Posted By: Cat

Long Way Round/Down

In 2004, Ewan McGregor and his best mate Charley Boorman decided to ride their motorbikes from London to New York, the long way round. The journey took them across Europe, into Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, back into Russia along the Road of Bones and then across to Alaska where they made it to New York by travelling through Canada and the US. Because they had such a great time, three years later they decided to ride from John O’Grotes (The UK’s northernmost point) down to Cape Agulhas (Africa’s southernmost tip).

There are books and DVD’s of their journeys which were life altering for both Ewan and Charley. I only just got into watching Long Way Down when it began repeating on TV few months ago, and brought Long Way Down on DVD soon after.

I can’t describe exactly why I love this idea so much. Best mates, on a journey of a lifetime (or two journeys), meeting amazing people. As they ride through some of the poorest places in Africa, the people they meet are astounding in their generosity. These people have nothing, they life off their land, yet they invite the boys in, not knowing Ewan McGregor is Obi Wan Kanobi or any of that superficial crap, and they share what they have with them. A lot of misconceptions I had about certain countries have been quashed by this programme.

It makes me want to buy a motorbike and take off. Too bad I hate motorbikes.

Posted By: Cat