The Singapore Grip

Chris Hale - The Singapore Grip

A Producer/Director’s Adventures in Asia
By Chris Hale

Some years ago, I found myself on a plane descending, through some alarming turbulence, across a seemingly endless palm oil plantation into Kuala Lumpur international airport. I was there to produce a National Geographic documentary about the coronation of the Malaysian king. Huh? Malaysia has a king? I was shockingly ignorant of Malaysian culture (Proton cars?) and history.

Since then, I have worked as a writer, producer, director, consultant and executive producer in Malaysia and Singapore and written two non-fiction books about this fascinating region. I have quite a few tales about that first expedition to Kuala Lumpur – for example, the daunting problems we had persuading the king or Yang di-Pertuan Agong to permit our cameras to go behind the scenes of his coronation and why his majesty knew nothing about our plans when I first bowed my way into his palace… And what exactly was the role of the Lord High Chamberlain?

Suffice it to say, it was an adventure. I met a number of talented producers in Malaysia and returned many times to write and/or executive produce documentaries commissioned by the History Channel. AETN has an office in Singapore. I won a writing award for a special about the ‘Malayan Emergency’ and soon afterwards, began researching a new book about this colonial rumble in the jungle.

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Q&A with Edit Producer, Emily Cumming

Q&A with Edit Producer, Emily Cumming

In our latest Expert Q&A we talk to Edit Producer, Emily Cumming, about life in the edit: building characters, dealing with Execs and the move to remote working.

What was your first job in TV?
After a stint as a Runner for a small indie in Brighton on a youth magazine show for ITV Meridian, I was lucky enough to be taken on as Production Co-ordinator when a vacancy suddenly opened up. I’d been working in theatre before that, so I had some transferable skills and a bit of life experience. As well as doing all the usual Production Co-ordinator jobs for the magazine show and the other arts series the company made, I’d run off copies of rushes for logging, drive the weekly TX master tapes to Meridian TV HQ, and swing a boom on location. I was able to get a real feel for what different jobs involved across the board as it was a small office and you could see and hear everyone doing their work. It was a very auspicious start and I’m supremely grateful that I got it!

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How To Become an Edit Producer

How To Become an Edit Producer

What is an Edit Producer?
The Edit Producer helps to co-ordinate the edit through working with the editor(s), and relaying information from other producers working on the production. They can also be involved in writing the script.

What is the Job?
As an Edit Producer, you will not work on location. The role starts at a later date, as they supervise the edit process. Sometimes, the Edit Producer is brought in to work from the edit suites, if the show is being shot and cut at the same time.

As the Edit Producer is not normally on location, they act as a fresh pair of eyes when it comes to editing. This is helpful with ensuring the scene is portrayed in the way it was meant to be. As an Edit Producer, you must constantly ask the question “how does this scene move the overall story I am telling, forward?’. If it doesn’t move the story forward, it is your responsible to recognise this, and remove or re-cut it.

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Q&A with Series Producer, Julian Dismore

Q&A with Series Producer, Julian Dismore

In our latest Expert Q&A, we catch up with Series Producer and Edit Producer, Julian Dismore, on his career to date, including falling off a volcano, being bitten by snakes, and going undercover.

How did you get your big break, and what was your first job in TV?
After graduating from Uni, I went into the careers office and naively asked where the ‘TV jobs file’ was. Once the career officer had stopped laughing, she told me that Yorkshire TV had called that very morning looking for a Researcher for the ITV Science Department.

I applied for the job and was invited for interview, but noted the address down wrong! Consequently, I turned up late and thinking I’d blown it I joked my way through the entire interview. The interviewer found me funny and pretty much on the spot he offered me the job in front of the other 84 candidates for the post!

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Q&A with Producer/Director, Farrah Jaufuraully

Word of Mouth with Producer/Director, Farrah Jaufuraully

In this edition of Word of Mouth we talk to Edit Producer and Producer/Director, Farrah Jaufuraully, about the joy of working on kids TV, the creativity of the edit, and the perils of working with animals.

What was your first job in the industry?
From the age of 15, I dipped in and out of work experience: I worked at my local radio station, had a stint on BBC Watchdog when I was at university, and then took on a summer job as a Runner for a west London film company. Two months after I graduated, I was offered a Researcher job on a Nickelodeon show.

You’ve worked on some of the UK’s most popular programmes. Which would you say has been favourite to work on so far?
Tough question. I’ve really enjoyed the shows where you genuinely help somebody make a life change and you go home feeling like you did something useful. Shows such as Embarrassing Bodies and The Joy Of Teen Sex were series where I played a part in solving people’s problems. Equally though, I enjoyed TOWIE and World’s Most Talented because I loved my team, and going to work was a joy. 

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