Top Qld TV, radio producers reveal what really happens behind the scenes
The state’s best TV and radio producers reveal their most interesting interactions with celebrities, their favourite memories, and what it’s really like to work for on-air talent.
Lifestyle
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Behind every TV sensation is a hardworking producer, who has mastered the art of managing chaos to produce a seamless show that airs to thousands every day.
From routinely waking up at 3am to spending weeks at a time on the road, it’s far from a cruisy position, but there’s nothing these TV and radio producers would rather be doing even after decades in the business.
Four top producers across the state sat down with The Courier-Mail to delve into the ins and outs of the job behind the stars and why they’re so sure that they have the best job in the world.
Nick Biggs
Creek to Coast series producer
If you asked Nick Biggs’s friends what he did for a living, they would say he gets paid to holiday around Queensland’s most picturesque scenes.
But Mr Biggs assured The Courier-Mail that the workload is much more just than a carefree holiday.
After starting his career seven years ago as a 7 News cadet journalist, he quickly realised he preferred being behind the camera and snagged a role as the production assistant on Creek to Coast, Weekender and Great South East.
“Now I’m a series producer, and Creek to Coast really is my baby,” he said.
“We have a crew of six producers under us, and they’re the ones who go out nine times out of 10. But if there’s a really cool trip I’ll put my hand up and go.”
From taking a boat out to the colourful reef flats off the coast of Port Douglas, to four-wheel-driving across an almost lawless land up at Cape York, Mr Biggs said it’s hard to pinpoint his favourite trips.
“The big thing with this show is that we work with partners that really know their stuff. So a lot of these experiences are just these guys who are just experts in their field, and we just get to go along for the ride,” he said.
The role of the series producer is essentially to create each episode from scratch which sees Mr Biggs work out the story angle, write the script, find filming locations, and organise storylines in conjunction with partners.
“I have a vision of what I want to do, and I love being able to make it happen, writing scripts for it and tailoring exactly how I want something said, exactly how I want it to look. It’s cool to go from a vision in your head to seeing it on screen,” he said.
And unlike other producers, working with diva talents has never been a worry for Mr Biggs’s show as he says the presenters on the show are “unreal”.
“Nine times out of 10, it’s a really fluid process, the presenters will know if they screw up a line and the producers are there to pick up the things they miss. It’s a good safety net to have a producer around,” he said.
But there’s no shortage of challenges for the outdoor show – most of which have to do with the uncontrollable force of mother nature, according to Mr Biggs.
“We’ve had so many hectic situations where you’ve got fish coming up off the sides of the boat, or a four-wheel drive where you’re on a pretty gnarly track,” he said.
“If a cameraman has framed out a shot greatly, for instance if the sun’s setting, they have to get their lines out quickly before they lose the light.
“I’ve even hooked some of Scott (Hillier’s) fish before. The producer will be fishing off camera then hand them the rod and they’ll catch it on camera.”
While it can be a “juggling act” Mr Biggs says he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve got a folder on my computer of all my favourite episodes that I’ve personally done and I’ll just hold on to them to look back in 40 to 50 years and wow, think that’s what I did. That was my job,” he said.
Ruth de Glas
Robin, Terry & Kip executive producer
Live radio is no walk in the park – just ask executive producer of Robin, Terry & Kip, Ruth de Glas.
Time pressure is one of the hardest and most rewarding parts of the job, according to Ms de Glas who said it takes a certain skill set to get the job done.
“Our duck legs are paddling when that song is playing. Sometimes there’s a lot behind the scenes,” she said.
“Our whole morning is in three minute blocks of talk break, ad, prep, song. It can be full on when I look at the countdown of the song and I’ve got 30 seconds to go to get something to air.”
Radio is just “one big conversation”, Ms de Glas said, but it’s the producer’s job to make sure that conversation is also family-friendly enough for the morning slot.
“It is live radio, so when the producers take the call we get an idea of who it is and what they’re going to say but once they go on air, anything can happen, and we have had them go a bit rogue at times,” she said.
“If someone’s really passionate, they might swear to the producer and you can have that chance to tell them to watch what they say on live radio. But I guess that’s part of the fun of live radio.
“The team is really good at navigating people and asking the right questions. They’re pretty talented.”
And while celebrities might be more media trained than the average everyday listener, they haven’t always lived up to expectations.
“Most celebs are really what you see is what you get, Michael Buble for example, there’s no difference between him on or off air,” she said.
“We spoke to Amy Poehler and I’m a huge fan so I was so excited, I thought it was the greatest day ever. Then we spoke to her and she was a great talent, but she was so focused on the movie she was promoting she didn’t want to engage with anything else or play with the team. I felt so disappointed, but I knew she had a job to do.”
Since coming up in commercial radio during her university days, Ms de Glas has now been in the industry for more than 15 years, with no plans to leave any time soon.
“I was that little girl listening to the radio from as early as I can remember. I love the immediacy of radio, sometimes our show will be going one way and we get a caller and it just goes somewhere else,” she said.
“It’s so much fun, I’m never bored and I’m literally crying with laughter everyday. It’s a lot of work but it’s also a really fun industry to be in.”
Charlotte Shallcross
Executive producer, Nine Queensland local content
Despite originally wanting to be a news journalist in front of the camera, Charlotte Shallcross said she felt like she accidentally landed where she’d always wanted to be – but never knew.
“When I was studying journalism, my aunty put me in contact with a producer at Channel 10 where I started work experience with the documentary and kids’ TV production team,” she said.
“I discovered the role of a producer, which I had never really been aware of before.”
Now, as an executive producer, she’s in charge of working alongside big names in the business like Tim Blackwell from Nova FM’s national drive show, Kate, Tim & Joel with Kate Ritchie and Joel Creasey.
“I honestly can’t say he (Blackwell) has ever had a diva moment in the entire time I’ve known him,” Ms Shallcross said.
“And that’s despite being put in a few situations where a diva moment would have been totally valid, like throwing him on stage to MC an event which he didn’t know he was doing, or sending him really last minute script updates while he’s on air with Kate and Joel.”
Ms Shallcross related the producer role to fitting pieces of an unknown puzzle together, which she said is her favourite part of the job.
“It’s so fun to uncover a great story and be able to think unrestrictedly about how you retell it, and make something that’s really cool to watch,” she said.
But it isn’t all celebrities and travelling, with Ms Shallcross saying the job isn’t for everyone.
“The hardest part of the job is probably knowing what to leave out of a really good story without taking anything away from it. Oh and the hours can be gruelling,” she said.
Danielle Martin
Executive producer of Triple M Gold Coast’s Flan, Ali and Spida
A daily 3.20am alarm is how you know executive producer of Triple M Gold Coast’s Flan, Ali and Spida, Danielle Martin, loves her job.
“It never gets easier. I’m not a farmer or a baker, I’m not meant to be waking up at 3am, but we do,” she said.
Sourcing talent, organising the show and monitoring content are all part of the job, but Ms Martin said motivation is her main goal.
“My challenge is keeping the guys motivated. I love this team but it’s the nature of the beast, we’re going through a long slog and we’re exhausted but I have to keep them motivated and passionate the whole show,” she said.
It’s well known that the dump button, which can get rid of audio thanks to the 30-second delay before going live, is the last resort for radio producers – but Ms Martin remembers the one time she’s had to use it.
“It was early in the morning, it was a contentious game of name that year and Spida dropped this massive F-bomb,” she said.
“I remember whacking my knee so hard. We just laughed about it, it was a genuine mistake, he was so shocked, we had a great laugh about it afterwards.”
Meanwhile, before she landed her Triple M gig, another show she worked on had a famously sober artist as a guest on the show who ended up being “absolutely trashed” the entire time.
“They sent me flowers the next day, and I was less than impressed. But we deleted it and got rid of it. I wasn’t about to ruin someone’s life,” she said.
But the positives always outweigh the negatives, with Ms Martin remembering Glee’s Jane Lynch as her friendliest and nicest interviewees she sourced for the show.
While at times it can be a “brutal and gnarly” industry, Ms Martin said producing is where she plans on staying for the foreseeable future.
“Nothing is as immediate as radio, and it’s an actual human conversation,” she said.
“It’s nice to have a laugh or have a communal ‘holy s--t’ moment with the audience … there’s nothing that exists like radio that’s happening so real and raw.”
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