No. 1 - Reality TV
Probably a long read at nearly 4000 words! ...
grab a cuppa and I'll tell you all about the crazy last year of my life!
‘Make It At Market’ propelled me in to the limelight here in the UK on 3rd March and it has been a whirlwind few months for me since then. With the subsequent airing worldwide on 'Britbox', this is the first time I have felt like I’ve had the opportunity to really sit down and share a few words with you all.
I was reflecting last week about the last 12 months and the significance of today’s moment, completing the final outstanding order. It felt like I had been at a 'metal art business school / boot camp' for the last 12 months (or something like that). A relentless non stop period of learning and doing, evolving and improving.
Now … finally ... I'd graduated and been given the keys to my metal sculpture business. No more TV deadlines to meet, no more pressures to fulfil huge orders, no more cascades of email. Just ...
… 'here's the keys mate, well done and off you go. Take it wherever you want, the tank is full!'
Social Media
Just quickly, if you don't already follow me on social media then why not have a gander at my Instagram and YouTube channels. It costs nothing to subscribe and follow along my journey. Generally speaking I try to post regular video and photo uploads although the last 6 weeks or so I have taken a well earned break from posting every day.
Which makes me all the happier to say that there will be some much more varied and detailed content coming up and, having focused on Instagram very much for the last year, I also plan on bringing YouTube back in to the mix. I've neglected it a little in the last year since I've found it less of a generator of business. I miss it though, and I really enjoy sharing my process with people.
Back to the story …
I want to take a moment here & give a shout out to William, a television researcher, working for the makers of the program. He reached out to me a little over a year ago now … a message in my Instagram inbox, I remember it well ...
Some six months prior I'd ‘tweaked’ my back at work, just lifting something a bit awkwardly, a bit carelessly. It was a 'straight down to the floor' moment, just breathing and praying that the spasms would subside. Whilst I recovered full mobility fairly quickly it became apparent that I just couldn't continue with what I was doing. Two weeks of rest and it was flaring up again on my first day back, the first hour. It made a sad decision quite easy in the end and I handed in my notice.
I'd spent the last 5 years making things out of scrap metal and cutlery in my spare time, people seemed to really like what I made and a couple of thousand people had followed me on YouTube and Instagram. Sporadically people would ask me to make things and I had started making some sales. WW2 fighter planes, birds, signage, pop culture stuff, a varied mix ... and I loved making all of it!
I felt like i’d made good progress. I was now proficient with tools and skills that I never previously knew existed. My finishing was better, my designs, experience was growing, feedback was great … and so I made a decision … to try to make it work, to see if I could make it pay the bills and to, ultimately, fulfil a dream by doing it full time.
I failed!
Initially things were encouraging. It was shortly before Christmas and I had a few pieces made, I started posting a bit more on social media, made a website with a shop and you know what ... it started well. There was a fair amount of Christmas trade ... but … with it came a false sense of success. January I sold nothing, February a couple of birds went, presumably Valentines gifts, and then March through June ... nothing! Not a single sale.
Money was running out very fast, as were ideas, motivation and self belief. On this particular night I was feeling pretty down about it all. I had resigned myself to walking in to the nearest recruitment agency on the Monday morning, in the full knowledge that they would find me nothing of interest or relevance ... just another number, another round peg in a square hole ... how depressing.
It was a truly dark moment for me and I remember the sadness well ... it was broken only by the notification alert of my mobile phone. A message ... on Instagram ...
Hi John my name's William - I'm a casting researcher on the BBC series 'Make It At Market' ....
The deadline for applications was the next day and I didn't have much time to give it the thought it deserved. Ultimately what I was doing was applying to be on Reality TV, although it wasn't until after the final bit of filming that this actually dawned on me.
I mean, it's not 'Big Brother' or 'Love Island', but it is real life ... my real life, my story, my hopes, dreams, efforts. What you see on screen, though massively condensed and heavily edited is 100% legitimate ... and let me tell you, from the moment I applied until just a few days ago, it's been like a whirlwind for me!
Memory can mislead, but it's still fairly fresh in my mind … I think … and I remember it a bit like this …
I remember being happy that someone 'from the BBC' (not quite correct) had seen what I was doing and had made the effort to reach out to me, to acknowledge my creativity in some way. He'd suggested I apply and that the program aimed to help people in exactly my position. I'm sure I didn't for one second believe that I might actually be chosen, but it made me feel special, like perhaps there was some potential in it … or me!
I looked up the BBCiPlayer catch up service and immediately found the previous series. On one episode there just happened to be a metal artist, Lindon. It was a great episode and I really liked what they did for the guy and the success it bought him. I found him on Instagram and sent him a message. Ten minutes later he replied.
I'd said I was thinking about applying and he very kindly went to great length to answer a few questions I'd asked about his experience with it. Amazingly it turned out he had seen some of my stuff on YouTube and he was really encouraging. When I asked if he'd do it again his instant reply of 'in a heartbeat' sealed my decision. I applied there and then.
Massive shout out to Lindon, we still speak and he reached out to me many times during filming just to check up on me. Genuinely a very nice human being and one I have the utmost time and respect for. Please do check out his work if you get a minute. His floral pieces are stunning!
https://www.instagram.com/l.s_metalcrafts/
So I'd applied ... but surely I didn't have any chance? There must be hundreds or thousands of people applying for this life changing opportunity? … there were! But … I think just 2 days later ... an email. A producer from the show no less!
'Thanks for the application and could we have a video chat?'
We chatted for about an hour. A really nice lady, Alysoun, I instantly liked her and it was a relaxed and informal chat, good fun in fact. A whole load of questions about me, how I got started, how it was going etc.. I'd felt like it had gone well, I didn't know if it was going to lead anywhere but I knew I was through the initial stage.
Two or three days then passed and another email came through. Could I possibly film myself making something for the casting team to look at?
'well yes I can', I thought ... 'in fact, I've done a lot of that' ... coming right up!
I made for them what would be known on the program as 'the volume piece' ... and they loved it! Or me, or both ... I don't really know, but just a few days after that I got the phone call ...
'We would love to have you on the program, are you up for it?'
To say this was surreal doesn't do it justice and it made me very happy when just a moment ago, whilst sat here writing this, that I began to properly well up. A genuine tear forming in my eye and a big smile on my face at the recollection of that memory. Such a pivotal moment in time for me.
‘Yes! … I AM up for it!’
There was no delay in my answer. I knew I needed help and this was quite literally the last chance for it all. It’s funny to me now though, when I said earlier that I hadn't given my application the thought it deserved, this is a considerable understatement!
Not many people really ever go on the telly, do they?
The prospect of having a camera with 'BBC' on the side of it pointed at you … it seemed like an other wordly experience, reserved for celebrities, sports stars ... for 'other people' but never to you ... right? It didn't compute in my mind that I was signing up to be beamed in to potentially millions of peoples homes … and what that might actually mean … or what ‘success’ might look like.
I know that sounds very strange but quite genuinely I never really let it sink in, it was all so implausibly fortuitous and so needed … it was almost impossible for my mind to believe it was happening! In fact from this moment on, and for a period of 2 months, it felt very much like I was living about 5 feet behind my own head ... viewing someone that looked a little bit like me, doing things that I quite like doing!
It was now that I met Andrew Snowball for the first time, a brilliantly named man doing brilliant things. He is the Executive Producer, Mr Big Cheese, essentially, he IS Flabbergast TV, or at least the brains and force behind it. Another great guy to whom I owe a debt of gratitude I can never repay.
Andrew likes me … a lot!
We met on a zoom call with 8 or so other participants of the upcoming series. His salesmanship on this call, his inspiring words, it was really quite something to me. With stories of previous successes ringing in my ears I left that call on a real high, urged on to 'give it everything you've got'.
I'm not going to give away all the secrets to the 'magic of TV', not that there really were any, but this now left a period of about two weeks between knowing I was going to be on the show and the first day of filming ... which for both the crew and myself was quite literally the first day of filming on the whole series. As it happened it rained relentlessly at the start and we lost 4 hours on the first morning of my 2 day slot ... but that's another story!
In this two weeks I had to prepare some bits, in short to come up with the 'Challenge Piece' and a 'Volume Piece' bird, together with enough bits to make another of each on camera. Ultimately I 'Blue Petered' it a bit, with various 'stages of bird' ready to go and a full set of bits on the side. This paid dividends on a stressful first day where time was lost to the weather. My welder had also spat its dummy out after 5 years of perfect service and my air compressor was throwing a similar hissy fit.
‘why now? … please … not today!
It was a bizarre one that first day. I felt very much like a rabbit in the headlights and perhaps that's how they wanted it! Almost like a first day in the military I'd imagine ... Instruction ... Do ... New instruction, Do that ... Do it again but don't look there ... Ok stand there, Walk in from here, Ok now a question, Right now do it again and point at that … etc etc.
It's a very unnatural way to operate, requiring a level of concentration that became utterly draining. I remember the end of that first day, Alysoun turned up with a few questions for me to answer with the cameras rolling. Simple stuff like 'why do you like working with metal?'
My brain was so drained by that point that I literally had no answers. Stopping at a KFC on the way back to the hotel I could barely even converse with my girlfriend. It was like my mind could now only do one thing at a time. Now was 'eat', then it would be 'drive', then it was 'sleep'.
Happily a sound and deep nights sleep meant I was fresh for day 2, which was the filming of the 'phone holder', the challenge piece. Again a little stressful since my welder was playing up. Tam, the legend that was my cameraman / director, was great. He really got me through those two days, a sound and hilarious chap and once a boiler maker by trade. He had welding experience himself and he understood the issue, reassured me that he would make it look good ... and he did, with some clever camera angles.
Day two also meant a couple of on camera interviews with Dom and Zoe, at this stage neither of whom I knew very well. I also vaguely remember standing in an orchard answering a few questions after that, some of which were shown on the program.
And then ... you drive home.
You wake up wondering if it ever really happened at all … or was it all just some very vivid and lovely dream where something awesome happened?
Andrew quickly shatters that illusion with an email, a phone call (or 7) providing an 'action plan' and then you get to it ... and this is where Zoe really comes in, my mentor.
A brilliant and talented lady with an infectious energy. She has a galvanizing vibe about her the likes of which you rarely meet, oozing drive and action from every pore! I warmed to her immediately, respected her advice and, whilst occasionally pushing back, followed it pretty much to the letter. We chatted a great deal and I must say she was incredibly generous with her time and knowledge.
Dom and Zoe
We had weekly scheduled zoom chats for an hour or more, but there were many other occasions when I just rang her and we batted ideas about. It's so very useful and fun for a creative mind to engage with another, it really gets neurons and ideas flying fast and wild. She has a quite brilliant mind and, together with her social media knowledge and all round 'been there and done it' experience, she was the perfect foil for me.
‘The Process’
The 'process' ... that time period from when you leave, after those two days of filming right at the start, to when you come back and report on how you did ... it's two months, 8 short weeks … and it is intense!
It's a period of fast listening and fast learning, encouraged and (arguably) forced to get out of your comfort zone. To embrace new ideas, make mistakes, learn, do again, do better, do more … leave nothing on the table. There is also a pressure involved, deadlines of course and the creative pressure to 'produce' ... but perhaps an ego / pride pressure as well. It's an odd one, knowing that you are going to be on TV and that 'everyone' is going to see it. I found it motivational … perhaps a little scary too!
Additionally, there’s things that need filming for the TV. Just small snippets that might or might not sneak in to the show. I submitted a huge amount of ‘User Generated Content’, all painfully filmed on my smartphone. Since only about 4 seconds of all of it made it in there’s a part of me that thinks you’re asked to do it just to check up on your progress! But, it did give me a chance to prove my professionalism in front of the camera!
Overall though, I knew deep down that this was 'my chance' and that I simply had to take it, to leave no stone unturned. I was there to get expert help and I made sure I listened to it. I didn't come out at the end of it as the 'finished article' but I did come out significantly more astute and prepared in so many critical areas. This whole last year has been about knocking off the rough edges, polishing not just the metal but also myself, trying to be better across the board, probably one of the biggest takes from the whole experience.
I am now better than I was before ... better than I was yesterday … but maybe not as good as I will be tomorrow. I am more prepared, more experienced and wiser to what it takes to make something like this actually work.
Talent isn't enough though … and I don't mean to refer to myself as 'talent' here or even to profess to have any, that's not really my style … but to anyone out there who is interested, dreaming of doing similar, looking for an example to follow or a word of advice … talent is not enough. There have been plenty of long days, plenty of worked weekends, plenty of soul searching, trying new things, learning new things, plenty of things 'not to ignore'! ... and plenty of doubt or uncertainty to overcome. Ultimately … it has ALL combined to translate to 'progress' and relative 'success'.
If my story leaves only one residual thought then let it be that. Give it everything you've got ... embrace and work on improving every aspect of whatever it takes to get you to where you want to be! It can be done and the power to do so exists within yourself.
Final thought:
There is one other piece of advice i'd give … something I have only recently learned to embrace. It is something that is quite often so difficult for a human being to do, but something that once done is liberating, empowering and rewarding. And that is …
Do not be afraid to ask for help!
It's a beautiful thing, it can and does change lives! It builds relationships, support networks, knowledge and progress. The journey of life is one of learning, adding the wisdom of others to your own is a significant level up! They say pride comes before a fall … be humble, be honest with yourself, ask for help when you need it!
Thank You's
To all of those above and the many others whose names scroll up the screen at the end of that amazing TV program, the unsung heroes who don’t get the accolade of being in front of the camera. To the other participants of this great TV program, many of whom I have formed friendships with. To the subscribers, the commenters, the readers of this blog. To my customers, all of whom have changed my life, set me up, given me a base from which to spring ...
Thank you ! I appreciate you all
There is so much more I could say and share ... I will save it for the next instalment and for upcoming social media posts! But for now, as I finish writing this one, I sit here with even a new level of excitement. The apprenticeship is over, now the journey can truly begin ... Watch this space!
