Roger Francis
Mr Roger Francis
I was born in 1945. I began working at the BBC in 1965, my final year at the BBC was 2014.
How I joined the BBC
In the summer of 1964 having passed my A levels and been offered a place at university I saw an advert placed by the BBC for trainee Technical Operators & Technical Assistants to work in both Radio and Television. In TV Technical Operations covered cameras, sound, lighting and in London,vision control and therefore could lead to the job of cameraman,a job I had been interested in for some years.I applied and received an invitation to an interview at The Langham which in those days was BBC offices and not a hotel. I was interviewed by three or four men in what seemed an enormous office with a large desk. At the end I was asked which service ,Radio or TV, I would like to join should I be successful at the interview. I said TV . The response to this was that TV was unlikely as that service was very popular. After a brief period I received an invitation to join the TV service in January 1965.
Periods at the BBC
1990 until 2012
I was a Lighting & Vision Control Supervisor on a Continuing contract. We were based at Based at Television Centre, Spent a lot of time at the Elstree Centre in the BBC Resources department. The Producer Choice period at the beginning of which I felt I had left and during which I realised my ambition..
Main memories of the period
Leaving the BBC,
It felt that I had left the BBC at the start of producer choice when I found myself working for the commercial subsidiary called BBC Resources.
It was drummed into us that our income from now onwards was solely from selling our services to whichever producer, BBC or otherwise wanted to use our services. If we were not successful in selling our services we would close down.
With hindsight most of us, management and staff, were somewhat naive and complacent I think. We assumed that there would be no shortage of producers wanting to work with us. The reality was somewhat different and at times I got the feeling that the only reason we got any work was because of a shortage of studios outside Resources. I think a lot of people were upset by the perceived lack of loyalty by BBC productions to us. In time we realised that BBC productions had enough problems of their own to worry about without considering Resources staff.
We quickly realised that productions usually preferred to work with crews they knew with the result that independents often brought their own crews with them, whilst BBC productions got to like the crews they worked with in outside studios and brought them back with them if and when they used BBC Resources studios again. (Resources staff were not allowed to work outside BBC studios)
The biggest shock to me was finding out some years after Producer Choice started that a lot of new BBC Producers were unaware that the BBC had it’s own studios.
BBC Resources quickly began to “downsize”, reducing crew levels to the point where were kept more or less in permanent overtime. This made economic sense and unlike pre Producer Choice days when were staffed for the peaks of work load now we had just enough staff for the troughs, bringing in freelances to fill in the gaps.
BBC Resources also decided not to promote anyone for the time being, acting people up when necessary. At the time I was a Lighting and Vision Control Supervisor which was, in effect, three jobs in one. The LVCS was a lighting console operator, vision control supervisor and assistant lighting director all rolled into one.In the ALD role the LVCS was expected to light(at a basic level). With the advent of Producer Choice there was a problem with acting LVCS’s up to Lighting Director because Producers were increasingly deciding on which LD lit their programme. They wanted someone they knew.
I got lucky. I was working on EastEnders at the time. A number of EastEnders regular LDs had gone, taking early retirement. Some other LDs had incurred the disapproval of EastEnders. Some of the EastEnders production team knew me from pre Producer Choice days when I had worked with them on a number of dramas. As a result,as a trial, I was given two blocks of EastEnders to light. I was considered good enough and spent the next ten years lighting, mainly on EastEnders.
Around the year 2000 a new post of Resource Manager was introduced replacing the Studio Resource Manager. The RMs had more responsibilities than the SRM . They were to be the one point of contact for the production from the initial contact to book a facility through to the finished VT. As part of this the RMs negotiated the price and contract. A very sensible idea in theory. A number of SRMs didn’t fancy the new job and left. As a result we got some new people into the RM job who had little or no experience of studio work. This caused a number of problems especially when they decided they had to manage and took decisions on behalf of the craft heads (LDs, Camera Supervisors and Sound Supervisors). This led to a number of conflicts and therefore difficulties. Were we working for the Producer which had always been the case in the past or for the RM? This didn’t always go down well with productions. There were times when productions, sometimes pointedly,didn’t invite the RM to meetings.
Things eventually settled down but I felt even further removed from the “main” BBC.
Eventually, in 2002 I was promoted to LD which was nice. However with ongoing cutbacks, in particular the amount of time available, it became increasingly difficult for LDs on EastEnders to be adventurous in their lighting. The time problem particularly affected the LDs as the time they had to set up the lighting was cut significantly. So a lot of the joy and creativity went out of the job.
In 2005 I reached to age of 60 and started receiving my pension. However, I didn’t stop working. Initially, it was because no one had told allocations so I continued to be allocated as as if I was a member of staff. In addition I was still a regular member of the EastEnders lighting team. Since 2005 I have been frequently asked to come into work mainly on EastEnders but until 2012 on some programmes at TV Centre. Since 2012 the work has been confined to EastEnders at Elstree. The Elstree Centre now feels like the Headquarters of BBC TV, replacing TVC.
It was nice to have a phased changeover from full time work to full time retirement.I left feeling saddened by the changes in the work but at the same time quite happy to stop because of the increasing lack of job satisfaction.
My view of Producer Choice
One can debate the pros and cons of Producer Choice but it’s safe to say that the early days of Producer Choice were a little traumatic for BBC Resources and arguably mistakes were made. What were mistakes and what weren't depended on your point of view. For instance I remember a departmental meeting where management were outlining their thoughts for the future and inviting feedback. The staff weren’t happy. It struck me part the way through that though we all appeared to be talking about the same thing we weren’t. The management were concerned about keeping TVC studios open whilst we were worried about our jobs. Though,obviously there was a connection, the studios could be kept open using freelances whilst we could be kept employed working anywhere, not necessarily in TVC.
Up to this point the fairly large number of staff who had already gone had taken early retirement. From now on staff that were made redundant would be looking at working as freelances. Though there were some freelances around working on programmes for Channel 4 and some ex ITV staff had recently joined them it was still very much unknown territory.
The management of BBC Resources were largely successful in making the studios into a profitable business and until the very end the big five studios were busy. However the management were not a success in keeping staff levels maintained. There are a few staff left but not many. Ultimately the Resources management’s efforts have been in vain as the BBC top management decided to depose of most of TVC.
Nowadays most people are freelances of course. Many have been successful earning more than they would have done as staff but many have quite a low income. One big problem is rogue production companies that don’t pay. As one freelancer said to me “BBC Resources may not pay the best rates and they may be slow to pay but you can be confident you will get paid.”
The biggest casualty of Producer Choice is probably training. In order to reduce costs Resources stopped most training. Greg Dyke reinstated training but with Mark Thomson it ceased again. In what we used to call Tech Ops (Lighting, Cameras and Sound) the industry have been relying on an increasingly older workforce. Everyone knows about it but for everyone “it’s not their problem”. For individual Producers as long as they can get their favourite team together for the next commission that’s all that matters. Beyond that there may not be a another. For everyone else it’s not seen as in their best interests to train as the person you’re training today might be taking work away from you in the future.
It’s not just formal classroom training that’s gone(such as that provided at Evesham) but the ongoing apprenticeship that you got at the BBC. The opportunity to work with a variety of top practitioners on a wide variety of different types of production. TVC, in the days when everyone was staff was a magnificent University of TV.
A couple of years ago I was talking to someone who is now in top level management at the BBC who was unaware of and shocked at the fact that Resources had done little training, except during the Greg Dykes era, for something like twenty years.
The team work that used to go on is disappearing. Several on exBBC sound assistants have expressed surprise when I’ve told them not to worry about a boom shadow because I would deal with it. They weren’t used to LDs doing that they said. Sound do seem to get a particularly raw deal these days.
In the departments that were the first to disappear such as Design, Make up and Costume we are often seeing problems because of a lack of knowledge and understanding. These people are now coming in to television from working in various non television areas such as the theatre.In the days when we were all staff ,Designers, Art Directors, Make up and Costume would spend a lot of time in the Lighting control room and would co-operate and help each other. Now the LD sometimes gets diverted from Lighting (because he is the only one of the four looking at pictures) sorting out problems that aren’t his.
Ironically, with the BBC telling productions ,both in-house and independent where they are going to be made Producer Choice is more or less dead.
Coinciding with me leaving the BBC has been the build up to the disposal of much of the TV Centre. In later years I didn’t particularly like TVC, much preferring the atmosphere at the Elstree Centre. Nevertheless I think the re development planned for the site is a great mistake.
The BBC needed the money raised to pay for the Broadcasting House extension and later on the moves to Salford. However in none of the figures that I have seen do the costs make sense. The money raised by the redevelopment don’t go anywhere near covering the money spent elsewhere either in the short term nor the long term. Ironically the big studios at TVC were not too affected by the moves as shows like Breakfast didn’t use them.
Anna Mallet, the former Head of Studios and Post Production (which is all thats left of Resources) was told by some that the greatest challenge she faced was to save TC8. Many in the industry regard TC8 as the BBC’s and possibly the UK’s best studio. It’s certainly been very popular with productions.There is a “Save TC8” campaign. I suspect though that Anna was powerless to stop the closure.
Three studios will remain. There is an obvious case for keeping TC1 because it is the biggest. However it not as well designed as TC8 and with the 16,000 sq ft stage at the Elstree Film and TV studios and the BBC’s own Elstree Centre studio D would TC1 be a great loss? In addition many believe that TC1 is too big for the majority of programmes. As for TC2 and TC3, the other two studios to be saved, I think few would disagree that they are the worse studios at TVC. If I was going to save just three studios they would be TC6, 7 & 8. There does seem to be a big concern in the industry generally that there will be a shortage of large/medium sized studios in the future with a consequent increase in costs.
Looking at the plan of TVC they are keeping TC!-3, demolishing TC4-8 and then keeping phases 5 and 6. I would have thought that the easiest bits to redevelop would phases 5 & 6. Phases 5 & 6 also look bigger than the part occupied by TC4-8. There must be a logic somewhere.
1965 until 1970
I was a Cameraman. We were based at Television Centre, Lime Grove, Riverside Studios, Televison Theatre, Golders Green Hippodrome in the Television Technical Operations department. I joined the BBC, was trained and realised my ambition of becoming a TV Cameraman.
Main memories of the period
My first week in the BBC was spent at the Langham with 60 other new recruits attending lectures on safety, conditions of service,admin and the effects of nuclear war on the UK. After the Langham we were sent to Wood Norton,Evesham for three months for classroom training covering cameras,sound,lighting and editing. We were a joint TV/Radio Tech Ops course called TO21. In April 1965 along with my TV colleagues from TO21 I finally arrived at TV Centre. We were put onto the “Training Pool” for nine months for on the job training. This training consisting of being attached to a Camera/Sound crew, sometimes on cameras and sometimes sound, under the supervision of the Camera Supervisor or Senior Sound Assistant as appropriate. Sometime during this period we also spent some time with vision control and lighting. Lighting and Vision staff were not recruited directly from outside but always came from cameras ,sound or engineering. Finally after a year the official training period came to an end and we were placed on the “Reserve Pool” to await a vacant post. Being on the “Reserve Pool” was little different to being on the Training Pool in practice. The theory was that you would gain experience until a post became vacant and whilst waiting a decision would be made jointly between yourself and management as to whether you would become a camera assistant or sound assistant.(in those days the term camera assistant hadn’t been invented in the BBC and they were known as Dolly Operators). In between the Reserve Pool and Dolly Op/Sound Assistant there was Crew Relief (Mainly Cameras or Mainly Sound) and whilst on the Reserve Pool I spent nine months as acting Crew Relief (Mainly Sound) on crew 15.I think the management were hopeing I would grow to love sound. It didn’t work. TO21 and TO22 were recruited for the expected expansion of hours of BBC2 following its creation in 1964. However ,this expansion took a long time to come and the first significant extra programmes were the Open University programmes in 1970. A lot of people from the class of 1965 got fed up and bored with waiting for promotion and left the BBC. The Open University started with it’s own facilities and staff and at long last cameraman posts(at the OU) were advertised. I applied and got one of the jobs. I stayed at the OU for 18 months before returning to TC as a cameraman.