Looking Back......

It’s been around five months since ‘No Experience Required – Transition Year’ originally aired, and yet it’s till making waves. Since my previous post, I’ve appeared on Seoige and O’Shea’, along with Eden (the eventual winner of the show) and Noirin. We were interviewed by Joe himself, and the first clip we were shown was of Scary Mary O’Rourke tucking into a piece of handmade chocolate, just before she tucked into me. Thank God for the layers of make-up that hid the blushing red hue that my face must have been. Noirin claimed that we were all accomplished and definitely had a career in journalism ahead of us. That was the last day I saw Noirin.
The following Sunday was the grand premiere of ‘No Experience Required – TY’, and we were lucky that our episode was first in a list of five. It started off with a brief intro on journalism, before showing clips of the first round interviews. Then, the audience were introduced to the final five; John McGahon (political whiz), Eden Hoey (fluffy yet hard-hitting), Aisling Nolan (author and Playwright), Julie Kavanagh (Idealistic, young go-getter) and yours truly (bogger). I say bogger, as during the interview, it seems that I said the words ‘You’re trying to cod me now’. You can take the boy out of Tipperary, but you can’t take the Tipperary out of the boy. I’m stiff happy with the programme, and despite a few embarrassing screw-ups, I felt we all came across well. I couldn’t help laugh at the little sad face on me when Noirin said that I wont be coming back, which is strange, because although I was a little disappointed, I was still thrilled for Eden, who’s victory brought tears to the eyes of all in the room, including ‘tough bitch’ (her words, not mine) Noirin Hegarty.
Since it’s original running, NERTY has been repeated once, and the journalism episode was even been nominated for the prestigious Prix Janeusse award for international youth television, along with shows from the BBC and Al Jazeera. The award will be presented on the 4th of June 2008, when I’ll be sitting paper one of English.
A final thanks to everyone who was involved in the show, who I came in contact with, and best of luck to John, Aisling, Julie and Eden in their continued studies.

Wednesday

With the resurrection of the Dail this week, it was a sure thing to have a political task. Only one problem, I wouldn't consider politics a strong point. The three of us met with political journalist Kevin Rafter, who gave us out our task for today, we each had to interview a politician in Buswells hotel. Eden got Finian McGrath, independent and charity crooner. Julie got Lucinda Creighton, a newbie in the Dail scene, representing Fine Gael. I got the Wicked Witch of Westmeath, Mary O'Rourke, who has been a Fianna Failer for nearly thirty years.
I crammed as much information into my head about her time in the Seanad, her controversial career and her various ministerial positions. I squeezed some facts about education in as well, to try and make some interesting questions to entertain the most outspoken woman in Irish politics. I figured a question about corporal punishment might provoke an interesting answer. I should have left it out. I also wanted to bring up the depleting interest in religion in school. I should have left it out.
I rang one of her workers to set up the interview at 12.30, which eventually worked out grand. I left with the crew for the short trip to Buswells; storm clouds were on the horizon. When we arrived in Mary was ready and waiting, so we went straight into the interview room, and the crew started to set up. Ms. O'Rourke was asking what we wanted. 'Do you want me to be funny? Do you want me to be rude? Do you want me to be straight-talking?' and I could have sworn she said 'do you want me to embarrass him?' Not put off by the prospect of being humiliated on national television, I though I had a lot of quality questions.
When the interview started, I congratulated Mary on her recent re-election and thanked her letting me interview her. The first question I asked entitled her to rant a little and I let her go on a bit more than I would have like, but I still got some interesting quotes. It all was going fine until I asked my corporal punishment question. She was not a happy bunny. She lambasted me, and asked me my opinion on it. In order to defuse the situation and move on to the next question, I said that it was a bit before my time. In retrospect, I should have just answered straight out. After that it all seemed to go well. Mary enjoyed talking about all the controversy that she caused last year when she said her political team were 'working like blacks'. We talked about it for a good eight minutes since she enjoyed talking about it so much.
After the interview we got in a nice, pleasant chat about DCU and how life is going to change for me 'in a very big way'. Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving out about her. I'm very grateful to her for taking some time out for me. When I returned to the office, some of the seasoned journalists told me they go out of their way to avoid Mary O'Rourke. I then began to gather the best quotes from the sharp mouthed lady, and proceeded to start my article. I stayed 15 minutes later than usual, eager to portray Mary the way I saw her!

Tuesday

Never trust technology. Right when you need them, they can let you down. A number of technological blunders nearly lead me astray today, but it was something I managed to overcome, just about. In the morning we went out to film our introductory clip and give a quick interview about how we're feeling. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but when I returned, Ross and Eden informed me that a bus of tourists were taking pictures, although I just assumed they were snapping shots of the beautiful Victorian doors.
When all the interviews were done and dusted, Eden, Julie and I were treated to a tour of the newsroom. We were shown the sports, business and property areas. After that, the real work began. Noirin brought is into her office and gave us a briefing about what she thinks makes a good journalist. Fionualla then joined the group to provide us with our first task. We each had to write two articles that usually appears in the 'Tribune Magazine'. 'Love It Loath It', which is a little piece in which the writer decides what's hot and what's not. 'My Secret Life', is a small interview with a person in the Irish limelight, posing a set number of questions. I wasn't sure what to make of this. Not one but two pieces, but the girls were ecstatic and ready for action. Initially, I though I was at a disadvantage, as the magazine is geared towards a female audience. But once I got in the swing of things, 'Loving It, Loathing It' just came to me. Barbeque season, 'Oceans 13'. the festival build up and Paris Hilton's time in jail featured in my loving it pile, while the MTV Movie Awards, gold, band reunions, Katie Price, the Irish climate and Big Brother made it into my loathing it list.
But, unfortunately, it didn't come so easy in the beginning. I needed help. The help of the people of Dublin. Sadly, most of them were too busy looking like they swallowed a lemon to give me a second of their time. Granted, I did shove and Dictaphone into their faces before a proper introduction, so I really had it coming. Eventually, I copped on and decided to introduce myself before I asked them my opinion. I was rewarded with a few people who were willing to step in front of the camera and speak about their likes and dislikes. SO after a few changes, my 'Loving It, Loathing It' was complete, and with one hour, twenty minutes left until the deadline, it was time to find a celebrity, who would be willing to chat to a secondary school novice. Ray Shah, Delerentos and Anna Nolan were on the list, but it seems all were unavailable at the time. Time was running out. Forty-five minutes until the deadline, I got the number of Kennedy PR. Desperate; I rang and managed to get the mobile number of head chef Kevin Thornton. A fellow Tipperary man, Thornton is a Michelin starred chef, who isn't afraid to speak his mind.
I gave him a ring, thinking he wouldn't talk to me. He's a busy man, why talk to some student? Kevin ended up being incredibly helpful and seemed like a really nice guy. He really opened up, after some gentle persuasion. The question 'What car do you drive?', was originally answered, 'A range rover', but after some encouragement, the answer became 'a range rover...a green range rover....2.5 litre....four years old...It's my baby.....I love it.' I was told that this man would try and evade every question, but instead her went above and beyond what I expected. Despite some initial reluctance, Kevin answered the most personal question. What's your biggest regret? Kevin answered as if I were his best friend. He told me of his upset of not standing up for himself when he had a child 28 years ago. 'I could have done more, but you can't let the past hold you back', he told me.
Delighted with my work so far, I typed frantically. The deadline was in 15 minutes.
Then something bad happened.
Something really bad happened. The computer froze, with my unsaved interview, still mocking me on the screen. So close but yet so far. The computer had to be rebooted. So with ten minutes to go to deadline, and a camera in my face, I was asked a question by Catherine. 'So Jason, what are you going to do?' I replied 'Well, I'm going to have to type fast. And I did. Well, maybe more frantic than fast, but I got it done. So bring on the next problem. The printer refused to churn out my work, so instead of printing, they were emailed. They didn't send. We tried again and, hallelujah, message sent successfully. All I could do now is wait and see what the bosses thought of my work.
They were given two sheets of my work, edited to look as they would in the magazine. It wasn't long before I was called in for feedback. I was nervous. I messed up big time by not saving my files. A rookie mistake. I was also aware that I made stupid little spelling mistakes. But overall, the feedback was good. Noirin was happy that I stayed calm when the computer crashed, and that I didn’t throw accusations at anyone else. She was also pleased that I got so much information for Thornton. As far as I’m concerned, the spelling was my downfall. In total, I made a whopping eight careless blunders, including swapping opera music for Oprah music.
I left Noirin's office happy. I was called over to my daily sum-up interview. When asked about Wednesday, I only had one thing to say. 'If it's anything like today, it's going to be.......challenging.' Bring it on.

Monday

My mug really shouldn't be in front of a camera. So why is it I'm going for a second round interview for 'No Experience require - Transition year'? I know I really want to do journalism, but did I really think I would get so far? Well, I didn’t really think about it. You don't get upset about not getting something, when you don't think much about it. The producers said that there was huge competition, so I was delighted to make it to the final five. When I arrived at the 'Sunday Tribune' offices at 15 Lower Baggot Street, nerves started to kick in. My sister and I waited in the reception area; until co-producer Hannah came down to get me ready. I was brought into a small room with a table and chairs and a number of nibbles that I couldn't even look at. If I took so much as a bit, I'd probably have upchucked right in front of the cameras. Also in the room was Julie from Clare, whose interview was in a matter of minutes. Jamie, and sound assistant with Liberty Films made us all feel nice and calm. 'The fist lad to come in and do his interview was fantastic. The bosses absolutely loved him. I'd feel sorry for the last two to go in!' That would be us. It didn't seem to long until before Catherine the director, come in to talk to me about the interview. She told me to relax, that the panel were lovely and that I would do fine. The interview now just seems like a blur. I remember some questions and some answers. I was asked would I go to the family of a person that died, and try and get a few quotes. I said that it was a hard question to answer at this point in time, but if I chose a career in journalism, I would have to undertake a number of responsibilities and that that would be on of them. In general I felt that the interview went well, but then again, I had a free hour to obsess over it. And obsess I did. When I returned, I met the three other contestants, John, Eden and Aisling. After a few minutes of getting to know each other, we were brought to a kitchen area, while the bosses were deciding who goes through and who gets the chop. Eden was first to get called in, then Julie, and then it was my turn. I walked into the interview room nervous, but smiling. They said that it was obvious that I had research dine, but were doubtful if I had the 'killer instinct' that's necessary for a career in journalism. They said I had some negatives, but more positives and that I was through to the next round. I thanked the judges and went out to give my post result interview. I said I was eager to correct the negatives that Richard said I had. I walked down to the reception area where I met Eden and Julia, both of whom also were put through. We said our goodbyes to John and Aisling, which was followed by a few minutes of filming. Day one was done, but tomorrow's when the real work begins.