Having left News a few years back, I'd not worked with disadvantaged young people for a while. I definitely needed to chat to them as individuals again.

I knew my summer involved making lots of big, medium and small Blue Peter films across the country, doing what's known as a Hot Shoes work placement, then returning to my substantive post in Bristol and also generally trying to have a personal life. So it was probably the worst time to try and make two outreach films.

But I decided to make them part of my summer and I’m so glad I did.

Having just finished the edit for a film about YMCA Bolton in Bristol at 6pm, I jumped on a train to Manchester to make a second film with the Greater Manchester Youth Network.

GMYN were having a change in staff so whilst we knew we had a shoot date we didn't yet know who'd be turning up and what activities they'd be doing. 

That said, the young people did get the chance to attend an ideas session previously with my colleague, Becky Bailey, a researcher at CBBC. Becky shared her camera and storytelling skills with the group and then the young people gave me suggestions of what to include in the short film. Hearing how GMYN had helped turn some of the young people’s lives around was inspirational to say the least.

They were also in the process of simplifying their mission statement so it was hard to define easily what they did. This made asking the question "what's the story and how will I treat it" difficult, along with having every piece of kit to suit the job.

On the morning of the shoot the chief executive told us that GMYN had recently defined four key strands that will be fundamental to every project it runs. This gave me the idea to structure the film around theses strands to give the whole thing some shape.
Knowing that the young people weren't going to be around all day meant we had to shoot in a "run and gun" style.

To become a better shooter I had taken up photography. I like to take a bit of time compose my shots like a photograph, organising people and objects in the frame. On this day there was little time for that and I had to shoot what I saw - "run and gun".

It's a cliché but it was a real privilege to hear the young people tell us about the tough situations they'd been through, and the most striking thing was how positive they have become. Just having someone to help allowed them to turn things around.

We got some great stuff and I can't wait to rough cut and get into the edit with it all.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

Previously, I was a youth worker. I had always enjoyed working with young people. Now working in the broadcast industry and concentrating on my work as a runner for the TV show, the opportunities to help young adults starting out were not as readily available.

Then a request arrived by email asking for BBC staff volunteers to speak on a panel about how to get into the industry, so I jumped at the chance.

Now I have I attended my third such session – this latest was in Birmingham and has been by far the most enjoyable to date.

I was slightly embarrassed to be sitting on a panel next to a BBC producer and an engineer, both of whom undoubtedly had more experience than me.

But that embarrassment quickly dissipated when the questions starting coming in for me: “What does a runner actually do?” and “Can you remember a funny story?” What was even more heartening was that even after the panel session ended, a number of delegates approached me to ask more questions, wanting to find out more about the industry and my journey.

Earlier in the day, there were sessions about selling yourself at the start of your career, interview techniques, and how to write a good CV. Helping facilitate these sessions, I couldn’t help but think how much I would have benefitted from this kind of support years ago.

Young people as a group can have a bad reputation projected upon them. ASBOs and hoodie culture have portrayed young people in the news for all the wrong reasons. But with initiatives like BBC Outreach’s employability masterclasses, and the Media Trust’s Queen’s Young Leaders programme, we’re given excellent insights into all the positive things that young people are doing with their lives.

Volunteering is an integral part of society, whether it’s as a school governor or as a lay magistrate, every can play a role. It only takes a few hours, but you may help someone fulfil as aspiration they’ve been chasing for years.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

Growing up I had always liked making films with my family, and alongside physics and maths I took media studies A-level.

This extreme gear change at 18 pulled me from a secure future to risk it all for my passion (which didn’t go down well with my parents, I must admit).

So I chose a degree in TV and Radio at Salford University. I was ignorant to how competitive the industry is, so much so that the first job I applied for was as a camera-operator at MUFC TV, an ambitious and unrealistic move. It was hard.

I studied the industry, which gave me an understanding of it but no access. I tried repeatedly to gain that access and eventually landed my first real job (ever) as location marshall on the set of a major feature film, Genius, staring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

Arrogance set in, and I thought ‘should be easy from here’ … Nu uh!

A few daily shifts won’t pay the bills, no matter how much you want them to. It came to a point where I had to get a job in retail to earn money, but that stint only made me realise how badly I wanted the media. I knew I had to make something happen, so I did.

I sought help, in the form of the Queen’s Young Leaders Programme, to help plug me into the industry I’d flirted with for a while. I needed reassurance, guidance, and to show my parents that the risk I took was worth it.

My mentor Aaron Nelson at ITV got to know me and helped me through some tough times. At a QYL masterclass held by BBC Outreach in MediaCityUK I met Nicola Stead who helped me focus my CV.

Turns out my previous research as well as my trial and error phase weren't for nothing, and after a dozen or so changes to it and studying hundreds of CVs on Facebook groups, I had the CV to take forward to the BBC talent team. My CV was in front of the kind of person I thought was a myth. I got an interview, and Aaron helped me prepare.

And then the BBC phone call – I had landed a short contract as a Correspondence Assistant with Blue Peter. It’s a dream job – in the team that handles thousands of letters a week where every child must feel special in our reply.

It’s weird looking back; weirder than it is to look at the present. How could a wannabe scientist unaware of the TV world go from some work experience to a contract at the BBC in two years?

The answer is a will to not give up, seek help if needed and try. Just go for it! Risk it all for your passions and stay creative. That’s probably the most scientific outlook at things.

Plus I had help from some great people, and this is the accumulation of all the things I’ve been working towards. I’m really thankful. Hopefully this is the start, and I can push on to become the film or TV director of my dreams, the one who has been waiting inside since I was a kid making short films with my family.

 

Koceila is taking part in the Queen's Young Leaders peer mentoring programme run by Media Trust and supported by BBC Outreach and other industry operators.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.