GET ME THE PRODUCER!

PROGRAMME 6

ACTIVITIES

Guidance

Students can be split into pairs/small groups for initial discussions and brought back together to compare answers. For some classes, whole-group discussion may be appropriate. Students will need paper, pens, and flip-chart paper.

Before viewing

Ask students to predict the eventual winner from the final six. Retain answers to see who was right. Ask them two questions: who do they think will win, and who do they think should win. Are the answers the same?

Ask students to consider what sort of programme they would most like to make if they had free choice. Over the weeks, the teams had original and often amusing titles for their programme ideas. Ask students to devise appropriate titles for their programmes.

After viewing

United we stand
Clip 1: 04. 57 – 05.31

• Opens with Greg Dyke saying, 'What I'm trying to find out this week…'
• Closes with Greg saying, 'If they don't get the teamwork right, the delivery won't be right.'

Greg has mentioned teamwork every week. Do students think this skill is just important in TV or in all work? Can they think of any jobs where teamwork is not important? Which of the 12 participants (if any) do they think has demonstrated real team skills? Get examples. Do they think it was possible for these people, put in the position of competing for one single prize, to be real team players? How would the students have handled the situation?

Some are more equal than others
Clip 2: 16.25 – 17.19

• Opens with the narrator saying, 'The team is struggling with Greg's decision…'
• Closes with Gina saying, '…you always need someone in charge in a certain way.'

Do Students agree that 'you always need someone in charge'? Ask for a show of hands after discussion and see if there is a gender bias here. Typically, females are happier with a collaborative approach, and males with a hierarchical structure; this may give rise to further debate as to why that might be.

Would it have been easier for them to cope this week if they hadn't had a system of 'someone in charge' for the previous five weeks? What is the students' opinion of the level of team skills shown by the final six?

And the winner is…
Clip 3: 46.41 – 47.12

• Opens with the narrator saying, 'Greg decided over six weeks that Gina was the best performer…'
• Closes with Greg saying, 'If she works hard she could become a very good producer.'

Does Greg's decision surprise the students? Return to their predictions over the weeks. When was the first time someone predicted Gina as the winner? Was that prediction maintained over the rest of the series? How many students got the right answer at the beginning of this final programme? Why did they choose Gina? Would students like to work with (or for) Gina? How do students think Gina will get on with seasoned and trained professionals in her new job? Do any students feel strongly that someone else performed better? Who was the 'hard luck' story? Who from the original 12 would be their 'dream team' (one producer, two researchers) to make an interesting, original and positive film about their school/college?

Further activities

Greg says he was judging the contestants on their ideas, execution and teamwork. What skills do they think employers look for? Ask for up to 10, in order of priority, from individual students. Then get them to argue for their choices in a small group of, say, four to six. They must come to a consensus. Then try to get a 'whole class' agreement.

Do any students have ambitions to work in TV? Have these programmes changed their perceptions of working in TV? Is it what they thought it would be? Have their attitudes to the programmes they regularly watch changed?

Do students think that this format is a valid way of selecting candidates for a job? Is it better or worse than undergoing traditional training and interviews? How would they prefer to be judged?