Tag: blog

  • Full Production looks back at a ‘full on’ 2022!

    Full Production looks back at a ‘full on’ 2022!

    Full Production looks back at a ‘full on’ 2022!

    2022 turned out to be another ‘full on’ year for Full Production! We saw very strong business growth across the board with a huge variety of television productions, special events and attractions keeping us busy throughout the year.

    In total, we’re delighted to have completed well over 100 individual jobs over this past 12 months – in addition to our ongoing maintenance commitments at sites in Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Cardiff, Brentford and Gibraltar.

    Who Cares Wins Awards – LD(s) David Bishop and Darren Lovell

    In television, we saw a busy run of work on numerous entertainment programmes. The early part of the year saw Steve, Marc and Shaun delivering the Britain’s Got Talent auditions at the London Palladium (LD Dave Bishop, Gaffer Mark Newell). Following that, we provided network and systems technicians for Beat The Chaser (LD Chris Kempton). Next, Marc and Shaun were on hand to deliver kit and crew for the Nowruz 2022 festival celebrations, for Marjan Television Network at the LH2 facility in London – again with LD David Bishop and Gaffer Mark Newell.

    After project managing and gaffering the finals of Young Dancer 2022 at the Roundhouse (for LD Tim Routledge), Steve went on to work his 10th – and last – series of Strictly Come Dancing, again in support of LD David Bishop and gaffer Mark Newell.

    The winning team of David Bishop, Mark Newell and Full Production came together again when Marc looked after systems for Britain’s Got Talent: The Ultimate Magician at Birmingham ICC.  There was even more entertainment in store when Shaun was on-site to assist our partners Liteup with the production of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

    We’ve also been busy with events of all types! We provided project management and technical services when Amazon Prime prepared a special photo-shoot as part of its promotion of the new Lord of the Rings series. On another project, Steve was once again project manager and gaffer for the Who Cares Wins Awards, which took place at the Roundhouse, with LDs David Bishop and Darren Lovell. We also provided kit and crew for The Princes Trust Awards, staged at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (LD Ben Cracknell, programmer Tom Young).

    Foals – Photo courtesy of Sam Neill

    On the live music front, Marc again took on his Lighting Director duties for production rehearsals in preparation for the UK, EU, Japanese and US tour outings this year by Foals (with production design by Cassius Creative), plus a number of festival appearances – including the band’s headline slot at Glastonbury! In a slightly different musical vein, when Broadway star Audra McDonald played at the London Palladium (LD Jack Weir), Full Production provided kit and crew, and Steve project managed and gaffered the show.

    Our expertise in providing attractions has also been in demand this year. One of the highlights of our summer was when our team, led by Marc, provided lighting supply and design for our client, Pixel Artworks, for two back-to-back family entertainment events – Dragon Slayer and Sundown Spectacular – at Warwick Castle. Both were a great success, and our huge thanks go to Pixel Artworks’ production manager Joe Kelly for having us on board again!

    Sundown Spectacular – Photo courtesy of Alex Davies

    We also helped draw thousands of festive feet to Christmas attractions by lighting no fewer than 13 Christmas walks across the country. These included some of Britain’s most beautiful settings, such as the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Margam Country Park in South Wales, the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the historic Coombe Abbey in Coventry and the gorgeous gardens of Wakehurst in Sussex. In all, we covered over 300 people-days in November alone, across Christmas walks and other projects!

    Princes Trust Awards – LD Ben Cracknell

    Meanwhile, lots of other (equally important!) things were going on in-house, including training with Rigging Team, work on re-investment programmes, energy reduction schemes and new sites with some of our existing installation customers, as well as an exciting new business partnership with our old friends at Avion TSL – which will see Full Production’s reach and client base spread even further across the country.

    And as if that wasn’t busy enough for 2022, Lise got married! Huge congratulations to the happy couple!

    As we prepare for 2023, we are very excited by some interesting new developments in the Full Production pipeline, which we can’t wait to tell you about in due course . . . We’re looking forward to kicking off 2023 with a bang!

    Until then, we’d like to thank all of our valued clients, freelancers and subcontractors for working with us this year – 2022 has been a pleasure – and wish you every joy with your Christmas holidays and every success for the New Year!

    Our very best wishes,

    The Full Production team x

  • Full Production’s 2021 Christmas wrap-up

    Full Production’s 2021 Christmas wrap-up

    Full Production’s 2021 Christmas Wrap-Up

    From working in a cave to winning industry awards, it’s been a busy year for Full Production. As 2021 draws to a close, we take a look back at everything we’ve been up to…


    Merry Christmas everyone!

    It’s been a busy year, and now that we’re approaching the end of it we thought this would be a good opportunity to have a look back at some of the jobs we’ve worked on in 2021. The Full Production team have been down a cave, up in the dizzy heights of the Royal Albert Hall, on TV and everything in between! There were some surprises along the way, too…

    Photo courtesy of Treetop Adventure Golf

    We spent the first part of 2021 perfecting our golf game, after being approached to install Treetop Adventure Golf in Birmingham. Full Production designed, specified, supplied and installed all the lighting and audiovisual in the venue, as well as show control and automation. We helped to bring to life the ‘tropical trail’ and ‘ancient explorer’ courses that make up Treetop Adventure Golf. It was a fun and creative job to kickstart the new year with, and the client was so pleased with our work that we were brought on board to perform regular maintenance across all of their UK sites.

    Photo courtesy of Wright Tech Media / @markrecagno

    From crazy golf to just downright crazy, we spent the next couple of months holed up inside a cave. Sounds a bit like 2020, doesn’t it? St Michael’s cave in Gibraltar was the site of a unique installation which really pushed our team to the limits. Full Production’s Steve Richardson and Shaun Graham designed, installed and programmed the lighting for ‘The Awakening’, an immersive installation retelling the history of the popular tourist attraction in Gibraltar. Our work here was recognised by a number of industry magazines including Mondo-DR and LSI, as well as getting us onto the cover of ETnow. May also saw our very own Lise Watkins get engaged! Did you know she has a weird skill that unnerves her colleagues and can (almost) speak four languages?

    Photo courtesy of Alex Davies

    As the summer rolled on we upgraded our warehouse, adding some new kit to our arsenal. Full Production’s Marc Thornton masterminded an exciting job lighting the Warwick Castle Sundown Spectacular in August, which saw the outside of the medieval castle lit up with spectacular colours and effects. Steve also made his return to cricket after breaking his leg while featuring in the Full Production-supported Littlewick Green Cricket Club at the end of last year…

    Moving into September, and some of our regular TV work. Full Production continued to support the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, supplied equipment to the re-booted Weakest Link and the Who Cares Wins awards, which recognised the achievements of those in the healthcare sector during the pandemic. We came pretty close to rubbing shoulders with Boris Johnson, David Beckham and the Duke of Cambridge, to name just a few.

    Image courtesy of the BBC

    As the year drew to a close, we were on hand to provide production assistance to Champions Tennis at The Royal Albert Hall. Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open earlier in the year, featured on the billing alongside a raft of tennis legends past and present. Full Production’s lighting know-how helped turn it into quite the show, inside one of the UK’s most storied venues. Managing Director Steve Richardson also made it into Inavate Magazine’s 40 Under 40, recognising Full Production’s adaptability and continued growth over the past two difficult years.

    Photo courtesy of Marc Thornton

    Finally, we worked on not just one but ten different Christmas lighting trails, getting very familiar indeed with the muddy fields of country estates across the UK. Oh, and not to be forgotten was the addition of the youngest member of the Full Production family. Steve’s second daughter Etta Richardson was born in November. No doubt she will be onsite and plugging up a system in no time at all…

    So certainly a busy year for the Full Production team, despite all the challenges. Here’s to an equally exciting 2022. Have a Merry Christmas all, and see you in the New Year!

  • Finding the balance

    Finding the balance

    Full Production’s Steve Richardson on why respecting freelancers’ time is the way to win their loyalty.


    Steve Richardson

    We don’t work a standard 9-5 job: load-ins start in the early hours of the morning, with rehearsals quite often shortly after lunch. Then there’s the show itself, followed by the load-out – all in the space of 18-24 hours with very little downtime. We work in an industry which famously has a “show must go on” mentality.  

    But at what cost?

    Poor sleeping patterns, long periods away from home and bad eating habits on site are very common. It wasn’t that long ago, perhaps even before the pandemic, where a lack of sleep and generally being run down was worn as a badge of honour by many throughout the industry.

    More recently, my LinkedIn and Facebook networks have been crying out for staff. Not an hour goes by without a post on various freelance forums or company pages, requesting assistance in finding crew for shows and events across many genres of the industry.

    Why?

    Simply put, there is a real shortage of skilled crew for events and installations, and as a company owner I’m finding myself having to pick up the shortfall both mentally and physically.

    I think this has been caused by a couple of things:

    Firstly, many people have outright left the industry. Myself and my colleagues all know people who have left roles in events to go and work elsewhere, in industries they believe are less likely to be shut down by virus regulations. This, coupled with film and dramas swallowing up a large number of console operators, has left a massive shortfall in areas of the entertainment industry which have been shut down for a long time.

    “There is a fine balance between getting what the client wants, and offering your staff and contractors healthier working hours.”

    Steve Richardson

    I think another reason for the shortage is that, for many people, the benefits of freelance work are beginning to be outweighed by the risks. There is a smaller pool of talented freelancers than there was pre-pandemic, and many of them are now only searching for full-time employment. That shouldn’t be a surprise: many freelancers were forgotten about in the government’s financial aid. Who can blame them for wanting a bit of financial stability moving forwards?

    One way I think we can entice freelancers back onto jobs is to show them that we respect both their time and their wellbeing. We need to support them with strong HR processes, and we need to stop offering them shifts which, whilst financially tempting due to the length, offer very little in terms of personal wellbeing. I’m talking about those 1.5x or 2x days, quite often with 12+ hour shifts. After spending more time at home with family and friends, people value their time much more than they used to.

    At Full Production, we’re making this change. We’re trying, as much as possible, to split those long shifts in half, hiring a day crew and a night crew, or a load-in crew and show crew with a handover in between. Sometimes, though, this is dependent on the client – they need to play their part by offering a realistic budget and just as important, a realistic schedule.

    There’s the trickle down effect and when clients start cutting budgets, the impact is felt most strongly by the people on the ground, who quite often will have to make up the difference with longer hours.

    There is a fine balance between getting what the client wants, and offering your staff and contractors healthier working hours. We’re committed to making this change, but it won’t happen overnight. It also isn’t always going to work for everyone, I’ll be the first to admit it – there are always going to be key personnel which sadly aren’t able to be swapped out due to continuity – but even small changes when and where we can will benefit the majority.