Student Maggie: "You can't burnout on The Ordinace".

You're now doing a paid internship at the series Ordinace v růžové zahradě? What exactly does your work involve?

Yes, I work there nine days a month as a production assistant.Typically, we spent four days a month filming exterior scenes where I work as a runner, making coffee to everyone. Especially in cold weather, I tend to be quite popular for providing hot drinks. I've tried to go beyond my production work and assist during filming. 

Have you tried other roles?

I helped with continuity for a while, especially in larger scenes. For instance, when we filmed a school evacuation scene, coordinating extras was very important. I helped the crew with that. I also enjoy assisting with administrative tasks in production.

How did you get into this work?

I worked on the casting for Big Brother, which was taken over by my CME Content Academy colleague Kristina Sverkunová. Production teams notice that there’s an academy and students ready to help so they often ask us if we’re available. 

What inspires you about working on a long-running series? 

The internship is useful. Not only do I comply with my agenda I also can observe the entire process. I attend meetings at the beginning of every month, where specific episodes are discussed. It's very inspiring. Every aspect of each scene is thoroughly analyzed. Everyone from the crew is there discussing everything. There are also script meetings where the head writer, the creative producer, script editors and assistants sit. They even let me write a storyline which I appreciated a lot.

After school you want to be a showrunner. Does this experience help you achieve that?

It’s amazing to see how the process works sustainably on Ordinace. Colleagues have told me that non-fiction projects are emotionally difficult and stressful but when you come to the production of Ordinace, everyone is chilled. People have known each other for at least 10 years. If you do find position here, there is an opportunity for longterm sustainable employment which is very rare in the business.

Now when you have practical experience how do you use what you have learnt at school?

Definitely, the most valuable is networking. The Czech and Slovak industry is much more reachable for newbies compared to the British film and TV industry. It's much easier to get among decision makers.

What helped me a lot at school was having Lukáš Franta, producer, as a mentor. He provides you with a very specific perspective but doesn't take it personally when you have your own opinion. For a good mentor it is crucial.

What advice would you give to people who want to study television and are considering our school?

If they want to work in television in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, CCA is the best opportunity. If someone wants to enter television through film schools, it takes much longer, I think.

- Matěj Škop -

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