Rocket Long - Editorial Assistant
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Video Interview Transcript
My name is Rocket and I work for Soccer AM. My job is editorial assistant.
Soccer AM is a football/entertainment show; it goes out on Saturday morning on Sky Sports One. It is aimed at twenty to thirty year olds. It is just a fun football show.
I have to edit bits of footage like football, goal mistakes that happen in football, put them all together and then they go out on the show.
The best part is probably getting to be on TV - I love it. We get a five minute slot every Saturday, where me and my mate dress up as girls and go on the street and interview people, it is unbelievable how many people recognise me. It is getting a cult following.
The worst bit of working on Soccer AM, is probably the hours that we work. We work so many hours. On a Friday night we sometimes work all the way through till Saturday morning.
I got involved in Sky when I was 15. I got a two-week placement and worked just sitting in an edit suite and watching what went on. Then eventually I met the Soccer AM team, said I loved the show and Tim the producer and presenter said, ‘Would you like to work during the summers?' I said ‘definitely', so I did six weeks during the summer, no pay, and then they said, ‘Do you want to come back every Saturday?, so I said ‘definitely'. I came back every Saturday, for free, and did that for three years, but I was getting on TV so I had an incentive. Then Sky offered me a job, and I was a runner-up in Sport and then Soccer AM expanded, we got the All-Sports Show, which was on Friday night, and they needed more staff and I was lucky enough to get the job.
My advice would be to get work experience; you get your foot in the door - that is the initial thing. Do your work experience for a couple of weeks, show that you are willing, you're keen, give a hundred per cent then they will ask you to come back for more, then opportunities will arise like they did for me.