Director, Brent Ferguson was an integral part of the Paramount Upfront events across the country, making sure all production and AV requirements were seamless at each session. Did he pull it off? You Brent!
We sat down with Brent over a couple of spicy margs and a truly exquisite platter of chilli and lime king prawns with chipotle mayonnaise, before being told off for getting in the way of Upfront preparations.
What’s your role, and what does it entail?
My role is Studio Director, my daily task is to lead the control room and floor crew on whichever program I am rostered for that day.
I direct across Studio 10, 10 News First bulletins at Midday, 5pm Sydney, Brisbane and Perth which are all produced from the Sydney studios.
Additionally, I work on the fast paced, The Sunday Project each week, plus I am given opportunities like the Upfronts and other bigger in-house productions.
Where do you start with an event like the Upfronts? How much work goes into it and how far in advance do you need to start planning?
A considerable amount of work goes into the Upfronts across the entire team, but for my role specifically I review all of the video reels and graphic assets with the content creator, Jonathan and read through the script to ensure all of the content matches with the correct cues for them to be played out. It will take a couple of days of pre-production to familiarise myself with all of that to make sure that playout is as seamless as possible.
What are the biggest challenges you and your team face with an event as big as the Upfront?
I worked very closely with the Sydney technical support team to manage the requirements of each Upfront location.
I have been travelling around to each capital city location to help present the Upfronts and each location has been different.
In Sydney, we were in a very controlled studio environment which is a very reliable broadcast system whereas in Melbourne, we were on location at a venue, so all of the production and AV equipment needed to be brought in for the event.
Similarly, in all the other states, we needed to make sure we had the correct technical specifications so that we covered any unknowns that could have popped up that we usually wouldn’t expect in a control room environment.
What do you love most about working at Paramount?
Even before I started working with Paramount, I always had a focus of only ever wanting to work for the Network. I always felt that Paramount’s target demographic and type of programming was always relatable to me.
Since starting, I still think the same, but now I can also attribute loving working here because of the people I work with. The entire production, Studio 10 and News Crew are some of the best and most knowledgeable people in TV and they make coming to work enjoyable.
Who is the Brent Ferguson outside of Paramount? What do you love to do on weekends to relax?
If you ask anyone in the crew, they will undoubtedly say my love for netball – men’s netball in particular. I have been playing for NSW for the past 16 years and been involved with the sport’s administration in NSW on a volunteer basis for almost as long. Earlier this year, I made the decision to ‘retire’ from playing at a high level and begin my coaching journey, much to the delight of my partner, Tim (it took up a lot of my time training). So, if Paramount can get the rights to Suncorp Super Netball and give me the Director job, a work dream would come true!!
Outside of that, I’m a dog lover. Anytime there is a dog on the screen in any of our programs my heart melts and you can expect me to be scrolling through endless puppy videos on insta every morning before my shift. I don’t have a dog of my own yet, but we are working on it!
