I was delighted with this recent feedback.
No doubt about it, a surprise Spoken Portrait is a big piece of work. First there’s the thought that goes into coming up with ideas for the shape and tone of the feature; mapping out events and topics to talk about; and identifying good people to speak. Then there’s all the work contacting people to invite them to take part, and setting up and recording interviews. In this case I spoke to 20 people from Islington to Israel. After that, I’ll spend days carefully editing the material together into a seamless, entertaining feature (leaving all the hesitations, repetitions and deviations on the cutting room floor).
I love the project management side of things. I think that’s where my background as a lawyer handling multi-billion dollar cases comes in! But I also love connecting with people on a very human level, making space for them to talk, and drawing out their stories and experiences.
Ultimately, though, this is about celebrating a person’s life, their friendships and relationships – which is why getting feedback like this makes it all so very worthwhile and rewarding.