Claire Martin expects it to be an exciting day. Last year an artist’s car broke down in the middle of the Harbour Bridge and he had a Good Samaritan to help him deliver the work in his truck, because the driver respected the importance of getting the work to the Packing Room at 20 minutes to five pm, right before the deadline for Archibald entries.
In the Packing Room this day is hectic with Channel Nine coming in to film last people delivering their works. Here I meet Penny Ghosn, news reporter for Channel Seven, who is also here to cover last minute deliveries. Penny shares with me the importance of correct make up application as she prepares for the filming of her piece to camera. The concept is similar to theatrical make up to make sure the journalist doesn’t end up looking green on camera. It is something the Channel Seven journalists have to learn how to do, as there is no make up artist following them around.
It is interesting to note that as a news journalist, Penny finds out on the day, what events she will be covering, considered ‘news worthy’ by Channel Seven. So she is an arts journalist today but next week it is a different story. The ability to think on your feet in this line of work is vital; it is admirable to see how quickly the report comes together and how fluently Penny delivers the piece to camera.
Towards the end of the day I meet a Channel Nine News camera man, who also wasn’t sure where he would end up today, but he is glad it’s here in the Art Gallery’s Packing Room.
Sydney artist Alan Jones stops for a chat with Claire Martin, after delivering his entry, saying, “You have to be in it to win it!” Reg Mombassa drops by to deliver his entry! He casually greets the Media Relations staff as he strolls past.
Sydney Morning Herald’s Adam Fulton, comes by the Packing Room late in the afternoon to see if there are any interesting last minute deliveries. His tips for a solid article are:
- Word the press release content and/or article content in an interesting, original way.
- Make sure the press release or article is about something your friends would love to hear about.
- The article content has to be something that makes people say,’ Wow! Go on, go on, and then what happened’?
However, in the case of the Archibald, its reputation has been set for 89 years of its existence. The nation is excited to hear, who the finalists are and who the winner will be.
There is an enthusiastic buzz in the air as the last minute entries are delivered. The Packing Room staff members are helpful and friendly. For Channel Seven, two of the Packing Room staff happily comply with requests to help create a colourful, dynamic background to Penny’s coverage.
At six pm I am at home watching the story on Channel Seven. Laugh if you like, but it’s exciting to be amid the news, steps away as ‘news worthy’ events are happening, as long as it’s not a disaster of any kind and no one gets hurt.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment