Something for ‘The Telly’
Hello, I’m Rob! I’ve been let loose on the Studio Something Medium account for the first time — and it’s only the second most exciting thing that’s happened today! Let me tell you about it.
For those who don’t know me, I have been the Community Manager here at Studio Something for the last 18 months or so. I come from a football background having worked at the SPFL before getting this gig, and it’s a passion that has followed me around since I can remember. Indeed, the way I got into my line of work can be directly attributed to my love of the game.
I started a podcast, ‘We Have No Cares’, about Heart of Midlothian back in 2014 after me and my pal Nicol saw ‘a gap’ in that market (the ‘gap’ being that there were no other Hearts podcasts that existed). From the success that we found on WHNC, I was then invited onto ‘The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast’ — and there the groundwork was laid for my professional career and — more importantly — the reason why I’m writing this!
To give you a brief history of ‘The Terrace’, it was started in 2009 by Craig Fowler. It started as it meant to go on, becoming the go-to for alternative fitba’ coverage in our country, the antithesis of Sportsound and Sportscene, something created by paying fans and giving their views from the terrace (get it?).
As the years kept going the following kept growing, with more and more loyal fans tuning in and aiding the success of the show. Along the way, the cast of contributors chopped and changed a lot as Fowler molded the brand of writers and speakers that were the best people for the job.
In the last couple of years, the podcast has grown to the level that we could now offer paid-for content on top of the longstanding free, twice-weekly shows. A solid base of twelve football fans dedicating a few hours a week to provide a unique look at the game.
Then came a quiet afternoon in early May 2018. The WhatsApp group chat didn’t know what was about hit it. A message that would potentially define the future of the podcast…
“Lads. Lads. Ready for this lads? Lads? Not definite, but… The Terrace Podcast. Doing a TV pilot. For the BBC!”
The words that began one of the most batshit mental periods in this humble podcast’s life. The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast — a bunch of like-minded millennial mouthpieces — being given the opportunity of a lifetime. Once the team had calmed down a bit, the reality hit. We needed a production company, and as it turned out I knew just the ones…they happened to be sitting in the office I worked.
When I started at Studio Something, Ian and Jordan were extremely clear in their intentions for the future of the business. We work with a lot of clients in a lot of different capacities, but as well as that we want to create and manage our own ventures — with the hope of making our passions turn into our job. Ken dreamt up Studiowave, Sam has created Welbot, and with today's announcement of ‘A View From The Terrace’, I am fortunate enough to say that my passion of football and podcasting has now turned into a job!
The marriage of Studio Something and The Terrace was perfect from the start. It allowed us to create something unique while staying true to what the podcast was built upon. We were given the brief, ‘make a show about football you would want to watch, don’t overthink it, or second guess what we (Auntie Beeb) want’.
The easy option would be to make a Sportscene-lite, with suits and smart boards and former pro’s giving their input, but, of course, we didn’t have suits or former pros. If you’ve ever followed either Studio Something or The Terrace you would know that that is not the sort of output we work towards anyway. The creativity of everyone involved helped us to mould the pilot; an adaptation of the podcast custom built for TV. The entire Terrace team had a huge input with feature ideas and the expertise of Studio Something and the wider group of freelancers helped make it a reality, including even getting our boy Ken to rebrand the identity. It was a huge team effort with almost everyone in Studio Something inputting into the show in some way or another.
I headed up to Arbroath with Jordan and cameraman Leon to film Gayfield, the home of lower league Arbroath FC like it’s never been seen before for a section called ‘beauty in the lower leagues’. Producer Andy got pod contributor Duncan McKay up to Raith Rovers to become a lion for the day — with the help of awesome director Duncan Cowles. Jordan and Andy took Craig Cairns for dinner at a Premiership footballer’s house. We had a full day studio shoot and then it was all left with the editors (not the band). Blood, sweat, tears, and patter had been piled into it and all we had left to do was to watch it and submit it to the Beeb.
We booked ourselves a cinema screen and invited everyone involved — I can honestly say it’s probably one of the proudest moments of my life. Seeing everyone’s work come together like that, sharing it with folk I’m lucky to call good friends was the perfect ending to a mental couple of months. The BBC seemed to enjoy it too, thankfully.
As of today, we begin the hard work of making ten episodes of ‘A View From The Terrace’, a sideways look at Scottish Football and everything that comes with it. From the top of the pile to the bottom. The stars and the journeymen. A sport ingrained in our culture that makes us laugh and cry, that we are sometimes brilliant at and very regularly also terrible. It means everything and it means nothing, It’s football in Scotland and for ten weeks, we are going to try to do it justice.
Pre-season starts now, and everyone involved can’t wait to get cracking.
See you on the telly!
