and here it is… The Rant
The Rant, a unique, leftfield, well-timed and culturally significant public affairs discussion show - akin to Question Time but with students and increased levels of audience power and participation - was the culmination of the very successful Creative Pathways initiative at the City of Glasgow College, Scotland’s newest and biggest Further Education institution.
The show aired in front of a live TV audience in the college’s very own TV studio on 31st March 2011 and is here for you to view, enjoy and hopefully make your own judgments on the ‘rantings’ of the Scottish political middleweights involved…
And a final word from the student producer…
The Rant was an idea born out of a collective feeling of awkwardness and has turned into the very thing that defines my time at college. We started off as an erratic and broad group of talents that was then whittled down to three naive students.
When myself, Lisa (Provan) and Chloe (Moore) first won the pitch, I believe we got wrapped up in the immediate jubilation and completely disregarded the daunting workload. Winning the pitch was a surprise and is one of my proudest achievements. But despite adversity we helped produce a fabulous product.
After the success of the pitch, it felt like stepping into the unknown. Stepping up to do the pitch was more a statement of character rather than genuine belief. Now we had to believe. We had to believe that we were the people to make a show worth the backing. We now had to make the show we said we would.
Weeks passed and no work was done. When we came round to discuss how the money would be spent and how we were going to put our plan into action, we discovered we could not stick to our original idea as strictly as we would have liked. Limited by our resources and skill sets, we realised we would have to drop a few key features. The art of compromise was the first thing we learned about working in TV production.
As the day of filming neared, the pressure around me intensified. With only a week to go, our man in charge of booking guests quit the team. He had not yet confirmed any guests for us. This move nearly killed the project but I managed to confirm a panel within 3 days.
With guests, host, questions and social networks set up, to me, it felt like everything was in place. How wrong I was. The incredibly precise and intricate details that must be covered to make a simple show like ours was something I had not expected. I have to admit that I completely underestimated the level of work involved in producing something for TV.
Luckily though, I was surrounded by a team of fantastic people who pointed me in the right direction. Honestly, without the wonderful TV crew of lecturers and students, none of this would be possible. I remember sitting down during rehearsals, watching the crew set everything up, and it made me so thankful but also nervous as I realised how much work other people were doing for it.
So many people were now invested in this project and I felt a huge weight of expectation and responsibility on my shoulders. I know I didn’t thank them on the day but I hope the TV - and Journalism – department staff know how grateful I was for the part they played.
Now that it is done, I can look back proudly. It was all a massive learning curve that has both humbled and inspired me.
Best regards,
Morgan McLeary
