Dream job: Premier League Productions' Anna Ward on the road to becoming director of production and operations By Heather McLean, Editor
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 - 11:35
Print This Story
Premier League Productions' director of production and operations, Anna Ward
When she took a gap year from university to Australia, Premier League Productions' director of production and operations, Anna Ward, scored a dream job which took her into the world of sports broadcasting for the first time.
Ward, who is a member of the SVG Europe Women Advisory Board, explains: I worked on a Tour called Grand Prix Sailing' which featured 18 foot-long skiffs racing against each other in various harbours around Australia. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to land that job; fresh out of uni and being paid to travel around Australia to sailing events. I spent a lot of time on observer and hospitality boats in Sydney Harbour which seemed so glamourous to me at the time!
She continued the trend when she got back to the UK: After returning from Australia, I got a job at European Tour Productions here at IMG. I couldn't believe I had that job either now I was being paid to fly around the world, not just Australia, and stay in nice hotels.
From there I took a job with IMG's facilities provider, CTV OB, and working there did mean I worked on more than just sport which was a draw as I wanted to expand my repertoire, but I always missed production and ultimately came back to IMG after a short stint freelancing.
I've been really lucky throughout my career at IMG to work on some great projects, Ward continues. The Paralympics always stands out to me as it felt like we really were changing society's view of disability. Then there were the various multi-sport events I worked on: the Asian Games, Asian Beach Games, the Asian Winter Games. Asia has played quite a role in my career. Notably moving out to Singapore for a year as part of a joint venture with the Asian Tour Golf which was my first head of production role.
Onwards and upwards
Ward studied Film and Media at the University of Stirling, and she says, I think that was the first university course in the UK of that nature at the time . The degree, sounded fun and exciting, but sports wasn't in my thinking then, she goes on. I'd always enjoyed playing sports but I'm not a mad keen sports fan to be honest.
As to how she got her current role, Ward had been working as a head of production at IMG on various projects when the opportunity came up to move over to Premier League Productions.
She went for it: For some people Premier League Productions is synonymous with IMG but I'd never worked on it despite being at the company on and off for so many years. In my opinion it's our biggest and most prestigious project and well resourced, so what's not to like?
One of the reasons I am proud of working for the Premier League is the positive impact the League has on the world around it, and our part in amplifying those messages, adds Ward. Their involvement with initiatives such as Rainbow Laces and No Room for Racism are more exciting to me than the latest bit of tech.
I'd worked on big OBs, such as the Open Golf, the Paralympics and various Asian Games but I'd not worked on such a large production that is ongoing as opposed to a one-off event, says Ward, commenting on what was challenging about getting into the role of PLP director of production and operations. Getting my head around everything the department produces - and the budgets - was tricky to begin with as was understanding how each part affects another part of the operation. I soon realised you couldn't make decisions in isolation as it would likely impact another part of the department.
I found that frustrating to begin with as it slows down the decision making process, she notes. And my lack of football knowledge made things difficult at times; it took me a while to understand the schedule and how that impacted on budgets and deliverables. I've just about got there now!
She adds: I find the pace quite challenging at times. Everyone works at 100 miles an hour and, especially in my new role which has more of a focus on culture, I think it's difficult to get people to stop and reflect on how and why we operate the way we do.
There is a lot to enjoy about the job, which she started in June 2021. Ward comments: I like the variety of what comes across my desk. I also like that in my new role as director of production and operations I need to think more strategically; I'm moving away from implementation and more into thinking about how we can continuously improve what we do. I really enjoy researching the latest thinking on management and leadership principles and considering how we might bring that to PLP, although finding the time to do that research can be challenging.
Negotiating being typecast
Ward says that being typecast into certain roles when she first started out in sports broadcasting was something she had to negotiate. The biggest challenge I faced when I was younger is that women were typecast into production manager (PM) and organisational roles. Originally, given my degree in film studies, I wanted to produce programming, but it was very difficult to cross over from an admin role to an editorial one. Thankfully I don't think that divide and stereotype is as severe anymore; although I think it still exists.
However, she adds that there were bonuses to being a PM: When I was younger travelling was always an attractive part of the job for me and I loved working on big events; the challenge of organising all those people plus I liked being in the middle of what was going on. As a PM you have so many touch points in the process that you understand it end to end, that was a draw for
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Dream job: Premier League Productions' Anna Ward on the road to becoming director of production and operations By Heather McLean, Editor 
