I didn't plan on becoming an engineer, I wanted to be an astronaut!

To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, TVBEurope talks to two engineers at BBC Studioworks about the highs and lows of working in the TV industry

By Jenny Priestley

Published: June 23, 2021

To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, TVBEurope talks to two engineers at BBC Studioworks about the highs and lows of working in the TV industry

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To mark International Women in Engineering Day on 23rd June, TVBEurope spoke to Alice Sarre, junior engineer at BBC Studioworks and her colleague Caroline Mayne, supervisory engineer.

The pair discuss how they got started in the TV industry, the best part of their jobs, and who are their engineering heroes.

What made you want to work in the technology side of the TV industry?Alice Sarre: I went to university to study Film and Television Production. I wasn't sure exactly which aspect of television I wanted to work in, but I'd always enjoyed problem solving and working with computers. The course I did was a BSc so there was a lot of technical study, and I discovered that was the side of production I enjoyed the most. I loved helping other people with their issues and figuring out how all the kit worked. When I finished university, I started applying for the more technical-based jobs in the industry, and I was lucky enough to get a job as a trainee broadcast engineer where I worked for two years. From there I joined BBC Studioworks.

Caroline Mayne: I didn't plan on becoming an engineer I wanted to be an astronaut!

I was raised by my dad from an early age, as an only-child. Dad introduced me to electronics and helped me build a Crystal Radio. I was fascinated that this small pile of odd components made it possible for me to listen to radio stations from all over.

data-src=https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caroline-Mayne-Supervisory-Engineer-726x694.jpg alt= width=300 height=287 data-srcset=https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caroline-Mayne-Supervisory-Engineer-726x694.jpg 726w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caroline-Mayne-Supervisory-Engineer-353x337.jpg 353w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caroline-Mayne-Supervisory-Engineer-768x734.jpg 768w, https://www.tvbeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Caroline-Mayne-Supervisory-Engineer.jpg 954w data-sizes=(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px />Caroline MayneIn school, I excelled in science classes and had a huge head-start over my classmates - I credit my dad for inspiring me. We would look at the stars together and we'd have our dad/daughter time watching TV shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who. During the last few Apollo Missions, I have memories of my dad rushing outside with me to try and catch a glimpse of a Saturn V Rocket! Following Apollo, the Space Shuttle Project began, and I was hooked.

I've always had a passion for sound and music. I brought drums home as a teenager, expecting to be told to take them back. Instead, my dad indulged me and said I could keep them if I had lessons. A few years later I approached a recording studio nearby and naively asked to play drums for them. The owner spoke with my dad and this led to me learning to become a sound engineer. I played drums and keyboards too and was in the right place at the right time, as Sequencers and soon after MIDI, became a thing. As a drummer who could read music, I was able to create and programme drum sequences and with my fascination with technology, I found that I could trouble-shoot problems with these newfangled devices when they failed. I went on to record with many well-known musical acts of the time as a sound engineer and in some cases, additionally as writer/producer/musician.

How welcoming have you found the industry?AS: Everyone has been so lovely. It's hard being a young woman in a lot of industries, and engineering definitely has its fair share of challenges, but it helps when the people are so easy to get along and chat with. Everyone is also very willing to share their knowledge and experiences, which is so important in engineering where a lot of what you do is based on local setups.

CM: From personal experience of the industry, it seems I've had to try harder than some of my male peers to be taken seriously and to be thought of as a capable engineer. I'm happy to say, wherever I have worked and where people have gotten to know me and how I work, my experiences have been largely positive.

Tell us about your role at BBC Studioworks, and what that involvesAS: I'm a junior engineer. There are three of us and we're currently on rotation between three different engineering areas; post production, new business and entertainment and drama services. We all spend six months in each place, shadowing the engineers and learning as much as we can. It's a training process, so after a year and a half, we could comfortably work with any of the three teams. I help out with fixing the equipment, rigging and derigging for different shows and general maintenance duties. I do jobs on my own if I feel comfortable, but most of the time I'm learning from the other engineers.

CM: As a supervisory studio engineer at BBC Studioworks, my job is about trouble-shooting and problem solving. It involves trying to find the best way (often creatively) to join all the techy bits together such that production can make the show they've envisioned. Each show is a new challenge and might need 20 cameras, three in-vision-monitors which need colour-correcting and are switchable from the vision mixer and so on. There may be many stations that require specific audio and video monitoring of cameras, VTs and other sources. It can be challenging but rewarding when it works!

What's the best part of your job?

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