The Hull Hub Issue 22

WHEN (IF) I GROW UP
with Sean Bell - Script Writer, Radio Producer, Voice-Over, DJ, Scout Leader, & Outdoors InstructoR
“I love deadlines” wrote the late, great Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy author, Douglas Adams. “I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
The word “deadline” was very much in my head a few days ago when I said to my wife “The Hull Hub editor Jayne’s going to be chasing me for my next
article very soon and I haven’t got a clue what to write about?” She laughed and replied, “You chose to be a writer” But that’s the funny thing you… I never
did. It just kind of happened by accident.
Waaaaay back in my teenage years, I remember there were two things I wanted to
do. One was to be a DJ, which I can confidently say, I achieved with a great deal of
success. Success as a club / bar DJ, a “career” that has taken me around the world,
but I also tried my hand at being a radio DJ / presenter at which I was truly awful.
I have no problem entertaining a live crowd of thousands, but it takes a special
and different set of skills to sit alone in a radio studio and make the output sound
fun, interesting and slick. I forever became tongue tied and regularly pressed the
wrong buttons and faders etc. No, presenting wasn’t for me, but I did then discover
radio production – in particular producing creative and effective commercials,
which is what my bread and butter is today.
And the other teenage ambition was to be a Stunt Performer – a path I started
on later in life, but never got to complete. To be recognised as a Stunt Performer
and work in TV and film here in the UK you have to be a member of what was
once called the Equity Stunt Register which later became the British Register of
Stunt Performers. To get onto these lists the candidate has to show proficiency
in numerous different “action” categories – cars, bikes, heights, water, fighting
etc. And horses. Thankfully (though of course I never did get that far) you didn’t
have to complete every column, which was a relief because I’m not going anywhere
near getting on the back of a horse. The training was very expensive but I
persevered for a while, ticking various boxes off, but in the end had to face up to
the fact that it wasn’t ever going to
happen. I’d also come to accept
that geographically, I wasn’t in
the right place and uprooting my
then young family wasn’t an option.
Stunts aren’t just restricted
to the big Bond or Fast & Furious
type action sequences. “Gags” as
they’re know occur in all genres
of films and TV show, soaps, commercials,
and even training programmes
such as the RNLI shoot
I was involved with, “drowning” in
the English Channel. The nature of the job means that Stunt Performers have to
stand in for other actors, or actually play a character so they’re in the scene to, for
example, receive a push over the balcony – in short they have to be able to act on
screen. So, part of the application process to get onto “the list” includes collecting
a number of on-screen credits. To achieve this, I got an acting agent in Leeds, and
made numerous supporting appearances in Yorkshire TV productions including
The Royal, Heartbeat (when I had an actual fight sequence whilst being arrested
by PC Bellamy), and several episodes of Emmerdale. Working on a “soap” is a very
surreal experience, being amongst characters who enter your home through the
TV screen several times a week. And for anyone who knocks soap operas, let me
tell you, the full-on production schedule means that everything is moving at a
superfast pace. Whether on-screen or on the other side of the camera, it’s certainly
a place where everyone has to
develop their skills quickly – it’s an
intense learning curve and an excellent
springboard fr anyone wanting
to work in TV. But becoming any kind
of writer was never part of the plan.
My discovered interest in radio production
led to myself talking my way
into a job with an Advertising Agency
here in Hull, which in turn led to myself
trying my hand at writing. BBC
Radio 4 used to broadcast a weekly
comedy show made up of scripts sent
in by listeners, so I thought I’d give it
a go and soon started receiving small
payments – though the payment was always useful and appreciated, I’d have been
happy just to have my work – my words – broadcast. Around the same time, I was
asked by an industry contact to write my first paid for article as these new CD’s
looked set to replace vinyl! Soon after, another publication, Disco & Club International,
asked me to review the refurbished night club I was then resident in, in
Malta. When I finally settled back in Hessle after working abroad, alongside all the
other things I was doing, I set myself up as a freelance script writer, faxing radio
commercial scripts around the country to stations and agencies. I even ended up
writing comedy for Craig Charles when
he was performing in panto’ at the Hull
New Theatre… oh yes I did!
Though I can’t remember what the
careers teacher at school actually
suggested was a suitable career path
myself, I do recall thinking to myself,
having walked out of the one to one
meeting I’d probably made drag on
for longer, just so I didn’t have to go
back into maths or French or whatever
– “I’ve just been given careers advice
by somebody who has probably gone
from School to University and then into
teaching – and has never experienced any environment, other than education?”
So it all just kind of happened. I never really had – or have - a career path, and
have to admit, aged 52, I still have no idea what I want to do when (if) I grow up.
But right now, I’m scratching my head, wondering what on earth I can write about
next time I see Jayne’s deadline… Whooshing towards
me?
www.SeanBell.co.uk
18
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