An Interview with OO President, David Gilman ('89)

I was blown away when I was asked to be President of the OO Club. I was at my 30-year Reunion back at School in 2019 – all I did was stand at the top of the steps and thank the people who arranged the reunion. I had no idea what it would entail. Jono Wills, in his typical laid back style said: “being OO President is whatever you want it to be.” I think that is turning out to be true. I see the role of OO President as an opportunity to visit Oakham and really use this message to offer encouragement, tips and advice to current pupils – particularly those interested in Drama and Media. I believe I am also the point of contact in trying to encourage the continuation of reunions within the OO community, bringing friends together and sparking enthusiasm for the OO Club in people who might not have previously considered making it a bigger part of their lives - particularly when it comes to promoting events, such as the OO Dinner.

I had a little bit of a prejudiced view in the past about attending OO events. I felt maybe they would be a bit too old fashioned and wouldn’t necessarily appeal to me. It is important to me that we don’t alienate those who have shown their loyalty and passion for the School over many decades, but I believe it is important to introduce our more recent OOs to the benefits of keeping in touch, together with showing them the fun you can have!

David at the 2019 OO President’s Dinner

I was a bit apprehensive about going along to our 30th Reunion, because I wasn’t sure how I would feel going back and meeting everyone again. Actually, it was amazing. It rekindled all those memories and as we stood in BAFS raising a drink, that whole relationship was completely reborn. Now, I keep in touch with loads of OOs and meet up every six months or so and I closely keep in touch with quite a few of them now. It was a real turning point. For anyone who is remotely unsure about going to a reunion, I would say just do it.

My favourite memories of being at the School are from the time I spent in the theatre. I spent so much of my time swinging from very high bars, hanging off ladders with a light in one arm and gripping on for dear life with the other arm. It felt like a family in the theatre, whether that was the backstage crew, the staff, or the actors. I have so many fond memories of time spent with them. My absolute favourite memory was when we toured a play, The Accrington Pals, around New England for two weeks. I believe this was the first time Oakham had taken a play on tour. As part of my A-level Design, I designed the set and then I did the lighting.

On tour with the cast members of The Accrington Pals

After leaving Oakham I went to Plymouth Polytechnic, as it was known then, and started a degree in Communications Engineering which is as interesting as it sounds. I had a ball in Plymouth and I wouldn’t have missed that year for the world, because socially it was great and that helped me to grow as a person. I spent a year partying and not working very hard, whilst applying for jobs – predominantly at the BBC. I decided at the end of the university year that I was better off leaving my course, as it wasn’t even remotely relevant to what I wanted to do. I then managed to land a job as a trainee technical operator at TV-am, who were the predecessors to Good Morning Britain, and there I got to do studio cameras, editing, VT (so playing all the tapes, as they were in those days), and vision mixing (which is like having a giant remote control that can cut between all the cameras when the Director shouts or clicks his fingers…). After that, TV-am lost their ITV franchise which meant that we all got made redundant. When one door closes, another door opens – Meridian, who still have the franchise for ITV in the South. I managed to get a job there, again, as a technical operator. It was here that I focused on my vision mixing and directing. I started by directing short 5-minute bulletins for ITV local news when the main director was on leave, so that was a great opportunity. A full-time directing job came up in Meridian in Maidstone, Kent, so I was Senior Director there. When they decided to shut that studio down, I applied for the job as Director at Sky News, and I have been there ever since.

I’ve been at Sky News for 16 years now. There are two aspects to my role. My day-to-day job is directing the output; in the gallery, the main control room, you have two key figures who run things. The Output Editor – they act as a producer who is in charge of the editorial side of things. They will decide which story you are going to do and how long you are going to allocate to each story and each interview – the presenter’s angle of the tack. Then the Director makes it happen. I call every shot, decide how each camera is framed up and which graphic to cut to. I knit the whole thing together and make sure it goes on air.

The other side of my role is that I manage seven other directors. I try to develop their careers and enhance their skills as directors, giving them opportunities so they can grow in confidence and experience.

David Gilman, in the centre of the action, at Sky

My advice to current Oakhamians and Old Oakhamians who would like to get into the Media: be tenacious and decide in your mind that it is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. From the age of 14, I wrote randomly to the BBC, not knowing who would get my letter, saying that I wanted to be a camera man. I was absolutely determined that I was going to be a camera man. There was a guy who wrote back to me – once I had his name, the poor bloke received a letter from me every six months. I would say something along the lines of: “hello, I’m still interested, I still want to be a camera man.” And he would write back to say: “hello, I’m ever so sorry but you’re still not 18 – write back when you’re 18!”. When I was 18, I got a series of job interviews at the BBC, for a role as a trainee camera man. I was progressing really well through the series of 3 interviews, got to the third one and I completely messed it up and didn’t get the job! Thankfully, TV-am gave me a job instead and it all worked out okay in the end.

My other advice is ‘be yourself’ – people’s personalities always shine through. When I have given people jobs in the past, it has not always been the people with the most experience that I have taken on. Once someone shows their enthusiasm and their eyes light up, and they demonstrate that they are really interested in, and excited about what they want to do, then that will get them through. I think that’s the main thing that Oakham gave to me – the confidence to believe in myself. Exams will put you in a good place, however as somebody who did terribly in exams, I strongly believe it’s about the overall person and their personality and their enthusiasm that will see them through.