Remember the Saturday morning queue, standing outside the local flea pit waiting for it to open? I used to get there early so I could get a seat somewhere about 8 rows back and in the middle of the stalls. It was magic, and I\u2019d watch just about anything \u2013 twice if I could get away with it. The Pathe news was a bit of a struggle but even that, and the adverts, had their moments. I can\u2019t say I was drawn to the acting side, but the mystery in the making of films really thrilled me. Just wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The projectionist running films from his high box looked like a good place to ask questions, so one Saturday I knocked very gently on the box door and found a kind looking man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u2018What can I do for you young lass?\u2019 He was very patient for someone who had just shown films to a rowdy crowd of kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I\u2019m Amy and I\u2019d like to know more about films and how they get made. I\u2019m really interested in how it all works\u2019. This seemed a bit cheeky, but he seemed happy with the company. When I told her, Mum was a bit shocked at how bold I was getting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bob the projectionist let me watch films from his projection box amidst the smell of celluloid and the rattle of shallow metal tins and the dust motes trapped in beams of bright light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back, the film projector looked a lot like the wheels at nearby pit heads. You can still see them in the landscape. It reminds me of Dad, who died in a pit accident when I was 5. Everything moves on \u2013 film making , coal mining, people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018You\u2019ll be leaving school soon, what are you thinking of doing? You\u2019ve a lot of skills to offer.\u2019 Bob was egging me on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I\u2019d love to do something with film but I\u2019ve got no qualifications\u2019. It seemed an impossible dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I\u2019d get in touch with the BBC. They\u2019re always looking for people to do the donkey work. You could learn on the job\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Great advice. The BBC did take me on as a trainee assistant editor, Bob\u2019s reference must have helped a lot. At first I did the bidding of editors. There was a growing respect for my skills and sometimes editors asked for me by name. It was unusual to find women in editorial teams and I never got further than assistant editor. But more and more I was given control over editorial decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital methods have revolutionised editing of course. Those recent innovations in drone wildlife photography are quite stunning. But too late for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I\u2019ve grown older I have left work and moved back home look after mum . She\u2019s loved my success but worries that I haven\u2019t made time for family and children. Many old friends have moved away too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018You\u2019ll be lonely when I\u2019m gone\u2019. She\u2019s always saying<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I suppose that\u2019s the cutting room floor for you \u2013 you live with your editorial decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember the Saturday morning queue, standing outside the local flea pit waiting for it to open? I used to get there early so I could get a seat somewhere about 8 rows back and in the middle of the stalls. It was magic, and I\u2019d watch just about anything \u2013 twice if I could get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1792,1793],"tags":[175,733,921,114,1813,1811,991,29,145,116,13,1812,1814,1736,11],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1792","category-january-2026-the-movie","tag-about","tag-bit","tag-box","tag-but","tag-film","tag-films","tag-get","tag-how","tag-just","tag-like","tag-me","tag-pit","tag-saturday","tag-seemed","tag-was"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-G5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions\/2610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}