FCE Interview 12

Fail

Matt Ryan makes models. He’s worked for television and various other companies for many years. I went to his studio in London to talk to him. Matt, could I ask you to tell listeners a bit about your background and your early career?

Sure. Well, it’s strange really, ‘cos at first I never thought about model-making as a career. Fairly early on in my life, I worked for a television channel… I really wanted a full-time job there, but the best I could get was holiday relief work, filling in for people while they were away. I started off in the photograph library and we had to collect pictures for the news, and it was a good way of getting into the business.

So how did the career come about?

I think it was an interesting time altogether really. It was the sixties and everyone was talking about going to the moon. There were comic books about space and models of astronauts. Where I was working we had photographs which were used in television reports on the subject. The scenes fascinated me and I thought why not build some three-dimensional kits or models of the views instead of these flat photos that were mostly black and white.

And what happened to them?

Something quite incredible really. I still think back on it with a lot of pride. During one of the space trips to the moon, the camera on the spacecraft burnt out and we had no pictures back in the television studio to put on the news. So they used a total of fifteen of my models as a substitute and they were broadcast to everyone at home.

Do you think that marked the beginning of a career with television?

Yes, because shortly after that, I was asked to go to a meeting with one of the TV heads. It was a time when they were looking for more people and I think nowadays that type of thing wouldn’t happen -you’d need two degrees and about six years’ experience! But they put me straight onto one of the biggest TV series at the time.

What was that?

It was called Bright Star and it was a children’s programme they produced about a time traveller. You know the kind of thing… each week he had a different adventure in the twenty-first century and each time there would be monsters or strange creatures that he’d have to deal with, and I made most of the models for these. And I was just one of a whole load of people… you’d need make-up artists and scene-makers and costume designers… it was incredible.

Can we move on to some other programmes that you’ve worked on because they haven’t all been science fiction, have they?

No. In fact the afternoon children’s programmes were very demanding too. I made a regular appearance on these where I might talk about how to make your own toys or create your own set for a story, or run a competition based on space research.

And you were also involved in documentaries at the time, weren’t you?

Yes .. . to be honest I did so many of them that I’ve lost count but my favourite was Heart of Darkness for which I won television prizes. That was quite funny because at the time it wasn’t possible to get an award for what I did… you know, you could be best actor or best director but there was no category for special effects – well, only in films, not television – so they put my name forward for a lot of other things and I actually won seven of them!

Matt, thank you for a fascinating interview.

Matt Ryan makes models. He’s worked for television and various other companies for many years. I went to his studio in London to talk to him. Matt, could I ask you to tell listeners a bit about your background and your early career?

Sure. Well, it’s strange really, ‘cos at first I never thought about model-making as a career. Fairly early on in my life, I worked for a television channel… I really wanted a full-time job there, but the best I could get was holiday relief work, filling in for people while they were away. I started off in the photograph library and we had to collect pictures for the news, and it was a good way of getting into the business.

So how did the career come about?

I think it was an interesting time altogether really. It was the sixties and everyone was talking about going to the moon. There were comic books about space and models of astronauts. Where I was working we had photographs which were used in television reports on the subject. The scenes fascinated me and I thought why not build some three-dimensional kits or models of the views instead of these flat photos that were mostly black and white.

And what happened to them?

Something quite incredible really. I still think back on it with a lot of pride. During one of the space trips to the moon, the camera on the spacecraft burnt out and we had no pictures back in the television studio to put on the news. So they used a total of fifteen of my models as a substitute and they were broadcast to everyone at home.

Do you think that marked the beginning of a career with television?

Yes, because shortly after that, I was asked to go to a meeting with one of the TV heads. It was a time when they were looking for more people and I think nowadays that type of thing wouldn’t happen -you’d need two degrees and about six years’ experience! But they put me straight onto one of the biggest TV series at the time.

What was that?

It was called Bright Star and it was a children’s programme they produced about a time traveller. You know the kind of thing… each week he had a different adventure in the twenty-first century and each time there would be monsters or strange creatures that he’d have to deal with, and I made most of the models for these. And I was just one of a whole load of people… you’d need make-up artists and scene-makers and costume designers… it was incredible.

Can we move on to some other programmes that you’ve worked on because they haven’t all been science fiction, have they?

No. In fact the afternoon children’s programmes were very demanding too. I made a regular appearance on these where I might talk about how to make your own toys or create your own set for a story, or run a competition based on space research.

And you were also involved in documentaries at the time, weren’t you?

Yes .. . to be honest I did so many of them that I’ve lost count but my favourite was Heart of Darkness for which I won television prizes. That was quite funny because at the time it wasn’t possible to get an award for what I did… you know, you could be best actor or best director but there was no category for special effects – well, only in films, not television – so they put my name forward for a lot of other things and I actually won seven of them!

Matt, thank you for a fascinating interview.

Matt Ryan makes models. He’s worked for television and various other companies for many years. I went to his studio in London to talk to him. Matt, could I ask you to tell listeners a bit about your background and your early career?

Sure. Well, it’s strange really, ‘cos at first I never thought about model-making as a career. Fairly early on in my life, I worked for a television channel… I really wanted a full-time job there, but the best I could get was holiday relief work, filling in for people while they were away. I started off in the photograph library and we had to collect pictures for the news, and it was a good way of getting into the business.

So how did the career come about?

I think it was an interesting time altogether really. It was the sixties and everyone was talking about going to the moon. There were comic books about space and models of astronauts. Where I was working we had photographs which were used in television reports on the subject. The scenes fascinated me and I thought why not build some three-dimensional kits or models of the views instead of these flat photos that were mostly black and white.

And what happened to them?

Something quite incredible really. I still think back on it with a lot of pride. During one of the space trips to the moon, the camera on the spacecraft burnt out and we had no pictures back in the television studio to put on the news. So they used a total of fifteen of my models as a substitute and they were broadcast to everyone at home.

Do you think that marked the beginning of a career with television?

Yes, because shortly after that, I was asked to go to a meeting with one of the TV heads. It was a time when they were looking for more people and I think nowadays that type of thing wouldn’t happen -you’d need two degrees and about six years’ experience! But they put me straight onto one of the biggest TV series at the time.

What was that?

It was called Bright Star and it was a children’s programme they produced about a time traveller. You know the kind of thing… each week he had a different adventure in the twenty-first century and each time there would be monsters or strange creatures that he’d have to deal with, and I made most of the models for these. And I was just one of a whole load of people… you’d need make-up artists and scene-makers and costume designers… it was incredible.

Can we move on to some other programmes that you’ve worked on because they haven’t all been science fiction, have they?

No. In fact the afternoon children’s programmes were very demanding too. I made a regular appearance on these where I might talk about how to make your own toys or create your own set for a story, or run a competition based on space research.

And you were also involved in documentaries at the time, weren’t you?

Yes .. . to be honest I did so many of them that I’ve lost count but my favourite was Heart of Darkness for which I won television prizes. That was quite funny because at the time it wasn’t possible to get an award for what I did… you know, you could be best actor or best director but there was no category for special effects – well, only in films, not television – so they put my name forward for a lot of other things and I actually won seven of them!

Matt, thank you for a fascinating interview.

Matt Ryan makes models. He’s worked for television and various other companies for many years. I went to his studio in London to talk to him. Matt, could I ask you to tell listeners a bit about your background and your early career?

Sure. Well, it’s strange really, ‘cos at first I never thought about model-making as a career. Fairly early on in my life, I worked for a television channel… I really wanted a full-time job there, but the best I could get was holiday relief work, filling in for people while they were away. I started off in the photograph library and we had to collect pictures for the news, and it was a good way of getting into the business.

So how did the career come about?

I think it was an interesting time altogether really. It was the sixties and everyone was talking about going to the moon. There were comic books about space and models of astronauts. Where I was working we had photographs which were used in television reports on the subject. The scenes fascinated me and I thought why not build some three-dimensional kits or models of the views instead of these flat photos that were mostly black and white.

And what happened to them?

Something quite incredible really. I still think back on it with a lot of pride. During one of the space trips to the moon, the camera on the spacecraft burnt out and we had no pictures back in the television studio to put on the news. So they used a total of fifteen of my models as a substitute and they were broadcast to everyone at home.

Do you think that marked the beginning of a career with television?

Yes, because shortly after that, I was asked to go to a meeting with one of the TV heads. It was a time when they were looking for more people and I think nowadays that type of thing wouldn’t happen -you’d need two degrees and about six years’ experience! But they put me straight onto one of the biggest TV series at the time.

What was that?

It was called Bright Star and it was a children’s programme they produced about a time traveller. You know the kind of thing… each week he had a different adventure in the twenty-first century and each time there would be monsters or strange creatures that he’d have to deal with, and I made most of the models for these. And I was just one of a whole load of people… you’d need make-up artists and scene-makers and costume designers… it was incredible.

Can we move on to some other programmes that you’ve worked on because they haven’t all been science fiction, have they?

No. In fact the afternoon children’s programmes were very demanding too. I made a regular appearance on these where I might talk about how to make your own toys or create your own set for a story, or run a competition based on space research.

And you were also involved in documentaries at the time, weren’t you?

Yes .. . to be honest I did so many of them that I’ve lost count but my favourite was Heart of Darkness for which I won television prizes. That was quite funny because at the time it wasn’t possible to get an award for what I did… you know, you could be best actor or best director but there was no category for special effects – well, only in films, not television – so they put my name forward for a lot of other things and I actually won seven of them!

Matt, thank you for a fascinating interview.