Three Nayland College journalists got more than they bargained for when they arrived at the set of the AM Show at the church steps.

On the 5th July Nayland College principal Daniel Wilson and journalism students Maya Jayasena, Will Irvine and yours truly set off to take a look at media at work in the real world. We were fortunate to be invited to Trafalgar Square to attend the filming of the AM Show, as part of a national tour which started in July.

When we arrived at the base of the church steps on the frigid morning, one of the producers was waiting to give us a tour of the AM Show’s production trucks worth $3 million, as well as  the high-tech satellite dish fitted to their Mercedes-Benz van. Inside the Sky Sports truck was a crew of five working behind the scenes, frantically talking to the presenters and transmitting script and information.  Aspiring journalist Maya was impressed. “There’s so much effort going into a single episode that you can’t see when you’re watching it on TV,” she commented.

Under the huge white tent was an array of lights, microphones and wires.  Presenter Duncan Garner, news anchor Amanda Gillies and sports presenter Mark Richardson sat in the middle of the set, delivering their morning show. As we looked on at the professionals doing what they do best, we appreciated the fact that despite their busy schedules, the cast still made the time to sit and chat with us.

Shortly after the show wrapped up, Duncan Garner and Amanda Gillies invited us into Burger Culture to not only interview them, but also to increase our knowledge of the industry and to give us some tips about how to get into it. This experience was made better when Duncan shouted us some of Burger Culture’s famous donuts, earning himself the nickname “Duncan Donuts”.

Duncan and Amanda are both offline in terms of social media to minimise distractions. “For every person who likes our show, there will always be an (idiot) who thinks differently,” Duncan mentioned. This is why these two do not bother to read comments anymore on social media.

The most useful tip that the pair gave us was to "get our foot in the door early”, a reference to the fact that in order to gain contacts and make a name for yourself, aspiring journalists need to be pro-active and contact businesses in the media industry, because they will not contact you.

Thank you to the AM Show for the opportunity, we all thoroughly enjoyed the fun and informative morning.