One day the (then) executive producer of Network 10’s ‘Studio 10’ came up with the crazy idea of an episode’s rundown being determined by the spin of a chocolate wheel.
We made it happen. Twice.
Studio 10 always presented tough but fun challenges; these episodes were probably the most ambitious during my time working on the show.
Of course, we suggested using Vizrt graphics to create a virtual wheel, but executive producer Rob McKnight was determined to make it clear that there was no pre-determined interference. He desired genuine chaos instead!
The original idea from the production team was to have ‘wedges’ that could be removed from the wheel as segments took place, however, this would result in increased chances for the neighbouring segments with increased wedges… technically not the result they wanted.
With the task set, we determined the list of segments on a standard Studio 10 rundown, resulting in 15 different wheel faces printed on corflute, with 14 different segment logos – each logo printed on vinyl stickers, in 3 size variations (as the remaining segments decreased, the small stickers would get lost in the larger wedges).
After each segment moment on the wheel, the floor crew were standing by with the next wheel background and would re-label the wheel with the prior segment sticker removed.
Busy morning, but it resulted in a fantastic opportunity to provide viewers with an insight into how live TV production takes place.