Jennifer Lawrence and her appearance at the London Premier of Red Sparrow on the 19th of February this year really had the crowds out in Leicester Square the heart of cinema and theatre land. Fantastic, great, wonderful I hear you all say, well me and my team of videographers have a slightly different take on this mediafest.
Why you ask? Well the venue for the internationally renowned Macintosh Administrators and Developers Conference organised by Amsys was this year hosted at the very same venue as the above-mentioned Premier. Hey you say, that great Conference was on the 20th and 21st of February not on Monday the 19th. Correct but setting up all the kit necessary to record in HD the presentations and speakers of 25 world-class sessions on two screens of the Vue Leicester Square doesn't just happen.
Being true professions we turn up at the previously agreed time to find that not only is Leicester Square teaming with more than the normal monday-night crowds but the venue is surrounded by security fencing and its accompanying team of 'hard guys'. I tried all my smooth talking to gain access with my trolleys of kit (which would have taken only a couple of minutes) all to no avail. These 'hard guys' were obviously being paid more than the minimum wage.
Luckily my videographers were Jennifer Lawrence fans so whilst I had to shoot off to check into our 4-star luxury hotel (2-star hostel) then head to Covent Garden for a meet and greet with organisers and speakers followed by putting the trusty Skoda Rooster in safe parking, they dutifully guarded the kit trolleys until they could gain access over two hours later before they could go to the hostel. Thanks guys you were amazing.