Nicole Brady (Photo - The Age)

Most people would perhaps see television as being completely separate from the arts industry – it is entertainment for the masses, rife with lifestyle shows teaching us how to transform our backyard/front yard/face/body/mind, and vote-via-SMS talent quests. I, however, watch and appreciate TV as art: done properly, a show can take you off your couch and into the office of one of New York’s most equally powerful and feared lawyers; into the deep south of Louisiana, where modern-day vampires are assimilating into society; or into the almost Seussian world of a pie maker who can bring the dead back to life with his touch, without consequence, for just 60 seconds. As both a craft and a multi-million dollar industry it is utterly fascinating, constantly evolving, and what I want to investigate and write about.

Nicole Brady was my obvious first choice to interview. As editor of the Green Guide, she sits in the chair I hope to one day occupy, and gave me an invaluable insight into television reporting culture. It was interesting to discover she started her career as journalist who just happens to write about television. After finding brief work at a newspaper while on holiday in the USA, she returned to Melbourne and applied for a cadetship with The Age. Four places were awarded, and Nicole was number 5. Still, she gained a cadetship at the Green Guide, where her sole responsibility was to write the TV listings. As monotonous as it was, it was not all that time-consuming, so Nicole easily found time to begin writing, and made the quick move to write articles for the Guide, and then made the transition to state politics.  She returned to the Guide in 2000, and in 2006 became editor.

A typical week at the Guide, Nicole tells me, is very organised, with cover stories and articles planned weeks in advance. As deadline for print is 10am Tuesday, the production week starts on Thursday (the day the Guide is published), where photos and stories are organised, and copy begins coming in for sub-editing and proofreading. By Monday and Tuesday – the ‘production days’ – Nicole will have proofs of each page of the Guide, fix any errors, re-write headlines or captions, and send it through for print.

The Green Guide is perhaps unlike other publications in Melbourne, in that the focus is clearly on the craft of television, and less on Logies frocks and Australian Idol exit interviews. This is Nicole’s intention: she sees television as holding a ‘mirror to society’, and wants to know exactly what it is about certain shows and genres that will create either a ratings hit, or leave them in a graveyard timeslot or worse – axed. In coming up with potential articles, Nicole says she has a lot of freedom to work from her own story ideas, but concedes that networks do constantly want publicity for their upcoming shows. Often ideas for cover stories or features are borne from what may be a broader issue within the industry: similarly, the sudden rise in popularity of a new show may provoke an investigation into a wider genre; she cites, for example, an up-coming edition whose cover story is an investigation of the cooking show genre, prompted by the recent success of TEN’s new show Master Chef.

Nicole remains pragmatic about the role the Green Guide plays, and is acutely aware of the two very different readerships: the industry and in the community. While on the one hand the Guide provides valuable feedback to – and PR for – networks in the form of reviews and feature articles, she is all to aware of the fact that by the afternoon, much of it is relegated to ‘fish and chip wrapping’; most people, she notes, want to read about the shows they are watching, so monitoring ratings and being aware of trends is key to hooking in a reader.

In looking to the future of the Green Guide, Nicole is visibly frustrated at Fairfax’s unwillingness to give her the freedom to bring the Guide into the digital age. There is evidently a big debate within the organisation about the role of online media. Nicole would ‘dearly’ love to start a Twitter account and break the Guide into the social media network, the fact remains that the Green Guide itself does not have an online equivalent, so tweeting articles, photos and links quickly becomes redundant.

I asked Nicole about career prospects within a publication such as the Green Guide or in TV journalism, and she told me quite matter-of-factly, that it’s tough, and limited. With the current economic climate, big organisations such as Fairfax are making staff redundant and minimising departments, so opportunities are slim to none. Coincidentally, Nicole began her career at The Age in the last recession, so her advice could not be more relevant. She told me to create my own opportunities, work for free as much as possible, and look to other sources for work, especially online and within production companies. She remains confident that TV as a medium is not dead, and that there is still – and will continue to be – a strong appetite for television. I suppose while that appetite is still there, there will always be the need for commentary, investigation and criticism of the craft and art of television.

Justin Hoffman