By Marit Bonne
I’m a writer girlie. Or at least, that’s what I always thought. Putting thought into the words in my Word document is something I am comfortable with and I really enjoy doing so! This being said, I also know that in order to grow, it is best to try something you’re not comfortable with. Therefore, I wanted to try a different medium: television.
My fellow student Feeke (an amazing writer and an even better editor) was doing her external assignment at the NTR TV programme Focus at the time. Curious to what this internship entailed, I called her and asked what she did over there, in the magical Hilversum.
Spoiler: it sounded lovely. Time went on and I became Feeke’s nepo-intern, as she introduced me to the other editors and said I was interested in an internship there. I visited the editorial office for an application and the rest is history.
During my time there, I first got to know all the daily activities of an editor. This included meetings, discussing relevant topics, talking about new research being published and doing a lot of research. My supervisor there, Corlijn de Groot, was amazing and guided me through the whole beginning phase. She included me in interviews with speakers and encouraged me to search topics and new angles myself.
Later on, I got more familiar with the process and learned a lot of useful skills! My first accomplished skill? I got rid of my fear of calling… The most Gen Z thing ever, but I learned that the cliche is true: oefening baart kunst (practice makes perfect). Furthermore, video is very different from writing and the differences became quite clear to me during this internship.
For instance, it helps if you think in scenes; what can we do or show when we talk with a scientist about their research? Looking at talking heads for half an hour is no fun, so it helps if you make it visual. With some topics, for instance, something that involves molecules or viruses, this can be quite hard. A metaphor that is visual can help, or you have to be creative.
One brave meeting, I sucked in my nerves and pitched my first topic: the bicycle. This was last fall, when you couldn’t open a newspaper without seeing a fatbike prominently at the frontpage. Apparently, a lot of bicycle research is being done in the Netherlands; we even have our own bicycle lab! Everyone in the meeting was excited.
And so I called a lot (a lot!) of researchers about their bicycle research and tried to fabricate a story out of it, together with the director. A few weeks and a lot of logistics for filming days later – ironically all with huge storms – the episode aired on Dutch national television (which I’m very proud of!).
So dear readers, be brave once in a while and step out of your comfort zone. I promise you cool things will happen.
Bridging Science 