myOrganiser ...making YOUR life easier |
Deborah's Diary |
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January 2010 - and I
want to wish everybody who knows me a very happy new year - with every
blessing for health and prosperity! We spent hogmany in Spain this year.
Just my husband and I and a bottle of bubbly - watching the complete Band
of Brothers DVD series which he got for Christmas from our son and
his wife. My brother Tommy (who works in the movies in Oz) spent a
couple of years working on BoB and the follow up Pacific programmes
doing the special effects; explosions, guns, tanks and helicopters etc!
He has a boy's Dream Job! I got bored with all the killing etc half way
through although the episode (no 5 I think) directed by Tom Hanks was
very good.
myOrganiser and City Cleaning Contractors (our commercial cleaning division) have been doing well despite the recession. We have sadly lost a few clients (all of whom have said they'd like to return when the economy gets better) but also gained some great new ones and we now have a full complement of really fabulous top notch staff. We had a great Staff Christmas Dinner with our annual awards being given as follows: Employee of the Year goes to our senior housekeeper Maria Wuwer, a Certification of Excellence goes to our longest serving member of staff James Ross, our Certificate of Recognition goes to our hard working Robert Bialkowski and Newcomer of the Year 2009 goes to Beata Sokolowska who is a real live wire character. The Board formally wants to thanks these wonderful people who also received cheques with their framed certificates and our heartfelt thanks for helping to make myOrganiser one of the best such companies in the world. We also thank Eileen, Anna, Gosia and Dominika as well as Christine and her team - and of course my PA and Staff Manager Lynne Maxwell who has helped make my life easier in the past year. A HUGE thanks to you all! (Pics to follow...) Finally, I hope they all smiled a little when they opened their Christmas gifts which also contained a mini Henry Hoover. There's no getting away from it! Lynne will be continuing to run our Home Help division for housebound and infirm clients as well as putting our expansion plans for 2010 in place which include our Training Films UK division. Lots happening so watch this space! I have a full year ahead in my position as Head of Production at Studio Scotland. I'm off to Cannes in the Spring time to launch our documentary film about the end of the world called 'The Daniel Project' which is made for cinema and TV. I have also been asked to produce a movie with the working title 'Between Weathers' which is a lovely feel-good story with some top stars in the lead roles - news will be released later this year. I am still working on a games show being piloted in Romania called 'Troc' and have been asked to produce programmes about Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley and Quadrophenia - so there will be many trips down memory lane... Off to the Nations & Regions conference in Manchester later this month for production companies based outside London. My blog on Studio Scotland has more detail if you're interested but meanwhile I'll logoff now and get on with helping to make YOUR life easier in 2010. Happy New Year again! November 2009 - and I KNEW this would happen. Too blinking busy for blogging. (I love alliteration. Guess that says a lot about me!). So, working back chronologically, there's been a lot of travel in my work as Head of Film Production which I also blog here because so many people ask...but more importantly, we have been expanding our Home Help division in Edinburgh as there is a desperate need for good, trustworthy ladies who are that little bit special. Working back, June began with me attending a private business breakfast with Bruce Crawford, Minister for Parliamentary Business. Interesting...In May, I was honoured to be a special guest of the St Andrews Old Course Hotel where I was treated so well I almost wept! Apart from a lovely lunch, I had spa treatments which included their incredible 'Highland Fling'. I can't recommend the place highly enough and urge you to visit. Please contact me personally for details or visit their website at www.oldcoursehotel.kohler.com for further details. I managed a few days in Spain in late April - don't know when I'll have time for a few days off again until Christmas. It's been a traumatic few months too. One of my best friends Carolyn Falconer (who was our first staff manager) contracted cancer however after lots of chemo (which still continues) worldwide prayers and a huge op, she appears to be in the clear. Sadly however, her dad Jim Gemmell who was another good friend and did a little Handyman work for us back in the beginning passed away and has gone to meet his Lord which will have made him ecstatically happy - although we all miss him dreadfully. More recently another friend Michael Shea who was an author and raconteur and ex press secretary to HM the Queen, died suddenly. His funeral was well planned and organised as was typical of Michael. He was only 71 and will be sadly missed. On a much brighter note, we are all organised for Christmas...with Staff Appraisals this month we are looking forward to our Staff Award ceremony which is held during our Christmas Dinner. This is always a very special time of year as every one of our employees are part of the lovely myOrganiser family - and it is my pleasure to spoil them with little treats and surprises as a thank you for being so special - and making myOrganiser one of the top companies of its type in the world! Finally, I never underestimate the help given me by my deputy, Lynne Maxwell without whom I would be tearing my own hair! Please read her blog here - and find out more about how she manages to organise our client's lives - whilst juggling her own as a mother and my PA and manager of myOrganiser and staff manager of our commercial division and... Coming Up...a wee bit quieter - a business lunch on the Zeebrugge Ferry, a visit with the fabulous artist Lucinda Mackay and lunch with the brilliant authors Fay Weldon and Tony Parsons , - but I should still have lots of time to continue organising our new office in Denmark and setting up our new training sessions for Lifestyle Managers... [Back to Top] On the production side of things, I'm just back from Sheffield Doc Fest where I met with a number of international broadcasters to discuss up and coming projects. Attended the premiere of 'Erasing David' as we may be interviewing the director David Bond for a film we're doing next year. Thoroughly recommended as it's a subject matter close to our hearts. Last month we were filming in the Middle East and had lots of adventures...including the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelling an interview with us because somebody else urgently needed him. Imagine the situation. Interview with Deborah from Studio Scotland - or meet with a certain Barack Obama at the UN...hmmmmm. Difficult choice. Not! So that means we have to go back to Israel - but we love the place so it's no hardship other than time and money! Prior to that we were in France - filming vineyards in Burgundy and Provence - and learning how to taste and test. [Well. as they say, somebody has to do it!] In the summer I was extremely busy with the Festival. Broadcasters from all over the world meet annually at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival and it is always very busy, hard work - yet fun too. We started with our own version of Britain's got Talent and it was lovely meeting Ant and Dec and Louie Walsh who are all such genuinely 'nice' people. Amanda Holden was poured into a short, red strapless dress with a zip front and back - and managed to commit a couple of faux pas... There was great excitement outside our venue when word leaked out that Peter Andre was joining us - he also seemed to be a 'genuine bloke'. Ross Kemp was thoroughly engaging as he discussed his documentary series and showed us unseen footage. More importantly for me, there were a lot of good meetings as we discussed the boundaries of good taste, huge spending cuts in the industry, personnel shake-ups and so on. Head of Sky TV, James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch gave the McTaggart Lecture which caused lots of controversy... and the BBC economist Robert Peston answered my questions re the media affecting the economy. Prior to that, we were in Romania - we are launching a pilot TV game show there before bringing it to the USA, Oz and UK. It's not what I usually do, however I love to broaden my experience and they seemed keen to have me produce so we'll see what happens. In June, we had a wonderful time with the marketing folks at Crieff Hydro as we made a short film with them which is also featured in sections on their website. A real pleasure to work with them...June also saw me attending the Digital Britain ministerial presentation by Lord Carter in Edinburgh [Back to Top] April 2009 kicked off this year without me doing the old 'there's a spider on your shoulder' April Fool thing...first time since I was a child I think! This is going to be a relatively quiet month - starting with a 1st birthday party for my sweet cousin Miranda which will also give me a chance to meet with my sister and family who live in Exeter but are up to Scotland for Easter. It's also my birthday this month and I'll be catching up with friends over the month...then I'll need to pop over to Spain to check how things are going there so all in all I'm getting a chance to slow down a little and catch up on some of the items on my own 'Must Do' list! I was at the Fife Tourism conference a few days ago. Held at the gorgeous Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort and Spa in St Andrews, it has been our pleasure to offer their 'Spa Heaven' day as our Treat of the Month for April - follow the link on our Home Page - To help me keep it all under control, I use my trusty Ameo which is a mini, mini PC version of my main office computer. It allows me to show trailers for our latest productions, write Office documents and of course keep in touch via the BlackBerry element...in fact it does EVERYTHING my main computer does AND MORE but in such a neat package that fits into my handbag or briefcase. I love it and have been a fan for the last 3 years! (see pic) To help do my bit for the environment, I've sold my beloved soft back Land Rover Freelander but absolutely love my new Citroen C3 Pluriel car...to read more on my blog if anybody is really interested - click the car on right! [Back to Top] Coming Next Month...lots of lunches - Gliterary, Women of Scotland, Charity Ball, networking - but I should still have lots of time to continue organising our new office in Denmark and setting up our new training sessions for Lifestyle Managers... Hope to catch you soon either here or on my blog here which also gives lots of interesting links, videos and more personal insight! I decided to put it on a peaceful green background to get away from the frenetic rush of the office...please do leave your comments! [Back to Top] *If you'd like to find out more about my life as a producer, check out my diary on the Studio Scotland website! |
off duty after filming and setting up our satellite office in Monte Carlo
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my fabulous Ameo which helps to keep me organised |
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my fun new car - C3 Pluriel
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