Keep it in the fairway: IMG’s new head of golf content Sally Wood talks career paths and recruitment challenges

Sally Wood was recently appointed to the new position of head of golf content at IMG to oversee production for its global portfolio of golf properties. In her role, Wood is bringing together IMG’s expertise, knowledge and technologies across its industry-leading golf production teams in a way that better enables rights holders and broadcasters to engage audiences and customers with compelling, multi-platform content.

Wood says of the role: “The job is about bringing people together, exploring synergies, defining best practice and workflows and most importantly, developing people. Of course, there are some huge challenges, but I get a great deal of satisfaction from working with a talented and diverse team. I enjoy the people, but in particular being able to play a part in shaping careers. I get the most satisfaction from seeing both existing and new team members develop and achieve both their personal and professional goals.”

Over the course of her career, Wood has also served as head of production for European Tour Productions (ETP) and overseen a robust portfolio of other global IMG production projects, including UEFA EURO 2016, the Premier League, The Scottish Premiership, The FA Cup, the UEFA Europa League on behalf of ESPN, as well as Channel 4’s horse racing coverage.

On what draws Wood to her career in live sport, she says: “It’s a great environment to work in, especially if you are a sports fan, but even if you aren’t. In the current climate there are a huge variety of projects to work on and all of them are different. The evolution of technology presents a huge number of opportunities to think up creative solutions to problems and produce content that appeals to an evolving audience.”

Wood adds: “I continually remind myself to look at where I am. In my roles, I have been able to participate and be part of fantastic, landmark events. I did get a lot of kudos though from my teenage sons when I was working on football!”

IMG’s Sally Wood

Glamorous world of TV

Finding out about what the possible job roles actually are in broadcasting is more than half the battle when it comes to starting a career in this industry. Wood comments on how she found out what happens behind the camera: “When I was at school, I was lucky enough to be invited to be in the audience for a BBC studio-based comedy show. I was more interested in what was going on behind the scenes though, which fascinated me more than the show itself!

“I was inspired and made it my mission to work in what I then considered to be the glamorous world of TV. I sometimes think back to that time when I am standing in a wet and cold OB compound at 06:00am,” she laughs.

On how she got her foot in the door, Wood says: “I discovered that there was a training scheme at the BBC for school leavers.  It was a secretarial admin entry scheme. My spelling wasn’t good enough to be a secretary, but I did get onto the administrative scheme, which lasted four months and I spent most of that time learning to type. I could not have known then how useful that would prove to be.

“I was assigned to the general administrative pool within a TV department,” she continues. “Day to day tasks included processing the production team’s expenses and overtime and correcting any mistakes (usually with tipex). I did the job for two years; it was a quite monotonous, but I enjoyed meeting a wide range of talented people and I was lucky enough to be able to see some of our productions and begin to get an idea of the wealth of roles that were and still are available within the industry.”

She was able to work out which career path would suit her best: “I was inspired by my own manager early on in my career and decided quite quickly that I wanted to apply my organisational skills, along with my desire to work in big teams, to the role of unit manager. After very many interviews, I got my first job as a unit manager working within the BBC factual entertainment department where there was a huge range of programming. I had the privilege to production manage a wide variety of projects from drama, documentaries, live magazine programmes and outside broadcasts.

“I realised quickly that my love was for live production and the immediacy of it all; the need to make decisions quickly and stand by them. Along the way, I have also picked up a lot of technical knowledge, all of it shared generously by the craft experts, whether it be a studio engineer, graphics designer or a sound assistant. I consumed this knowledge ravenously and developed a vast number of contacts, many of whom I still work with and consult often,” she says.

She continues: “There was so much to learn from a wide range of people. I learned from successes and from failures and was able to add project, change and risk management to my skillsets through working on a number of technical and production implementations. I draw on this experience often.

“In 2011, I applied for a job at IMG which would be my introduction to sports media, joining as a production executive on the ESPN contract for EPL, FA, SPL and the FA Cup. Despite not having worked in sport before, all of my experience was relevant and I thrived at IMG, subsequently working on other projects both in the UK and abroad.”

An evolving industry

She is aware that  the live broadcasting industry has evolved a lot over the course of her career, particularly in recent years. Wood comments: “We work in challenging times post-pandemic and workloads haven’t eased. It would be very easy to work 24/7 and I am mindful of the pressures that everyone is under, me included. It’s important to take some time out and for us all to trust the teams around us.”

This personal experience has also allowed her to reflect on the benefits of remote production. Wood notes: “The unusual hours make working in sport not as compelling a proposition as it used to be. Global travel is more difficult, which is a particular challenge for golf production, but we are working hard on our sustainability initiatives and increasing the events that we produce remotely. Our objective is to be able to produce the DP World Tour remotely by 2025.”

She adds: “It’s great to be back in the office and back on site at golf events. For me it’s been great to be able to meet with the team in person rather than on calls. I am excited about our sustainability strategy and in turn the move to increase remote production. This is a challenge as there are many issues to address but none that are insurmountable. It’s probably one of the biggest changes that our industry, particularly sport has experienced in recent times, but I do think it will create some opportunities to produce better and different content.”

Advice Wood offers to others looking to move into a role in sports broadcasting like her own:

• There aren’t any stupid questions.
• Create and maintain and retain your contacts – networking is important!
• Tailor your CV every time you apply for a job
• Focus on your career goals and don’t be afraid to change them
• Make use of mentoring opportunities
• Trust your colleagues and those around you