Loving the OB lifestyle: Living on the road with NEP UK broadcast guarantee engineer Markela Deverikou
Markela Deverikou, NEP UK broadcast guarantee engineer, was working on the WTA Monterey Open in Mexico, where she was able to use some downtime to hike the Cerro de La Silla mountain
“I love the excitement and the pressure of a live environment. It’s so satisfying seeing a project from the early stages of planning, prepping and rigging, to a final product people would enjoy on their tellies,” says Markela Deverikou NEP UK broadcast guarantee engineer.
“I love the OB lifestyle, travelling around the world, working with a team and different people. Travelling and being away for months at a time is a big part of being an OB engineer.”
“Like most people, I wasn’t aware of the outside broadcast industry and all the behind the scenes roles that go into making a programme, so broadcast engineering roles were not on my radar”
As to the challenges of working in the job that she loves, Deverikou comments: “Keeping calm when things go wrong. Our job is time sensitive, faults need to be resolved as soon as possible, and if they can’t a workaround has to found. You also shouldn’t let pressure affect you, which is harder than it sounds. Some projects have a big budget and big fines when they fall off air, which is the worse thing that can happen to you as a guarantee. Managing expectations but at the same time meeting clients’ requirements can also be tricky,” she notes.
NEP UK’s Markela Deverikou worked at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, which was a major highlight of her career so far
Loving the OB lifestyle
Deverikou has taken a convoluted route to sports broadcasting. She explains: “My interest and career in broadcast is not as straightforward as you might think. I discovered my passion for broadcasting a bit later in life and it was actually completely by accident, which is a recurring theme amongst female professionals in the industry.
“Since I was 15 I wanted to be an engineer, to be more precise, a sound engineer. I loved the idea of touring, setting up equipment and making a show. At university I realised how much I enjoy figuring out how things work and being hands on with equipment when in our lab sessions building circuit boards and amplifiers. But like most people, I wasn’t aware of the outside broadcast industry and all the behind the scenes roles that go into making a programme, so broadcast engineering roles were not on my radar.”
“Better to be a little fish in a big bowl – somewhere new and unknown – than a big fish in a small one – what you know and are familiar with”
After she graduated from high school in Greece Deverikou moved to the UK to study audio engineering at the University of Surrey, where she completed the Audio Media Engineering course. However, she says, “it turned out to be more electronics and less audio”.
She continues: “I graduated with a BEng in Electronic Engineering, but not wanting to follow a career in engineering as I didn’t enjoy electronics a great deal or the potential engineering roles that came with the course. Although sound engineering was still on my mind, I felt I needed a break from engineering altogether.”
After graduation she moved to London and through a friend heard about a media assistant role at OB company, Racetech. She applied and got what effectively was a tech office job; her daily tasks varied from tape ingest and repairing disks to answering emails and phone calls. “There I slowly got exposed to the OB industry,” she says. “I took my first steps as a trainee engineer a year later. Best decision I’ve made; I haven’t looked back since.”
“At university I realised how much I enjoy figuring out how things work and being hands on with equipment when in our lab sessions building circuit boards and amplifiers,” says Markela Deverikou, NEP UK broadcast guarantee engineer, seen here taking stuff apart on the set of Love Island 2022
Taking things apart
At Racetech Deverikou spent half her week in the workshop learning about kit, repairing and maintaining equipment, taking things apart, soldering and making things work again and the other half of the week out on the road, which she says, “is where I truly discovered my passion for broadcast”.
She learned a lot at Racetech. “I worked within vision, audio and RF. I learned broadcast video and audio workflows, how to rack cameras (control colours, exposure so they match), set up radio (RF) cameras, and audio mixing presenters and commentators. After a year I was fully on the road as a broadcast engineer and shortly after I started guaranteeing OB trucks. I guaranteed and planned jobs like Royal Ascot and Epsom Derby.”
“I want to be good at what I do – I take pride in it – but most of the time there isn’t time to familiarise yourself with equipment and projects. So you have to be responsible for your own progression”
Through her work on the road with Racetech, Deverikou was able to connect with NEP crew which led her to her current tole as broadcast guarantee engineer at NEP UK.
She says: “I was approached by NEP on one of the horseracing meetings, which coincided with the deployment of one of their brand new trucks, to let me know about available positions and inviting me to have a look around their base.
“At the time I wasn’t sure if I wanted to move but looking back I was probably a bit intimidated and insecure about my knowledge and skills,” she continues. “Because of those reasons I wanted to see where I stood in the industry, at what level I was. My experience was limited to the kit I had been using so far and to one way of working, and I was confident about my skillset at the time, but for me it wasn’t a real measure either. I love learning and challenging myself and I was so impressed by NEP’s brand new truck and the prospect of working in it, which was the push I needed to apply for the role. As someone said to me, better to be a little fish in a big bowl – somewhere new and unknown – than a big fish in a small one – what you know and are familiar with.
“I applied for the vision engineer role, and I got offered the guarantee vision engineer role. My role was a level up than the one I applied for which put on pressure to perform. My learning curve was steep and rapid. But I absolutely loved every minute of it. And three years later I got promoted to my current role as broadcast guarantee engineer.”
Audio is Markela Deverikou’s passion, here in the snow at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Standout experience
So far, the Beijing Winter Olympics has been a standout experience for Deverikou. “The coolest thing will have to be the Beijing Winter Olympics. Contrary to what people might think, I don’t watch live telly. I’m passionate about being part of the production but the Winter Olympics in Beijing was something else; it was fascinating to watch some of the sports.
“But most importantly the Winter Olympics it was my first IP workflow project,” she continues. “I learned so much from some of the best people. It was so exciting being involved in such a massive project and expanding my knowledge. It was a great challenge.”
On what is the hardest aspect of her job today, Deverikou says: “Trying to keep up with very clever people and keeping up with constant changes in technology. I want to be good at what I do – I take pride in it – but most of the time there isn’t time to familiarise yourself with equipment and projects. So you have to be responsible for your own progression.”
Yet the job is perfect for her: “For me it’s the variety of jobs, from flypack systems to OB trucks, reality projects for productions such as Netflix and ITV, to sporting events for Sky, Discovery and ESPN. The constant change in technology and working with very different, very talented people. What challenges me is what I enjoy the most at the same time.”
Highly technical field
There have been challenges for Deverikou, particularly as a woman working in a highly technical field, over the course of her career. She explains: “I think as a young female it takes a bit longer to gain trust and you constantly have to prove that you can do the job. I have been in situations where my technical advice hasn’t been heard or has been overlooked, but taken into account when it came from a more senior engineer.
“I think with patience and reassurance from work colleagues and friends around me. It has got better. It’s good to talk things through with the people around you. People of a different generation in the industry are not used to young females in senior decision making roles; we have to be patient, honest and give time for things and ideas to change,” she says.
Concluding, Deverikou’s advice to other women in sports broadcasting is to keep learning and to persist: “Be original, honest and resilient; your personality matters. Be inquisitive; in many situations I’ve felt that I should know, or I wasn’t good enough because I didn’t know, but the only way to learn is to ask questions. Always be willing to help and to learn. Your passion and enthusiasm goes a long way. It’s not always what you know, but your potential. Don’t give up, and be persistent with your dreams.”