Philosophical edge: Sunset+Vine’s head of production, Sarah Bucknall, on being in the centre of the action in sports broadcasting

Sunset+Vine’s head of production, Sarah Bucknall

Sunset+Vine’s Sarah Bucknall loves being in the thick of the action in her role as head of production. Live sports broadcasting brings her an unbeatable buzz, while her organisational skills ensure everything works smoothly. We find out more for International Women’s Day 2025.

What draws you to your career in live sport?

The thrill of the crowd and the production team in the car park outside. Almost everyone I’ve worked with enjoys sports and you get the feeling we’re all so pleased to be there, sometimes on the touch line, meeting our heroes and bringing them a cup of tea.

How did you first find out about TV broadcasting as a career? What was your inspiration or idea, and why sports broadcasting?

My brother worked at MSV Post and let me know about the opening as production secretary with Sunset+Vine. To be honest I didn’t know much about the opportunities within the broadcast industry. I watched the BBC’s Planet Earth programmes when they first came out and thought it would be amazing to work on something that like, but thought it was so unlikely that I would actually be able to.

I’ve always enjoyed sport, taking part and watching. I have memories of staying up late to watch the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and Wimbledon every summer. It didn’t occur to me that I could ever work in this industry and it still amazes me to this day really that I do. I still watch some events and think it would be great to do that.

What has been your career path within TV?

I studied philosophy at university, which isn’t a very obvious path into the TV business.  Throughout school I always enjoyed helping the drama department for example helping friends with A-level shows backstage.

The summer after university my best friend and I spent the summer at the Edinburgh Festival. I had a job as stagehand for a musical theatre group. I really enjoyed my role getting props organised and ready throughout the performance. I saw how this organisation both removed the worry from the actors and contributed to the story, making a great show every day.

I continued doing bits of volunteer theatre work for the years after uni. It’s this outlook I still have in my role today. I think good organisation of any production allows creativity to flow and can help set the tone for a successful and enjoyable production.

What was your first job?

Throughout university I worked in temporary event catering. After university I got a role in the office, recruiting and organising staff for events. Coincidentally these were mostly sporting events so I did a lot at Lords, The Emirates, Ascot and Wembley. I definitely got a buzz from going to some sports events and will never forget being a Lords early to see the MCC members rushing in with their picnic baskets when the gates opened.

Sarah Bucknall at the World Athletics Championships in 2017 [second from left]

I started at Sunset+Vine as production secretary. I was quickly swept up in the company helping out in every department doing jobs I never dreamed of. In 2012 I worked as production coordinator for Sunset+Vine on Channel 4 Paralympic coverage. I worked on the team during pre-production so knew the ins and outs of what was going on, so was really involved onsite. It was an amazing experience both being so central to a production and the atmosphere around London 2012.

In 2013 Sunset+Vine won the contract to produce BT Sport’s football and rugby coverage. I moved over to Stratford to be based in the new BT Sport facility, which is also the old 2012 Olympic IBC, so it felt very familiar.

It was an interesting time, with a new team and a whole new facility and broadcaster to work for. I was at BT Sport for four years starting by production managing the BT Sport panel, their Saturday morning show based in the studio in Stratford.

In our second year this became Fletch & Sav which moved onsite to whichever Premier League ground we were covering the game from. By 2015 I was production managing the Premier League which was an amazing experience. The Premier League is so important in the UK that it really felt like the pinnacle of sport you could work on.

One thing I’ve always known about working at Sunset+Vine – and loved about it – is the variety of productions you get to work on. In the summer of 2016 I worked on Euros 2016 and went to Brazil for the C4 Paralympics 2016, and in 2017 had the opportunity to work in London on the World Athletics Championships.

In 2017 I left Sunset+Vine and went to Noah Media Group. There were a lot of familiar faces there and it was a new and exciting company.

I learnt so much at Noah as it was growing rapidly, and everyone was involved. I learnt how to write budgets, speak to clients both presenting and explaining budgets and then following the whole production through. At a company level I learnt how they set their budget for the year and how we achieved that.

The first project I worked on was a FIFA World Cup documentary series about 10 World Cup finals and how the World Cup touched everyday people in the cities that hosted it. We had to send a crew all over the world and I was in charge of the schedule and their visas. I remember lying in bed worrying about how we were going to get them all, and spent a lot of time running between visa offices handing in passports and collecting others. Amazingly we got it done and it was great to know my contribution had been part of its success.

In 2019 I left Noah Media and returned to Sunset+Vine. They had just won Amazon’s Premier League coverage and the Mountain Bike World Cup for Red Bull, and my love of live sports was calling me back.

I worked on the mountain biking in the summer, which was really a career high. An amazing production team in amazing locations, we all got completely swept up in the high adrenaline of the mountain biking races.

In winter it was the Premier League for Amazon, which was a huge project to bring together.  It really pushed me to step up and deliver such a big project for an important new broadcaster. We learnt a lot in year one but knew the coverage was offering something different and exciting.

Since then I’ve been in the office, working alongside our director of production, Olly Slot. I still love to get involved in anything I can, helping wherever possible to improve what we do whether it’s IT issues, supporting our Scottish and Welsh teams, or working on budgets and proposals. In 2024 I worked on Wimbledon for the first time and the Tour de France with our Welsh team which was a real highlight.

Sarah Bucknall joined Sunset+Vine as a production secretary. In this picture she is working on bowls for the BBC [second from left]

The people we work with are all amazing. Working with people who have a real passion for their job and sport. All getting caught up in the moment of anything we work on. Enjoying people’s successes knowing how much they put in to make it happen.

What challenges have you faced over the course of your career?

I think in production management, which in my experience has typically been more women than men, I haven’t experienced so many barriers. I have definitely worked with women who in editorial roles have felt their voices have been overlooked.  I have at times resented the way some jobs naturally fall to women just by virtue of the fact that they will do them.

The technologies used in sports broadcasting have evolved rapidly over recent years. What for you in your day to day job is the most exciting, and also what is the biggest gamechanger for this industry overall?

Microsoft Teams – from an organisational point of view moving to this more collaborative way of working has been so helpful in our production management team. Sharing budgets, cost managers, call sheets, crewing spreadsheets makes it so much easier to work together with other production managers and coordinators.

Video conferencing, has also meant we are more inclined to have group calls and with Sunset+Vine teams in Glasgow, Cardiff and Milan, being able to see each other has meant we just feel so much more connected. At Sunset+Vine we have a monthly company call. I think having regular opportunities to share news, projects we’ve won, projects were bidding on, engages everyone and makes people invested in the company they work for.

What do you think has been a particularly exciting or cutting edge thing in sports broadcasting?

Not particularly cutting edge but of productions I’ve worked on recently, our presentation team have been onsite. In 2024 we produced Wimbledon coverage for Prime Video in Germany and Austria and had a presentation team onsite, while the previous broadcasters had done it remotely.

Not only were the German and Austrian freelance crew and on-screen talent thrilled to actually be there, the feedback we got was that the viewers really felt that excitement in our coverage. Prime Video have always been onsite at every football match I’ve worked on for them, giving each match equal attention and credibility. I know it’s not always possible and remote production has its advantages for some productions, but being back on site is great for the programme and the production team who get to be there.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve worked on in the course of your career? Why?

Tour de France 2024, mostly because I love cycling and France. I went with our Welsh Sunset+Vine team for our S4C production. They have done it for years so I was the newbie.  We spent the last six stages at the finish line waiting for the race to arrive. We have such a small footprint with two ENG camera ops with IP backpacks (), sending video and sound back to our production gallery in Llanelli.

Once the race arrived we’d film our interviews and closing links and then race to the car to get down the mountain before the inevitable traffic jam of team buses. Doing the planning and seeing how the whole Tour is pulled together by the French organisers, with so many broadcasters and moving parts it’s quite incredible. It all runs like clockwork with a laissez faire attitude and an epic three course lunch each day in the broadcast compound.

What advice would you give to other women looking to move into a role in sports broadcasting like your own?

Speak up. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or have an opinion. You’ve got to be well informed so make sure you’ve thought about it properly, but your opinion is as important as anyone else’s and with good intention and hard work you’ve got to back yourself and involve yourself in the conversation.