Quietly competitive – Part 1: Premier League Productions’ digital producer Shelley Garton talks attitude and adaptability

Working on the FIFA Women’s World Cup pres, Shelly Garton from Premier League Productions

Shelley Garton, digital producer for Premier League Productions, has gone from being the athlete on the hockey pitch, to being a pitchside mum with a thriving career in sports broadcasting. Split into two parts, Part 1 of our chat with Garton goes into how she found the sports broadcasting path, and her journey to her role today. Read on for more.

Premier League Productions’ Shelley Garton is digital producer for the business

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

I certainly didn’t take a direct route into the world of broadcasting, but I’ve always known I wanted to work in a sports environment. From a young age sport has been an extremely positive and important part of my life. Hockey, tennis, netball, cricket, rounders and athletics, I threw myself into all of them. A quietly competitive kid, I’ve represented Suffolk for hockey at U15,16,18 and U21 level and coached youth hockey too, but it was playing mixed hockey that really made me a stronger, more determined and resilient player and person. Being on an even playing field with the lads is perhaps a key skill I’ve taken with me into the world of sports broadcasting. Along with key female role models at school, and hockey captains and teammates, that inspired me to give my absolute best week in, week out.

My own sports journey has certainly inspired my career path and whilst I’ve stepped back from being on the pitch to becoming a pitchside mum, the transferable team skills have shaped my approach and been integral to my career success: hard work, commitment, excellent team ethos, kindness, loyalty and respect. This, coupled with the collective aim of improving team dynamics and achieving meaningful success have taken me from winning hockey matches to creating winning Premier League broadcast and digital content for international broadcasters worldwide.

From my first foray into sports production with IMG as a production assistant to my current role at as digital producer at Premier League Productions (PLP), I’ve worked with so many brilliant production teams who all share those values. Maybe that’s why I feel so at home here at IMG and PLP.

How did you get your current job role, what are the challenges and what do you enjoy about it?

I’ve worked for Premier League Productions for 18 years. It’s a long time but feels like just yesterday when I was one of the first female assistant producers out on the road interviewing players and managers for a featured based show, Premier League World. I can honestly say I’ve never been bored. The job was so varied with an intensive amount of travel around the UK, but our show also included international stories. I researched stories on players’ personal career journeys so I could continue my love of travelling, covering football stories in Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Egypt, and various European countries. At that time, I couldn’t have enough country stamps in my passport – there was a healthy competition in the office to who had the most!

My own career took a life changing experience when I became a mum in 2013. I took a year out to focus on being a single parent, and without question, that was the hardest time of my career. Working out a return to work, knowing I couldn’t do what I previously did. Being brave and having open and honest early conversations was the right thing to do, and I couldn’t speak more highly of both IMG’s and PLP’s support in helping me navigate my new professional path.

There was an opportunity to take a more editorial forward planning role, scheduling the Premier League’s TV channel and creating short form content. It was perfect for what I needed at that time, but the challenges of being a single mum, the lack of hours in the day and working around a baby was emotional. As with my first job, I never took anything for granted. Attitude and adaptability were key, along with coffee, and being courageous. And behind the scenes there were flexible bosses, a sisterhood of vital friends, family and other single working mums who were my biggest supporters and cheerleaders. I couldn’t have done this without them. In a blink of an eye, my son and our short form content team grew and I found myself being a full-time working mum, managing a fantastic team with editorial forward planning and multiple spreadsheets.

I have always loved personal development, and the sports industry has progressed at an enormous pace. Four years ago, we transitioned into Premier League Production’s Digital department. My current role as a digital producer was a massive learning curve but there were huge highs to be part of new technology and digital offerings for our clients. We had industry leaders to guide us, who also shared the same values as me, hard work, commitment, excellent team ethos, kindness, loyalty and respect, and I couldn’t be happier with digital output we have created together. And I’m now able to give other assistant producers the chances and opportunities I had when I first started out. I don’t miss being out on the road or doing the interviews (well, only sometimes!) and I love to see my teammates, and colleagues, in the office buzzing from a great interview they’ve done, or a brilliant edit they have created. And of course, we are all obsessed about delivering the next viral video.

Premier League Production’s Shelly Garton working on the FIFA World Cup in 2006 in Germany

What has been your career path within TV?

I went to Aberdeen University, hundreds of miles from home in Suffolk, to study health science. I love the rawness and the history of Scottish life. I lived by Pittodrie football stadium which gave me my first footballing experience – the community, the match, the drama, the hardened players and fans. This came in handy for some pre-filming chat when I interviewed Sir Alex Ferguson as part of football series to celebrate 20 years of the Premier League. If you’ve lived in Aberdeen, you know about the hard work, turning up game after game, loyalty and culture and how cold the beach was. We both knew. The Aberdeen players sometimes trained on beach – Scottish TV archive department has great shots of this!

What was your first job, how did you get it, what did it involve, and how did you feel about it?

After Aberdeen I moved to London and I knew I wanted to work in sport and travel the world, so I focused on a career path that could offer both. I applied for a production assistant job at IMG covering live international cricket in India and the West Indies, which would have meant living on the road, experiencing different cultures and being part of a dedicated broadcast team. It was my dream job, and I was devastated not to get it.

That early setback just made me more determined to work for IMG and I phoned every month to see if there were any new opportunities.  Six months later, I was offered a production assistant role on a gruelling around the world sailing event – The Volvo Ocean Race, even though I knew nothing about sailing and the role was office based supporting the crews on location. I relished the chance and learnt so much about bringing filming crews together, logging footage, shooting live coverage, and the importance of telling human stories.

Eventually, I did get my chance to travel. First stop, La Rochelle in France for the arrival and stopover of the boats and crews. Even sitting on the harbour rocks until 4am waiting for the boats to come in was fun. The laughter and team spirit always got us through.

 What other jobs have you had that moved you along into sports broadcasting?

IMG has always had an impressive slate of sport productions and since that first role on the Volvo Ocean race, my career has progressed from production assistant, researcher, assistant producer, onsite reporter to producer across a diverse range of content. I’ve worked on the NFL for Channel 4, international cricket highlights and snooker highlights for the BBC, as well the 2002 Noble Peace Prize documentary on former President Jimmy Carter, and an outdoor adventure racing in China. I’ve travelled the world covering the Men’s ATP tour, Wimbledon and the French Open for many years, before moving full time into football with Premier League Productions, where during the summers I had the honour to cover three FIFA World Cups (2002, 2006, 2010) and a career highlight at the 2019’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

Since that first trip to La Rochelle, I’ve now travelled and filmed in more than 30 countries, interviewing some of the most high-profile sporting stars and covering some of the biggest sporting events in the world. But I’ll always be grateful to IMG and the sailing job which kickstarted my dream career opportunity. I’ve never taken that for granted.

Read part 2 of this profile: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/quietly-competitive-part-2-shelley-garton-from-premier-league-productions-discusses-digital-tech-and-a-trailblazing-attitude/