Dicko too old to be a Producer’s intern

He’s been a judge, a host, a Reality contestant and manager -but Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson still has his eye on another TV job: he wants to work as a segment producer.

The unfulfilled dream emerged on Australia’s Got Talent, but executive producer Julie Ward isn’t ready to let him out of the judging chair.

“I spoke to Julie and said, ‘Give me a chance to work as a Producer on this show!’” he told TV Tonight.

“But she said, ‘I think you’re a bit too senior for that! And that’s a bit of a problem because of who you are.’

“That’s a shame because I’d like to learn from the person who I regard as one of the finest producers in Australia.

“I’m at that stage of my life where I live for the experience. I look around at what people are doing and I think ‘I’d love to have a crack at being a segment producer on a TV show.'”

Dicko was previously in partnership on Watercooler Media, and has been credited as writer and producer on TEN’s Can of Worms. But now he wants to get his hands dirty.

“I have a passion for Television but I have to understand that even as a practitioner with Watercooler and Can of Worms, it was at a pretty high level –but I never got to learn the nuts and bolts,” he says.

“It’s a hard thing to do when you’re 52 with a public persona.”

“I feel like I’ve achieved an awful lot in my life, but I’m not so up myself that I wouldn’t drop down a few pegs in seniority and do a job as a producer. Just to see if I could do it. But as with many men my age, it’s a difficult thing for the industry to comprehend.”

Meanwhile while Nine’s revived talent show is ploughing through its early auditions, judges have already filmed two semi-finals.

“I didn’t realise we’d put so much good talent through. I knew my fellow judges put a fair bit of whacky stuff through –despite my protestations- but we’re now two recorded and it’s looking really solid.

Dicko is full of praise for the production elements Julie Ward has provided for semi-finalists.

“Even some of the weird and wonderful guys get a fabulous production around their spot. So that just makes it even more absurd.

“It’s the fact that we’re enabling some of this craziness to have its spotlight on primetime TV.”

But despite all the compliments, his chance at turning from judge to segment producer may go begging, and time is running out.

“Who’s going to take me on as an Intern for god’s sake?” he joked.

“I do make a good cup of tea!”

Australia’s Got Talent airs 7pm Sunday, 7:30pm Monday on Nine.