TVT Vault: Live from Martin Place

With the end of Martin Place studios in Sydney, I thought I would look back on my first visit to the base, at the behest of producer Adam Boland, to see how two shows utilised the space.

Originally published June 11 2008:

It was just another day in the goldfish bowl for the morning casts of Sunrise and The Morning Show when TV Tonight dropped by Martin Place today.

Under the guidance of producer Adam Boland the country’s most popular morning brands ran seamlessly in the streetfront studio, constructed in the building that formerly housed Colonial Bank.

The studio space doubles for both the morning shows, plus Seven News Sydney and Today Tonight. As such, there is a continual storage of sets pushed to one side of the studio while another broadcasts live to air. The Sunrise team always finish their show outside the building to allow the Morning Show set to bump in. It’s a quick, but efficient switch by production crew.

As Larry and Kylie tag-team into their show, Kochie’, Natalie, Mark and Jessica all signed autographs for fans, and posed for photographs. I’m told they can sometimes stay there for 45 minutes for big crowds. Ahhh television….

Above the studio are two floors of open plan office space for news and Sunrise / Morning Show teams. You could be mistaken for thinking you had stepped into a call centre, and it’s not hard to see where financial accountants and banking staff once came to work in the 90s.

In fact Seven has had to make a number of compromises and changes to facilitate the space as a working television hub. There’s no traditional green room. There are no formal dressing rooms. International guests are given temporary use of the board room. And this must be the only television centre in the country to have a bank vault as its wardrobe.

Boland has even forged what Seven views as a stand-alone production team, with the ability to occasionally foster other light enertainment projects.

The overall mood of these breakfast television shows off-set remained as relaxed and smooth as on-air. With only minimal floor crew both casts linked smoothly from one topic to another. News, tax hints, dreams, 4 minutes to save the world, “cash cow” give-aways, interviews, showbiz…… it may not be the most challenging of content but it is digestible, radio-on-television as viewers are getting ready for work and catching up on overnight news.

Both Sunrise and The Morning Show continue to lead national ratings, helping Seven to run its very own “cash cow.”