“CMD alumni don't panic when jargon flies around their ears.”
“We need a tank, on this square. It must drive tomorrow. Can you do that?” The director's gaze is intense. The average person would probably start sweating profusely at this question. CMD alumnus Koos replies: “Okay. How do you say 'tank' in Hungarian?”.
Creativity is more than making things
The nice thing about Tegenlicht is that it has no fixed format. Per episode it is determined which format best fits the story. The common denominator: it is always about future affairs. So it is not reporting, but looking ahead. The world of tomorrow in the field of politics, economy, society, technology and science. What does it look like?
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“I am the one who arranges things, that's in me,” says Koos van de Merbel. In 2018 he graduated from CMD LWD, he has now been working at the VPRO for some time. For a year and a half as producer of Tegenlicht. Before that as assistant producer at In Europa, a series about history. “You have to be creative to be able to function here,” Koos says about his job. “Creativity is often seen as making an end product, but it is also precisely in the whole process leading up to it. At Tegenlicht we always start with an idea. That can be an interesting speaker, a theme, or something else. Those ideas come from everyone who is part of our team.”
The episode of In Europa in which a tank would be used, unfortunately, was cancelled. Although Koos had arranged the tank. “That wasn't even the craziest request, I could just as easily get the question to arrange a fake Kalashnikov for recordings. If I get such a question, I immediately start thinking in solutions. The nice thing is that people often want to help you too. I start calling, get many tips and eventually I end up with someone who has what I need.”
“For one of the episodes, the director decided that the camera had to move during filming. Super short notice and on location. Then my creative gears start turning immediately. The solution? I arranged a golf cart.”
On the moving train
“I am glad I made the choice to do CMD LWD. One of the most important things I learned here is to move along. Which is perhaps even more important than applicable knowledge, because that keeps changing and is outdated before you know it. The mindset is perhaps even more important than the skillset.”
“The editorial staff of Tegenlicht is really a moving train. It can be quite an intellectual program, with complex matter. During a meeting you end up in a kind of avalanche of people that you have to be able to stand up to. Otherwise you get snowed under. A CMD alumnus is not afraid of that, during the study you have already learned to work in a team. I also notice that regularly here with interns who come from other studies, they find it much more difficult to find their way in this organization.”
From intern to internship supervisor
On a Friday afternoon Koos applied for an internship at Tegenlicht. Monday morning he was called and immediately jumped on the train to do his job interview in Hilversum that same afternoon. He was still on the train when the phone call came. “And then suddenly I had an internship, at a big production! I thought that was very cool back then.”
We are now many years further and Koos has been promoted from intern to internship supervisor. “We regularly have CMD interns walking around here. What is really typical for the CMD student is that they are not afraid to tackle something. Even when the jargon flies around their ears, they just go out and investigate so they know what it means. They don't panic.”
Creative jack-of-all-trades in the classic broadcasting world
“The broadcasting world is perhaps a bit old-fashioned in some areas,” Koos says cautiously. “The functions here are strictly defined. I am the only producer who also works in Avid (editing software, ed.). Or I quickly put something together in Illustrator for an email. That saves a lot of time and hassle. But many employees have been walking around here since the time when film was still on a roll. That is very different now, we are desperate for more digital experience!”
Koos van de Merbel
No lack of ambition with Koos van de Merbel. He makes the impossible possible as a producer at VPRO Tegenlicht, where he once started as an intern. This former CMD student is going to go far, we are sure of that.