Live Recording Experience
We went to see WILTY being filmed tonight. I’ve never been to any filming before and since I’d been Googling a lot beforehand I thought it would be helpful to share my (very) recent experience.
Arrival:
We arrived around 3.30pm and were amongst the first 5-6 people there. It was around 4pm before there were 10 people in the queue, and since they call in batches of 10-20 there was no material benefit to being 1-9.
Queuing:
There’s nowhere to sit where you queue - just the edge of a wall that has a metal railing and isn’t comfortable or particularly clean. The queue is at the top of a car park - you can’t park here as they shut the gates before filming ends but you could theoretically go and sit in your car (if you’re driving) to see how things go, then go park in the car park a 5 min walk away once you see some people start to arrive. Alternatively you can just commit to standing and waiting.
Timings:
My email had said someone would be there to meet us at 5.50pm but someone actually came out and gave us our wristbands at 4.45pm. This meant we only had to stand for just over an hour before getting them - but my understanding is that the staff can come out any time up to 5.50pm. When we got our wristbands at 4.45pm there were approx 30-40 people in the queue, but that’s totally random depending on the night and attendees.
Leaving and Returning:
Once we got our wristbands we were allowed to leave but had to return by 5.55pm. When we returned we had to join the full queue but they called numbers 1-10 or 1-20 (can’t remember exactly) to come through security first so they honoured the wristband numbers. My group (first group general admission) were called around 6.10pm.
Security:
Normal process - you can bring water and have to have your bag checked (any bag seems to be fine as I saw people with backpacks). No food or soft drinks.
Third Round of Waiting:
After going through security you’re placed in a large tented area with seating - before this point there are toilets. Everyone is in here with no order but as you’ll see below the numbering system is still the one used so your queue position is always safe. This was probably the most frustrating part because everyone seemed determined to push towards the front when there’s no benefit to doing so, but we were only in here around 20 mins.
Entry:
They honoured the wristband and numbering system the whole way through. The order called was gold (which I understand is VIP, there were less than 5-10 of them), then silver (not sure what this is, but again less than 10-15 of them), then blue (which I think are production guests), then green (which I assume are priority booking), then red, which is general admission. For each colour they called in groups of 20 so there’s no benefit to being first over 19th but there is a benefit to being 19th over 50th.
Seating Numbers:
From my rough estimate there were around 300-350 seats, with approx 60 of them across 3 rows in the front where you have a better view of everything. Everyone in those front 3 rows on both sides had a blue wristband I think. When they were calling green wristbands they called up to numbers 100-120 and some people still came forward, so my estimate is that maybe 100ish general admission will get in from everyone that arrives - but I’m only estimating based on what it looked like, and I would still advise trying to be as early as possible.
Views:
General seating is behind the cameras which move around, so there will be points where your view of someone is slightly obscured, but there’s a large screen above each of the 3 tiered areas so you’ll always see what’s going on. I was in row 3 or 4 of the regular tiered area and I did think that row 1 might struggle to see the screen - but that could have just been my perspective. The screen flips between the different cameras, kind of like watching it on TV. For the most part though you’ll see everything.
Seats:
Generally quite uncomfortable as you’d expect but nothing that’s too much to bear - just quite cramped.
Breaks:
There were 2 very short breaks, which a lot of people used as an opportunity to go to the toilet. These breaks only lasted 5 mins each and the guy did say they weren’t actually toilet breaks, but obviously they can’t stop anyone going. There was no actual longer designated toilet break. We were encouraged to stand up during the small breaks and stretch our legs.
Format:
We had someone before the show do a bit of crowd stuff and have some fun, he was nice and broke up the wait - he also came back during the two short breaks. The show itself was fantastic, all ran through just like watching a much longer TV episode. At the very end they repeated a few bits (repeat this without swearing, say this again, say this more clearly etc - just stuff that they must have wanted to use but couldn’t for some reason), Rob did some presenter stuff and then did the ad bits where he introduced everyone, then they took their photo.
Leaving:
We left around 10pm, so it did run later than the email stated.
General:
They ask you to turn phones and smart watches off, and no photography allowed.
I think that’s everything - hope everyone who goes has a great time!