Hot Shots 2024: Reece Finnegan

When Reece Finnegan joined the BBC Studios events team, he had glowing references, but all of his experience up to that point was in live entertainment, including Strictly Come Dancing, or developing and writing quiz shows. Nevertheless, he jumped straight into helping to capture the high-profi le Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.

BBC Studios events series producer Rosheen Archer was immediately impressed by his production instincts and editorial judgement.

“He has that unteachable quality of finding the kernel of a good story in someone,” she says. “When he discovers it, he then develops and produces the narrative, allowing it to come faithfully to screen, while bringing the person at the heart of the journey with him.”

When asked to cast a set of veterans from the Korean War to a tight timeline, he “not only found brilliant people but won the trust of the community”, says Archer. He repeated the feat when creating a sequence celebrating the success of Team GB at the 2023 Invictus Games.

“Not only did he need to find compelling stories, he needed to convince the veterans to share them live on stage in front of an audience of royalty and millions of viewers at home,” Archer says. “His supportive producing enabled them to speak so powerfully.”

Finnegan, who is registered blind, also o ered advice to support his team’s on-screen representation of disability and delivery of live audio description.

Archer says: “On our production, his skilled interview and writing skills brought complex emotions and challenging stories faithfully to Saturday night television.”