Move over John Campbell - he is only 13 but has his sights firmly set on a career behind a television camera or in front of it.
Despite Brin Rudkin already working with What Now, Katch Katikati and free-to-air community-based television station TV Central (Matamata), he plastered a new set of
skills in his CV over the recent school holiday break.
The Year 9 Katikati College student, set on becoming a television cameraman or journalist, buddied up with Tauranga-based freelance cameraman Martin Cowan for two weeks to cover breaking news.
Brin says he got to help cover news including a Campbell Live story on a teacher lobbying Air New Zealand for discount holiday fares, a 3 News story about a cancer patient's uncle running a triple-marathon for charity and the tragic death of Moko the dolphin, including the much-loved dolphin being laid to rest. "This involved me heading off to Matakana Island when Moko was first reported dead. We captured the action of all the drama which happened on the island," says Brin. "Though it was a sad story - when we met Moko's minder she was crying and standing over the dolphin."
Brin, who lives in Omokoroa, is quite casual about his ambitious career goal. "I want to be either a cameraman or a journalist so I got in touch with Martin, who works for TV3 and TV1, and asked if I could do some work experience," he told the Advertiser. "I've wanted this type of career for a couple of years," he says. "When I was younger and went to Pahoia School, we put on a stage show about global warming and I got to film it as a documentary - I thought that was a pretty cool thing to do so I want to carry on with that."
From his experience, Brin says Martin taught him about the camera equipment and camera angles for television filming. "And I sort of watched TV3 reporter Ingrid Hipkiss present the news and saw how she wrote stories," says Brin.
From behind the scenes, Brin reckons he likes the job because he was out and about and not tied to an office desk.
"I think it's a cool career choice because you get to travel around the place."
But his experience doesn't finish here - he is currently the Katch Katikati reporter too.
