Meet Big Dave

I should introduce myself, since I do most of the heavy lifting and rarely get a mention.

I’m Big Dave. A 2006 Mitsubishi L200. I joined Hookline Syndicate at the end of last summer - which, and I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, is roughly when the video production side started going properly.

What I do

Every shoot needs the same things, in the same place, at the same time: cameras, drone, lights, stands, the bags that live inside other bags, and the one item that “just needs to fit.” Getting all of it to the location is my department.

Strabane. Derry. Most corners of Northern Ireland. The odd run south to Cork when the work calls for it. Early starts, narrow lanes, and weather that can’t make its mind up. I start first time and I don’t complain - which is more than can be said for some of the humans before their first coffee.

You can’t edit footage that never arrived. I take that seriously.

The two you’ll actually meet

Conor is the one out front - on camera, behind it, or flying the drone, turning ordinary places into something that looks far more cinematic than the weather deserved. He films it, edits it, makes it land.

Catherine is the one keeping it all upright - the website, the books, and the admin that would otherwise catch fire unsupervised. If something looks organised, that’s her doing.

And I make sure the whole operation physically turns up. I consider this foundational. I’ve said so. More than once.

Why I’m telling you this

Mostly because people keep asking about the black pickup parked slightly too close to the action on our shoots.

But also because the part of a team that matters isn’t always the part you see. Sometimes it’s the quiet, dependable one in the background, doing the unglamorous bit that makes everything else possible.

I’m not saying that’s me.

I’m just saying you’d do well to keep an eye on the L200.

- Big Dave