BTS with Jay Birmingham – Creative HEAD Magazine

Come behind the scenes of Love Island as Jay Birmingham shares an exclusive look at his diary, along with advice about working on location

“Working with my gorgeous client Maya on this year’s Love Island is an honour, and it’s such an exciting project to be part of. However, it doesn’t come without hard work and tiring schedules! Like working with any high-profile celebrity, you can expect longer hours, time spent travelling, fast-paced working environments and changing schedules. That being said, those are a few of the reasons why I love what I do so much! It’s hard work but I am obsessed with what I do so it’s of course all worth it!

Here’s a look at my Love Island work schedule so far:

South Africa, 12 –15 January: This was the initial filming for the new season.

Aftersun in London, beginning on 22 January: This takes place every Sunday. It is the iconic after show on Sunday evenings that Maya rocks each week.

South Africa, 1 – 3 February: A surprise double dumping in the villa required us all to travel out for just one day’s work for the show.

South Africa, 13 – 15 February: The iconic Casa Amour meant Maya needed to head into the Villa amongst the drama.

Love Island is one of most watched TV shows in the UK, it is such an honour for me to work with Maya on this project. I have worked with her previously for filming TV shows including Don’t Hate the Playaz and Glow Up This was just another incredible opportunity for me. Having worked in this industry for over ten years, I have learnt some tips and tricks to help with high pressure jobs like this.

My top tips

My ultimate top tip is to ensure you are overly prepared. Everything from your kit through to your mood board of looks needs to be overly organised. You need to ensure you are completely stocked in all your favourite products and tools as well as other items you may need, depending on the climate and the looks you may need to do. In South Africa, it was much windier than I could have anticipated and I needed to be prepared to combat this when styling Maya’s hair.

Approach jobs like this collaboratively. I always love to work with the make-up artist and the stylist. You can gather an idea of the overall look for your client and all work together to create a gorgeous end result. We often do this as a creative team and then pitch in to Maya to find out her thoughts and make tweaks to ensure it works for her. Working as a team is always worthwhile!

Make your health a priority. Like I say, working with clients like this does often mean being required to travel. I love that part of my job and I am so lucky to be in this position, but it can be tiring. Therefore, you need to make your health a priority to ensure you can do your best work. Make sure you get a balanced diet and maintain general good health, your body will always thank you for it!

Lastly, another top tip of mine for jobs like this is to always remember you are there to do a job. Even though you may be lucky enough to have rest days in some incredible locations and have the opportunity to do fun things with your client and the team, your work always comes first when on work trips like this. Remain professional but of course have
fun too!”