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Lee Salisbury works on a couple of Britain's most popular soaps. Find out what life is like as a director and how to get there.

Name: Lee Salisbury

Lives: London/Leeds

Current job: Director EastEnders and Emmerdale.

Number of years in the industry: Eight years. A year and a half on EastEnders.

Typical hours: It really varies. EastEnders is filmed in blocks of four episodes. So you have four weeks of prep, two weeks of filming and then the edit. During the prep, you can devise your own time scale, so it's not a 9-5 job. Sometimes you work weekends or nights. The filming is pretty much 7am-7pm though.

Typical day: A lot of my work is prep time. You have script meetings, you have to camera plan, which is going through every scene and working out how you're going to film it. On set when you're filming, you have a read through with the actors and map how you planned it. But when you're actually filming you only really get 20 minutes for a scene, so the preparation is so important. You also film out of order, so you need to be on top of it all. On set, you lead the way. You're in charge of production, crew, actors, costume and everyone's got questions, so you don't have a minute. You're dealing with a lot of pressure, so my aim is to not be stressed. It's all about establishing trust with the cast and crew.

Qualifications/courses I took for this job: I went to university to do media studies. I did loads of work experience while I was there. It's the only time you can work for free really, so you should do it. You have to put your time in. I worked on Live and Kicking, Watchdog and Talking Telephone Numbers as a runner. I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I worked my way up, then I was a researcher, then an AP, then I started directing on Holiday and worked in factual - What Not To Wear and Location, Location, Location. Then I took a director's traineeship on Emmerdale. It's sort of like an apprenticeship into directing drama. You had to be a director already. I'd just done Crimewatch so I had the experience of directing reconstructions. In a soap, it's hard because it's a hard pace. I was on Emmerdale and I'm actually a freelance director so I still work on it.

Have you directed any of the big storylines? Yes. I did the Queen Vic fire, I did Barbara Windsor's leaving, I just did Ronnie's exit episode. I mean, I watch EastEnders, and that is big! That's when I realise I'm meant to be to doing this job, because I know I can cope with it. You do go home and go "Oh my god, I can't believe I've been telling Barbara Windsor what to do!" But the buzz is fantastic! For everyone on set, there are constantly big stories, it's so great. It's constantly changing.

Childhood dream job: I always wanted to be in telly but I thought it was unachievable.

First job: Runner on the Ozone. Runner on the Holiday programme.

Other jobs I've done: I worked in a supermarket and I delivered flowers.

Most useful skill I've learnt: Being able to deal with a variety of different people. And I think I've honed the skill of knowing how to instantly treat someone. On a soap you could be dealing with execs or actors or runners, so you need to be able to speak well with each one of them. People skills are important.

Other experience I've learned along the way: Because in telly there's often a time pressure, I've learnt how to really control my own time. You really need to be self-controlled to get everything done. And I wasn't prepared for it being so lonely, when you're working in the prep stages you're on your own. And I've learnt loads of technical skills. I'm still learning loads now.

My first job helped me get where I am today because..: I got made a post production runner. So I learnt how an edit works, technical formats - so it wasn't just making tea. That was really useful.

Weirdest day at work: I remember when I was on Holiday, all of my friends were jealous because I was constantly away. But to me it wasn't glamorous because it was full-on, exhausting. I remember sitting in an infinity pool with a beer in Madagascar going, I don't know how much longer I can do this job. I look back now and I can't believe I couldn't enjoy it more.

Toughest career moment so far: Probably the Queen Vic fire because of the pressure. As a director, you're really only as good as your last job. So if people had hated it that would have been my name muddied. It was a risk doing it. But I'm glad I did!

The biggest myth about my job is..: That it's glamorous.

If you want to work in this industry you need to..: Start doing your own stuff. Especially with the technology available, you can start making short films. When you go for jobs they want to see your own personal stamp on stuff. When you're studying you have time to do it so do it, so you should put the work in.

If I hadn't done this job, I would have..: I really don't know. I would have been happy to go into print or radio. But it was always going to be in the media.

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