Meet The Team | Jonathan Blessley
Welcome to the latest instalment of our meet the team series, which, as the title implies will dive into the background of the amazing people that make up The Finish Line. Meet Jonathan Blessley who has been running the business since January 2015.
Born and raised in the radiant surroundings of Madrid, Spain, Jonathan’s introduction to the glamours of Britain’s TV industry came in the form of VHS comp tapes masterfully created by the family VT op (i.e. his grandfather) and sent in the post with highlights including Wallace and Gromit, Captain Pugwash, Danger Mouse and SuperTed. Quality telly by all accounts. Regrettably some years down the line the installation of a huge satellite in his Iberian back garden (with an illegal Sky feed I might add) sadly brought the production line of Saturday morning’s finest to a halt. Nonetheless, Big K’s legacy lived on as Jonathan embraced his grandfather’s practice and built up his very own VHS library whilst educating the local children in ‘proper’ television. If only he realised at the time that a profit was there to be made.
At the dainty age of 13 Jonathan was shipped off to boarding school in leafy Surrey. Lo and behold a culture shock was afoot but needless to say he survived the ordeals of Britain’s secondary education. After A-levels and the compulsory ‘gap yah’, he spent 4 years in Management Studies with Spanish in Nottingham. The course left Jonathan unfulfilled in the creative areas so he enrolled in additional modules in film, obviously drawn to the allures of the red carpet. With little guidance on how to get into the aforementioned prestigious industry, Jonathan carpet bombed numerous facilities across the country before landing a role as a runner in a leading London post production facility. Over the next 4 months Jonathan went from hunting and gathering to fully fledged receptionist/librarian, impressing both clients and comrades alike. It didn’t take long to score his next promotion to junior post producer. Huzzah! Mr Blessley subsequently ascended through the ranks at an alarming pace whereby he was responsible for overseeing countless high profile series from ingest to delivery, including Stephen Fry’s Planet Word, Jungle Gold, The Charisma of Hitler, Siberian Cut, Brazil with Michael Palin, Dangerous Persuasions, to name but a few.
After 7 years of graft and the potential of plateauing at his employers of the time, fate had it that David and I were looking for someone to run the The Finish Line. With the company’s emphasis on being a family friendly post firm (Jonathan’s son Raphael a twinkle in his eye at the time), he made the move which has proven to be one of our greatest investments. Since the start of 2015 Jonathan has been overseeing the growth and day to day of the business – let’s hope there are many more years to come!
We asked Jonathan what advice he would give to his ‘younger’ self to which he replied:
Just get on with it and stop moaning.
Jonathan doesn’t hold a credit list but he does have a plethora of gossip. You can reach him here!
