SmileTV.
Kuwait's first private entertainment channel, and the studio where a presenter learned the whole craft behind the camera.
On camera, from 2006.
Smile TV was Kuwait's first private channel built for entertainment and music. I joined in 2006 on a trial, signed soon after, and went on air as a presenter of live programs, interviews, and comedy segments.
Then I picked up the camera and the edit.
On the job I learned to shoot and to edit, and started filming and cutting the channel's programs and coverage myself. What began as presenting grew into a full production role of planning, camera, and post.
Hosting Massari, at his peak.
When the international star Massari came to Kuwait, trending everywhere at the time, I planned and coordinated the shoot with a full crew, then filmed and edited the coverage end to end. It is in the gallery below.
Shot and cut on the job.
From presenter to head of the image.
Program after program, the role grew to Deputy Channel Manager and the person responsible for how the channel looked on screen.
Smile TV sat under Ayoa Golf, later the parent company of Qadsawy. Its owner, Faisal Al-Essa, was the first in the industry to recognise the talent and give it room to prove itself.