Meeting Room 6 was so bright that on sunny days the sunshine flooded through the floor-to-ceiling windows with such intensity that scripts or notes on the table would visibly fade during a long session. On cloudier days it showcased the postcard-perfect bay opposite. Little candy-coloured sea cottages, built into the rock, were dotted around as far as the eye could see and just beyond the last was a hidden beach, where, if you knew the way in, you could listen to the waves crashing and pretend you were anywhere in the world, not mere feet away from the hustle-bustle of the cast and crew working on one of the most famous location sets in the world.

The bay was the lifeblood of this meeting room. Without the bay, there would be no meeting room. For this was the production office of internationally renowned, globally syndicated soap opera Falcon Bay. And it was in Meeting Room 6 that the producers, writers and executives met daily to create and manage the stories designed to keep their millions of viewers tuned in. The secondary purpose of so much glass was to show the teams outside the building that the creative minds behind Falcon Bay were always working and always watching.

A huge white oval table surrounded by neon-pink chairs that were neither too hard nor too comfortable was central. A variety of people occupied the seats and the gentle hum of conversation filled the air, mixed with the sounds of notes being flicked through, laptops being typed on and phone messages pinging. The two walls that bookended the view of the bay were white. One had floating shelves stacked with awards of every shape and size, from traditional golden Emmys to ornate crystal domes and the classic gold-faced BAFTA.

The opposite wall held photos of Falcon Bay’s current cast, each pinned to a large-scale poster of the set and flecked with Post-it Notes which gently flapped in the breeze from the air-con. The room was subtly lit as most of the time the natural light was sufficient. But when storm clouds gathered, the automatic lights faded up so gradually that those in the room never noticed the change.

Meeting Room 6 was, without question, where the magic happened…

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