ROWAN JENNINGS

Luke Richards speaks to BAFTA winner and Tang Soo Do World Champion, Rowan Jennings to discuss a successful career in sound, Martial arts, and the importance of balance.

“Thanks for thinking I’m interesting,” Rowan Jennings begins.

It’s a surprising comment for a 45-year-old from Leyton who has had a sound career recognised by multiple award bodies for his work in documentaries.

We meet in his flat where his BAFTA trophy sits proudly on a shelf, not far from his sound studio in his garden that he modestly refers to as his “shed.”

He had recently returned from New York where he attended the EMMY awards after being nominated for his work on ‘9/11: I was there.’

“Amazing, as you could imagine,” he says of the experience. “On the day, leading up to it I felt quite apprehensive and nervous. It’s a big thing. To win awards is kind of great but it’s also quite important for your career.”

“Although we are a country with a big tv industry, everything in America is bigger and glitzier, more competitive.”

The glamour of New York is a world away from Rowan’s modest upbringing. His younger years were spent dividing his time with his divorced parents and grandparents.

He would later move in with his brother, Alex. It was here when his interest in sound started. “I had a general interest in sound, but I didn’t know my job existed.”

“College and school, generally for me, was challenging. As soon as I started A-levels, that jump up for me was too hard.”

“I found it hard to concentrate and focus, as well as being distracted by being a teenager and playing music in a band…It just felt like going and getting a job was better for me.”

After becoming a runner in his brother’s company, a chance meeting ignited his imagination.

“I was just making teas and running boxes of animations around to companies. But they happened to be running sound post-production at a company nearby.”

“I just happened to walk in on a foley session. I thought this is freaking cool! I’ve got an interest in that.”

After being given the opportunity to change companies, Rowan slowly developed his craft through various roles before becoming a sound assistant where he gained his first credits.

In 2014, his reputation in the industry was cemented when he won a BAFTA for his work on ‘David Bowie: Five Years.’

“That was a good night, a bit of a blur!” he says of the ceremony.

Rowan laughs, “I would love to say that Bowie knocked on my door and said I need you to mix my film.

“It’s not like we had Bowie in a voiceover booth, recording. We had to make bits of his dialogue feel like it was narration.”

With Bowie famously reluctant to do interviews, Rowan’s team had the task of mixing old archive footage with raw recordings that were supplied by Toni Visconti - Bowie’s long-term producer.

Rowan returned to Bowie in 2017 for ‘Bowie: The Last Five Years’ where he was also nominated for a BAFTA.

He also gained nominations for his work on ‘Our World War’ and ‘Britten’s Endgame’ and ‘Michael Palin in North Korea.’

His sound career has also enabled him to work with several stars in the voiceover booth. Rowan beams, “Attenborough is the one! It was the most memorable voiceover session I’ve ever had.”

If his achievements in sound weren’t impressive enough, Rowan is also a National, European and World Grand Champion in the martial art of Tang Soo Do.

“A life of accidents” he says of when he started in 2010. “My son, Theo, started first. I was just sitting on the side doing emails while he was training. I was getting hassled by the instructor the whole time saying you might as well join in.”

Martial arts helped “rebalance his life.” Although he was building a career, he concedes that the long hours meant that he didn’t see his family as much.

It also confronted an unhealthy lifestyle. “It turned my life around. It got to the point that I realised I had to stop killing myself.”

“I was just drinking alcohol and stagnating. Being overweight and obese. I think I was up at 19 or 20 stone at one point. I wasn’t told by a doctor or anything, I just had enough of it.”

Tang Soo Do quickly appealed to Rowan’s competitive nature and he began training four times a week, eventually becoming a 2nd Dan black belt instructor.

His two daughters, Ellie and Immy, and wife Kate would quickly start their own journey in Tang Soo Do, allowing the family to spend time together while training and competing.

In 2016, they travelled to North Carolina for the World Championships. Rowan won every event in his division to win the prestigious Grand Champion Cup.

“I wasn’t expecting it; I knew I was training hard. I was motivated and had a goal. I very much work on having goals. If I don’t, then that’s problematic for me mentally because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Rowan backed up his world championship with a European title in 2017- The first to do it back-to-back.

His brother Alex argues that his successes aren’t unusual. “No matter what sport Rowan chose, he was a natural born winner.”

“Winning a Bafta? No surprise. Martial arts world champion? Easy. Some people just have the right stuff.”

“I must have paid him well for that quote” Rowan responds. “You have got to be analytical and harness focus. I pretend I’m not, but I’m competitive about most things.”

He would later emphasise, “Becoming a black belt takes a lot of hard work. You don’t just turn up, go to class, and get a belt.”

“You have to train for it. I guess that translates to what you put in, you get out. Discipline, humility, being humble, I guess a lot of that comes from Tang Soo Do.”

He is also enthusiastic about giving back by training others. This includes plans to open a Tang Soo Do club with Ellie, who is also a 2nd Dan black belt.

We finish by discussing whether anyone can succeed by just being naturally talented. “As long as you keep some sort of balance between motivation, hard work and creativity then I think you find that’s the best way.”

“I know there’s a lot of martial arts thinking in there. You can’t just hang in one zone, can you? You have to evolve and exist in both.”