Getting into T.V. is not as hard as you think
Traditional Production related jobs such as Researcher, Producer and Director are competitive, often on a freelance basis and also involve long hours and weekend work
However there are opportunities for Production Co-coordinators who are responsible for making sure everything on a production goes smoothly. This includes everything from organising travel arrangements and accommodation to keeping track of filming timings and sorting out expenses. These jobs are often on longer term contracts and offer lots of progression, to areas such as scheduling and budgeting work
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Do you have THE skills for this type of work?
You need to be energetic, good at building relations, solution focussed and able to deal with last minute changes
Other areas where there are likely to be skills gaps within television: engineering, coders, on-line platforms, social media, data security and data management, practical roles such as construction and hair/beauty and sales and marketing
Useful websites
www.prospects.ac.uk For research into what different jobs involve, in the job profiles section
You don't have to have a university degree to get into production careers. It is useful to have a degree for the more technical roles such as camera operator but for production roles it is about persistence and gaining experience
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Career changers with the right skills and personality are also sought after
Tips for getting into TV:
- You must like television and WATCH LOTS OF TV so you can talk about it at interviews etc
- There are short schemes/ courses available, such as those run by the British Film Industry in London
- Some independent cinemas also run their own film based projects
- Work experience programmes: e.g Channel 4 have 60 placements a year for people of any ages
- Internships often lead to jobs. There are opportunities for runners and no previous film related experience is needed
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Acknowledgements: Thanks to Kay Verden from Creative Skillset and her guest speakers from Endemol Shine UK and Channel 4, for the really useful talk at the recent National Careers Guidance show in London, on which this blog was based