Here at Guardian Careers we’ve been following with great interest Cain Richards’ attempts to break into TV.
For those of you who haven’t read Cain’s blog, the former software developer took a gamble on leaving his stable job during the height of the credit crunch to pursue a career in TV production.
As I’m sure many of you also chasing an entry-level in TV might have already guessed, finding paid work in an industry known for being notoriously hard to get into was not a walk in the park for the ambitious career changer.
However, Cain managed it – and what stood out to me when reading his blog was how he felt the skills he learned gaining first-hand experience in the industry would be a valuable asset when working as a paid employee.
His experience highlighted how valuable gaining work experience in the media can be. It certainly seems to be a common way into the industry – according to Skillset, the sector skills council for creative media, around a third of the TV industry workforce has worked unpaid at some point in their careers. It’s a hard statistic to ignore, regardless of how you feel about unpaid internships.
So, if you are desperate to land your first role in TV, and you want to know more about the experience and skills employers are looking for – plus how you can get them – join our experts in a live Q&A, 25 November at 1pm.
Our panelists will include:
Tim Ball is Head of Production at IMG Sports Media. Originally an award-winning producer, now a senior media executive, he has over 20 years experience of broadcast television, e-learning, radio and non-broadcast video production. He is a Board Member of the Indie Training Fund, and a member of PACT’s factual programmes expert group.
Liana Stewart is director of Step2TV. Step2TV supports talent within the film and TV industry by helping people develop and produce original films through Step2TV productions and incentives.
Rhian Brewster is training and marketing coordinator at Cyfle, a training company for the creative media industries in Wales which delivers a variety of structured training schemes, designed to meet the demands of a rapidly changing industry.
Holly Blake works for the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. Holly’s role is to coordinate two talent schemes, The Network and Fast Track, which run alongside the main festival and help young people with aspirations of working in TV.
Mat Appleton from the Envy Post Production House runs the Envy Academy which offers in depth masterclasses and work placements.
Matthew Basham is a representative for Skillset, which provides funding for leadership and management training aimed at people working in TV.
Kate Edwards is 4Talent and Learning Co-ordinator; she manages several of Channel 4’s talent initiatives including the broadcaster’s internship and apprenticeship programmes as well as their online mentoring scheme.
Greg Marshall is head of Spool, one of only four Dolby-approved post production film and television studios outside London specialising in sound-to-picture. Spool is behind an impressive array of award-winning films, TV shows music videos and games including Channel 4’s This is England 86.
