Ninety-plus students and industry professionals gathered at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey, for an RTS Thames Valley event in early March to learn how to land a technical role in television.
Jonathan Glazier, studio multicamera director on shows that include Asia’s Got Talent and Million Pound Drop, advised the students to make their own content. “I started with a Super-8 camera [when] the filming and developing costs were very high, but now everybody has a mobile phone camera in their pocket,” he said.
Tom Morgan, head of client services at ENVY Post Production, found the job market in London incredibly competitive when he was starting out, and had to retrain himself on Avid before landing the position he wanted.Carrie Wooten, director of RISE, which promotes gender diversity within the broadcast technology sector, revealed that she had unsuccessfully applied for jobs for two years before landing a dream role as a script researcher on EastEnders.
Claire Wilkie, founder of outside broadcast company Wilkie TV, talked about her involvement in student TV: “At university I thought I wanted to study music or go into radio, but then I fell into setting up a student TV station and became station manager. It was through student television that I got my first runner job [covering] the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.”
Sky Sports News and Sky News VT operator Tom Metcalf said: “From leaving university I knew I always wanted to go into the industry.”
He said it was important to take any opportunity: “I went for an induction at Sky and got a job as a quality checker. I made travel videos when travelling and then got [another] job in Sky working in the gallery providing replays for live sports events.”
Peaky Blinders sound editor Adele Fletcher, who is currently working on the latest Bond film, and camera assistant Hannah Green, employed on the new Batman movie, joined the panel via a video link.
The panellists suggested the students in the audience should keep an open mind, try new roles and see where their career takes them. Professor Lyndsay Duthie, who chaired the event, asked them for the qualities needed to land work in television. They replied: “Humility, tenacity, self-belief, preparation and resilience.”
