At the end of March, RTS Southern hosted its popular “Meet the professionals” event at Bournemouth University, with more than 200 students from Bournemouth, Solent and Winchester universities and the Arts University Bournemouth attending.
A panel of 13 professionals from different career stages – first jobs, mid-career and exec producers – took questions from Southern committee member and host Gordon Cooper. Students were then able to network with the professionals.
The professionals’ roles ranged from archive researcher to edit assistant, production co-ordinator, production manager and music producer at companies such as Sky, ITV Studios, The Farm, Moonbug, Woodcut Media and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Alison Martin, currently a development exec at Topical TV, explained to the students how programme ideas are developed. Her credits include The One Show and Katie Price: My Crazy Life.
Cooper said: “Networking plays such a big role in the development of media careers and it was great to see how much the students valued the opportunity, once again, to talk openly and enthusiastically with so many professionals in one place.”
RTS Southern Chair Stephanie Farmer said: “There was such a great buzz at this event. We bring a wide selection of professionals to the students and this clearly pays off. In the past, these events have given students contacts for work experience and employment.”
