Watch Here | Originally streamed Tuesday 10th May at 12.30pm on Zoom.

You’ve done your training and now you need to break down the seemingly impenetrable walls of the television industry. This session will show you how.

Our expert panel will offer tactics and insight in to starting on a career path in television. The pitfalls and perils as well as the positive stories that show it’s not quite as hard as you might think. There will be tips for CVs and cover letters, guides on how to avoid the abyss of ‘general’ email addresses, and a ‘how to’ overview on networking and the wider benefit of events, building contacts and reaching out.

We’ll also look at best practice to keep that foot inside the door in the early days and how to stand out from the crowd and turn your first freelance contracts in to a longer term career path where productions chase you.

Watch from the production and talent managers who are always busy hiring and supporting the next generation of Scottish production talent as well as educators, trainers and crew who will also share their valuable expertise to help you break in. 

Kate Efomi – Training Liaison Manager Scotland, ScreenSkills

Kate Efomi is the new training liaison manager for Scotland. She joins ScreenSkills with over 20 years’ experience in development and production across film, television dramas and documentaries. She has worked as a researcher, production manager, script supervisor, script editor and producer on various BBC, Channel 4, STV and Discovery Channel productions as well as a number of independent shorts and films.

 

Jeannot Hutcheson - Talent Manager, Raise the Roof Productions

Jeannot joined Raise the Roof in 2010 and is now Talent Manager, responsible for talent and HR. She has an MSc in Human Resource Management at Strathclyde University and is an Associate member of the CIPD.

Jeannot brings a wealth of television production experience to her role, having worked across multiple genres. As well as stints in Raise the Roof’s development and production departments, she worked as a producer and writer, during which time she was responsible for two books, including ‘Kirstie’s Vintage Home’. She also spent four years working in the Production Executive team, helping to oversee the running of all aspects of productions and the business.

 

Kaljeven Singh Lally - Editor and Director

Kal studied sound engineering at University of West Scotland before earning his break through the training programme Screen Nets as a Post Production Trainee. From there he worked his way through the editorial department as an Assistant Editor and then Editor on various productions including River City, Outlander, Shetland and Princess Mirror-Belle. A few years on and Kal has been prioritising another passion, Directing,  shadowing on a block of River City and will be Directing his first episode in the summer.

 

Professor Dario Sinforiani - Head of Production Teaching, University of Stirling

Dario has been Head of Production at Stirling University since 2013. He has supervised as host of award-winning documentary films and built strong relationships with the Scottish and UK broadcast production sector. 

Many Stirling graduates have gone on to successful industry careers, and the university is firmly established as a centre of excellence in production teaching. 

 

Kevin McCormick, Head of Production, UK Operations, BBC Studios

Kevin has worked at the BBC for 30 years in various Production management, Project management, Business management, Finance and Operations roles. Based in Glasgow, Kevin also works with ScreenSkills as a member of the Unscripted Skills Fund Council.

 

Jane McLaughlin, Talent Executive, BBC Studios

Jane’s remit is focused on sourcing production TV freelancers to work on commissioned programmes across a broad slate for various channels including BBC, C4, C5, Netflix, Nat Geo/Disney +, The History Channel, Migu. She mainly supports staffing requirements in BBC Studios’ Scotland base however her role involves collaborating with Talent Exec colleagues across all UK bases to network and engage with industry freelancers.

Jane is passionate about building diverse and inclusive teams and is always on the lookout for a variety of industry roles including those with a specialism in Development to work across a range of output i.e. Science, History, Docs, Fact/Ent and Specialist Factual. She has crewed up shows such as Dragon’s Den, Points of View, Master of Ceremonies, Cook Clever Waste Less, Earth’s Natural Wonders to name a few.