Panel members at UTV Studios, Belfast, included: Stelify Media MD Kieran Doherty; Terry Brennan, head of news and programmes at UTV; Leon McGeown Fee, production manager on Disney teen series The Lodge; novelist Colin Bateman; and Michael Lennox, who directed the Oscar-nominated short, Boogaloo and Graham.

They recalled how they broke into the media industry and offered a wealth of invaluable advice to an audience of young people hoping to break into television. 

McGeown Fee encouraged audience members to immerse themselves in their passions and to collaborate with peers to make the creative process happen. “The resources, drive and creativity are in this room. Talk to each other, use each other,” she said.

Bateman, who wrote Divorcing Jack and adapted it for film, advised: “Find that one person who likes what you do. Don’t give up!”

Brennan encouraged those starting work experience to not be shy of speaking up during meetings and to share ideas when appropriate. 

And, after landing a job, McGeown Fee advised: “A runner who can read a room will be remembered – make yourself casually memorable.”