Emma: TV Runner/Researcher

As a graduate now working in the television industry, I thought I would share with you my ten tips about what it’s like to work in TV land! Whether you’re a prospective Runner, just generally interested in TV, or if you’re just procrastinating about writing an essay, hopefully this will be of some interest to you! Obviously if you have any more specific questions, feel free to give me a tweet or facebook message, I’d be happy to help.

1. It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do! When you leave university, there’s a lot of pressure for you to suddenly ‘know’ what you want to do with the rest of your life, but you don’t need to know right away! When you work in TV, most people start off as a Runner, working on programmes in all kinds of genres. This is a sort of ‘try before you buy’ stage, you can see what genre(s) of shows you enjoy working on, and hopefully you can specialise into that as you progress. That also includes trying out different roles, and you can decide whether to go down an Editorial (PD / Researcher), Technical (Camera / Sound) or Production (Production Manager / Prod Coordinator / Prod Sec) route.

 2. There isn’t a set way to get into TV.  From talking to people who work in the industry, it is clear there are many different ways to get into TV. Some people are lucky enough to know someone, a few stumble into it from other industries, and others (like me) have worked hard to get where they are! Continue reading →