TV a Family Affair

Right I'm fresh faced and just out of university and have to decide where I want to live.

London would be the obvious choice. It's fast paced, lots of work, plenty of networking opportunities and lots of TV companies. It's also expensive, I don't know anyone there and  did I mention it was expensive? No? Well it is expensive.

I lived in the Midlands at this point and there was not much going on there. The Mailbox had just opened but no TV companies where using it so I had to look elsewhere.

Whilst at University there had been rumours of the BBC selling up and moving to a new site in Manchester. Manchester was cheap, it had a TV studios that was producing work and lots of independent companies too. I'm sure one will give me a job. I thought I'd get established up there, get to know people up north, get the industry to know me, and when the BBC do move there I'll get a job with them easily. I'll know the area and it will be prefect!

So I set about moving to Manchester. Looking for jobs and trying to network.

TV a Family Affair

This is easier said then done. Not the moving to Manchester that was easy, it was the networking and job hunting that was difficult. Unless you have a sister, brother, mother, father, aunty, uncle or next doors pet orangutang working in the industry already its difficult to get your foot in the door. It really is a family affair. Just in the one production house you have numerous amounts of fathers and sons, uncles and daughters working along side each other, all helping each other get a job on the next production.

Finally there was an advert online for runners on a new talk show in Manchester. I spend hours filling out the application form and wait to hear back. Nothing....... And then a phone call I hadn't got the job but would I like to come in for Work Experience.

Work experience is the word we all dread both sides of the barrel. If you are being offered work experience you dread it because it will involve you working your butt off for hours making tea and proving yourself for free. Thats right no pay and no guarantee of a job at the end of it. The other side of the barrel is if you are employing a work ex its a nightmare, they invariably don't want to be there but have been forced to find work as part of there college course and will want you to fill in an evaluation of them after. Or they really want you to employ them so are over keen and annoying. Asking questions and talking about themselves to much. The key is to strike a happy medium between being keen and asking the right amount of questions.

If I'm going to get my foot in the door though I'm going to have to do it, its for a one of the UK's leading channels and hopefully I'll make some links and found out better places to look for work.

So off to work I go.