Acknowlegements v
Foreword – Peter Bazalgette vi
Preface viii

CHAPTER 1: The bad, the good, the ugly and me 1
• The bad: TV – are you tough enough? 1
• The good 6
• The ugly – how do you plot the right career path? 7
And me – how did I get my first break in TV? 12

CHAPTER 2: What you need to get started in TV 21
• Love TV? 21
• How well do you know yourself? 23
• What qualities do you need to work in TV? 25
• What qualifications do you need to work in TV? 31
• What skills do you need to work in TV? 39
• Do I need to be able to write to work in TV? 44
• Do I need to study journalism to work in TV? 45
• Where should I look for TV training schemes? 47
• How do I get into TV? 52
• How do I get work experience? 60
• What does a production manager do? 62
• Talent managers/heads of talent 64
• Useful organisations 66

CHAPTER 3: Getting a job 84
• Do I have to do work experience to get in? 84
• Network, network, network 86
• How to apply for a job 88
• What are the golden rules of interviews? 138

CHAPTER 4: First jobs in TV – running and researching 151
• The runner 151
• How do I go from runner to researcher? 159
• What is a researcher? 164
• How to write a brief 189
• Setting up shoots 190
• Working as a shooting researcher 195
• Libel law 198
• Defamation 198

CHAPTER 5: Plotting a career path 204
• How do I plot a career path in TV? 204
• Production versus development 211
• Assistant producer to series editor – what are the job roles? 216
• What does an edit assistant producer do? 220
• What does an edit producer do? 220
• What does a producer do? 222
• What does a producer/director do? 223
• What’s the different between a self shooting producer director and self shooting assistant producer? 226
• How do you go from being a self shooting assistant producer to self shooting producer director? 228
• What does a multi-camera studio director do? 229
• What does a series producer do? 230
• What skills do you need to be a good series producer? 236
• What does a series editor do? 237
• How do I choose which genre of programming to work in? 238
• How easy is it to work abroad? 241

CHAPTER 6: The future 252
• What’s the future for TV? 252
• What training issues does the industry face? 266
• What next in training? 267
• What are the next big ideas? 269
An A to Z of contributors and their credits 279
Useful TV terms 285

Index

Industry profiles
Richard Hopkins, managing director, Fever Media
Andrew O’Connor, chief executive office, Objective Productions
Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment series, ITV Productions
Grant Mansfield, chief of RDF Media Group Content
Kate Phillips, head of development, BBC Entertainment
Daisy Goodwin, managing director, Silver River Productions
Tom Hincks, chief executive officer, Endemol UK
Conrad Green, executive producer, Dancing with the Stars
Richard Drew, executive producer and managing director, Savannah Media
Ruth Wrigley, entertainment and format consultant, All3Media
Anna Richardson, presenter, executive producer in development, format creator