Corporate Production Jobs
The type of work in Corporate essentially breaks into three areas, with different types of people, different skills, different training routes and different career paths for each.
(Account Executive, Client Liaison, Executive Producer, Producer, Director, Journalist, Researcher, Writer etc.) Producers, directors, writers and researchers need the same skills and experience as for broadcast television, and the same level of professional achievement and delivery. In many ways the audience is even more discerning in Corporate. For at some stage you have to show your final product to the client, often a very pressurised and discerning individual, or group of individuals whose own career prospects may to a degree hinge on your work and product. Judgement can be brutal.
(Events Organiser, Conference Organiser, Camera, Sound, Lighting, Editing, Art, Engineering etc.) Here career paths may be simpler. Specific technical skills and technical problem solving are key; if you do not have such abilities to a high level, you will not work. Traditionally one trained on the job - as assistant camera or assistant sound - and then went freelance, or found work as the principal yourself. Video and digital technology has meant that “assistant” is no longer a common role, so more and more people have to train for technical roles at Film Schools or in University Departments, or with equipment manufacturers or facilities houses. In addition to the technical skills, Corporate producers who employ camera, sound, editors etc. will look for flexibility, a friendly personality and a “can do” attitude.
(Production Manager, Production Accountant, Lawyer, PA etc.) This area of work is relatively standard for most roles. Whether secretary or lawyer, accountant or personnel manager, you train in the normal way. But even here there are some Corporate and Broadcast Television specific roles, such as Production Manager (PM) which have no real set training route as yet. PMs are a mixture of budget controller, organiser, recruiter, administrative chief, general support and any other job they might take on for a production. They know technical folk and their rates, they know film processes and their costs; they know most things that are relevant, and if they don't …. they know how to find out fast. There are short training courses around for this role, but the only real way ultimately may still be to observe and learn at work.
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