Skills and Training for Television
People from all kinds of educational and cultural backgrounds work in television. Once in the industry, people do move around and the majority find work through contacts and word of mouth.
Many are permanently employed by broadcasters or Indies, but 27% are freelance, casual workers on a job duration, or daily, weekly, monthly or three monthly contract.
Many take short-term courses to maintain their high skill level, in an industry where the technology and thinking is ever advancing.
Reputation really counts. “You are only as good as your last job” is a common saying, and there is much truth in that. This is a small industry and word goes round - fast! Key skills for television are generally listed as:
- Creative Skills
- Communication Skills
- Problem-solving abilities
- Team Skills
- Flexibility
- Tenacity
- The ability to sell your skills to potential employers
- An awareness of the actual and possible applications of technology
To work in television is not like being a lawyer or an architect, where there is a set and known training and career path. Work in television is not like being a doctor, where without the training and the qualification you will not be trusted with the work. The one overriding rule for careers in television is: there is no absolute rule. If you can do the job well, you will often get to do the job, no matter what your background or training.
This situation will never entirely disappear, but it is changing somewhat. In certain areas, the UK is beginning to follow the American route of people training to work in television, whether in UK film schools or universities. People are graduating with the bedrock of knowledge and skills, so that they then need only a break to get a job. There they gain a modicum of actual experience in TV and then get work on an on-going basis.
