Getting Into Production

Getting Into Production

I thought it might be useful to write a little piece on how and why I decided to go into production, and on my experience of applying for and gaining a place on the BBC Production Talent Pool 2013. I am by no means qualified to give official advice on this, but hopefully sharing my experience will be helpful and interesting to others wanting to get into the industry or those thinking of applying for the pool next year or those bored on a Monday night with nothing better to read.

I first heard about the Production Talent Pool during my second year of uni. At this point, I’ll be honest, I still was unsure about my career. I was considering journalism, or advertising, or…well, I was still pretty clueless. I had always known exactly what I wanted from a job: I wanted to be creative; I wanted to use my writing skills; I wanted to be doing something different every day; I wanted to deal with big ideas; I wanted to be allowed to think outside the box and make a difference in society through art somehow. But it wasn’t until I stumbled into a presentation at my uni about the BBC Production Talent Pool that I realised that working in production would allow me to do all these things.

I came home from that presentation and immediately started to think about what I had to do to get into the industry. I had no experience or connections whatsoever. I sought out some local indie companies and sent out about fifteen emails, asking for any unpaid work experience. I got one response, but this was all I needed, and within three days I found myself working as a visual effects assistant on a green screen set for a Disney production. I’ll never forget walking into a studio for the first time. Everything about it fascinated me, and from then on I was hooked on learning everything I could about production.

As I went into my final year of university, I got a job working for a national student TV network, and also managed to get a day’s work experience working on ‘Doctor Who’. It was a tough year trying to balance my full-time degree with my part-time job with Subtv, my weekend job at Clarks and production work experience, but I think it was important to demonstrate my passion for the industry by being proactive in this way.

Applying for the Production Talent Pool

February rolled around and it was time to apply. The application process was long, tough and highly competitive. But don’t let that put you off! What’s nice about the process is that it gives you a lot of creative freedom, and, at the end of the day, if you don’t enjoy thinking creatively and writing about your ideas, you probably wouldn’t enjoy working in production.

The first stage was a Situational Judgement Test, which tests your initiative, logic and general common sense in typical working situations. I didn’t find this part too challenging. There is no time limit, so all you have to do is to think sensibly and logically about each situation and say how you would deal with it.

The next stage was the written application, which is your time to shine. This included four questions about your relevant skills and experiences, why you want to be on the Talent Pool and a programme pitch. I had never thought of a programme idea before, and wasn’t too sure where to start. But then I realised that it wasn’t too different from the essays I was constantly writing for my English literature degree, since both fundamentally require you to research what’s been said in the past, how it was received, and then say something new. In this way, it was actually quite easy for me to take the ideas and skills I had developed in uni and transfer them to my programme pitch. When thinking of an idea, I found it useful to think about groups of society that are under-represented, or who don’t normally get a voice. I thought specifically about my audience and the most effective way to reflect them. I also think it is important to write fluently and clearly, and aim to capture your reader. After all, they have thousands of applications to read, so they will probably appreciate a little entertainment! Another piece of advice would be to write it up in a word document, and, as my uni lecturers would relentlessly tell me, leave enough time to come back to your work with fresh eyes, and edit, edit, edit. Above all, I think you should demonstrate your passion for programme-making.

Part of the process also involved a verbal reasoning test, which tests your ability to pick out certain pieces of information in an article, and test how you cope under pressure. I definitely found this test challenging, and I don’t think I was the only one! The only advice I can give is to practise as much as you can before you take the real test. Everyone was convinced they’d failed this part before they were pleasantly surprised, so I think most people end up doing better than they think.

Assessment Centre

I was lucky enough to make it through to the assessment centre, which isn’t half as scary as it sounds. This involved a group task, a prioritising exercise and an individual interview. When it came to the group task, I was convinced that it would include a terrifying apprentice board-room style scenario, complete with relentless arguing, bitchiness and eye-rolling. Thank God I had it completely wrong. Everyone in my team had a say, everyone was lovely and respectful and everyone encouraged other people’s ideas, which was to the advantage of all. One small hiccup we encountered was not realising that we were responsible for managing our own planning time, so make sure you keep an eye on the clock and don’t be afraid to point out that you’ve spent too long or too little on one particular aspect of the task. The only other thing I would say is remember that it’s a group task, and thinking about the team’s goal rather than your own will probably place you in a better light, i.e. don’t push your own idea if you know another one is better. In my group, everyone’s ideas were so impressive that I wouldn’t have been able to choose! I was offered a place on the Production Talent Pool in June, coincidentally the same day that I received my degree result, and I don’t think I’ve ever been through so many conflicting emotions of terror and joy in my life.  

And so ends my application process story, and so begins my life in the Production Talent Pool. The process is long and trying, and you will find yourself desperately checking your emails all day just to see if you’ve made it into the top one thousand to be in the running to be shortlisted for the shortlist. But there is tons of help and support along the way, and a massive sense of community amongst the other applicants as you’re all in it together. Make sure you follow the @BBCTrainees twitter page, which was invaluable to me throughout the application process, and @Don_b_kong and @Spimon are incredibly helpful in giving you support and advice. Like I said, my advice isn’t official, but I found that reading and learning about other people’s experiences really helped me last year, so I hope sharing my story will be similarly beneficial to others.