The document discusses the television industry in the UK. It notes that the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 are the top three broadcasters. The BBC is funded by television licenses and is the oldest broadcaster. ITV was launched in the 1950s to compete with the BBC. There are many roles involved in television production, from directors and producers to writers, researchers, and marketing managers. Employment can be full-time, part-time, temporary, or freelance. Creating a portfolio and social media presence can help increase opportunities in the television industry.

1. Learning aim A
The Mediaindustries:
The media industry and the mass amountof employment and career options
that come with it is huge; this is due to how many sectors of the media
industry exists. Itplays a huge role in our economy. One of the sectors is film;
The British Film industry is ranked amongstthe leading film production sectors
internationally, having produced 200 films in 2016 alone. A lot of films
produced in the UK are funded by the British Film Academy, which uses lottery
revenue to give upcoming directors a chanceto make it in the industry. Similar
to film, another sector is television. Currently in the UK, we haveover 480 free
to air television channels, two of the main companies being ‘ITV’ and ‘BBC’.
Anyonein the UK with a television and a TV licence has access to all of these
programmes. Radio, another sector, shares the BBC channel with television.
This is becausethe samebig company runs them. Radio is most popularly
distributed to us in our cars and stereos if you own one. Animation, interactive
media and computer games all fit into a similar theme as they all utilise
creativity and creating a digital experience. Publishing, press and
advertisement also fit well together as they are all about marketing. All of
these individual sectors in the media are extremely important but they go
together well in groups as the majority of them are similar to each other.
I am going to focus on the Television industry for my research. This is becauseI
think it is such a broad rangeof aspects due to how big the industry is. Mostof
the big name media companies are multi-channel broadcasters, such as The
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), ITV Network Limited, the Channel Four
Television Corporation, and Sky. As of 2019, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 were the
top 3 leading TV broadcasters in the United Kingdom. BBC held and audience
sharepercentage of 31%, ITV and Channel 4 had audience shares on 23.4% and
10%. BBC is the world’s oldestand largest broadcaster, responsiblefor a great
deal of British pop-culture. The television licence fee is what funds the BBC, it
also makes a good chunk of its money from BBC Studios Ltd, which sells the
BBC’s programmes and services to international clients. ITV however, is often
seen as the BBC’s biggest rivals. ITV was launched in the 50s under the
Television Act 1954 to providecompetition to the BBC and stands as the oldest

2. commercial television network in the UK. Like the BBC, ITV also shows major
sporting events, reality TV and soap dramas.
Job roles in the television industry
Ittakes a lot of people to make a TV show. From runners and writers, to
directors and distributors, to the PR marketing team, there are hundreds of
roles. Here is some of the mostpopular job roles in the television industry with
a small overview of their responsibilities.
 Director – Directing scenes during filming, creating and refining a
shooting script, delegating tasks and managing the crew and working to
keep to the financial budget of the production.
 Producer – Overseeing the production line throughoutthe project,
working closely with the directors and scripteditors to create the
finished programme.
 Researcher –The next step up from the role of the runner in the editorial
production line, sourcing and researching information needed for the
programme, factchecking and conducting background checks on
contributors and data wrangling.
 Logger – Transcribes and logs hours of footage from production, either
live or during the edit to create a concisedocument for the editor or
production staff to pick out key parts from the filming process quickly.
 Runner – Transcribing footage, collecting and distributing post, providing
refreshments, tidying the office and answering the phone.
 Script writer / editor – Can producea well formatted and put together
scriptfor use, keen attention to detail and analytical skills, keeping up to
date with script date changes and developments, work to the
specifications set out by the producers and production managers of the
show.
 Cast and crew – Good acting skills, suitable for the role, able to
communicate the narrativethe way the director and producers imagine.
 Development researcher – Generating ideas with a team and identifying
contributors and talent.
 Casting director – Calling potential talent or agents, fact checking and
background checks, creating briefs and character profiles.

3.  Marketing manager – Raising awareness through the media to generate
publicity, preparecampaigns and press and organisepromotional
events.
These are justa handful of job roles in the television media industry. Thereare
a lot of other sectors. For example, the art department of a television
production. Roles like the costume designer. This is a role as essential as any
other, the costume designer is responsiblefor the overalllook of the clothes
and costumes on productions. Thereneeds to be a set designer, who is
responsiblefor creating a scene that enhances and fits in with the narrative.
The hair and makeup department in television is significant, SFX teams can also
be employed by sometelevision or film productions if they are creating a
production that would need to useheavy duty special effects. Television sets
also need lighting teams, sound teams and camera teams. There is also the
news sector of television, programmes such as Good Morning Britain which
feature the job roles of being a Television news Presenter, or reading the
weather. These sectors generate a lot of opportunities for employment as we
can see how big and diversethe film industry is and the types of skills and
specialisations it needs to run smoothly.
A very essential job in television is the role of a compliance officer. Compliance
offers will ensurethat the company complies with its regulatory requirements
and legal policies. They must regularly assess theefficiency of workflows and
recommend effective improvements, advicemanagement on the company’s
compliance with the laws and regulations through detailed reports etc.
Copyrightis a big role when it comes to legal and ethical responsibilities of a
company. A television production must ensureit is not using any copyrighted
material; for example if someone used the ITV logo this would be copyright
and illegal. Production companies try and ensure they abide by the copyright
laws by getting researchers to do background checks on their content. This is
because if you use copyrighted content, whether on purposeor accidentally,
you face being sued by whoever owns theright to the material. Itis also
ethically wrong as it is not your material or idea to use with no credit.

4. Recruitment in the television sector
Most television job roles are published online as job opportunities. Online
platforms are the fastest way for employers to recruit freelancers. This is why
social media is also significantnowadays, as talent managers and recruiters
might scout someoneout if they like the look of them and think they would be
suitable for the production. However if it is the job role for lighting assistantor
a runner for example, these jobs would be found online or in a newspaper
advertisement. This is becausethe people who will work in these jobs are not
someone you can ‘scout’ out, unlike cast and crew or people with a social
media presence. Word of mouth is also another popular way jobs can be easily
acquired becausedepending on which sector of the industry you would like to
be involved in, it can be difficult to find a job. Word of mouth and personal
contacts is a good way that recruiters can get people in as it’s usually someone
that someone on the team may already know. An example of people being
scouted for television is the television show ‘Naked Attraction’ on Channel 4.
The team of that production usually direct messageor reply under the person
they want to scout’s twitter; this shows thatone of their methods to scout
people out is using social media.
Contracts of employment
There are various differentkinds of employment when it comes to contracts.
There is a full time contract, part-time contract, you can be temporary or
permanent etc. When you are working in a full time job you are usually
working around 40 hour weeks with the entitlement to work benefits such as;
holidays, paid sick days, a pension, maternity or paternal leave. A lot of jobs in
television can be temporary or a part time contract, these include things like
being an extra on set, part of the art department team (makeup artist or
costume designer etc.). However, job roles such as being a TV presenter on ITV
for example, this would usually be a full time contract as in their contractthey
wouldn’tbe allowed to presenton a competing channel such as BBC. Freelance
workers areresponsiblefor their own arrangements of their payments and
allowances. People with these type of contracts are most likely to be technical,
creative sales and management roles. In TV, due to the shortterm nature of

5. roles in production and how being hired to work for a TV project ends
eventually, many work opportunities will be freelance.
Employment tactics and increasing opportunities
By creating a portfolio, this means that the employer will be able to see all of
your work in frontof them and they can make a judgement easily on whether
they think you’regood for the job. A social media page for your work would be
as beneficial as a portfolio as well as it will receive a high viewing due to the
impact social media has on us as a generation. This could be good as you could
build up a fan base / following that will enjoy your content and therefore give
your page a higher insight. A social media page with a good foundation point of
followers shows an employer that people are interested in you, so it gives
them reason to havea look at your page. Aside from a social media page or a
portfolio, one of the mostcommon and critical things to have when looking for
jobs is a CV (Curriculum Vitae). This is a written overview of your
achievements, educational grades, skills, personalhobbies and interests, and
career goals. Itis important to showcaseyour skillset on your CV as
information like this makes your profile better thereforeboosting your chance
of being invited for an interview etc. Having references on your CV can strongly
set you aside fromthe other competition as references are useful when trying
to find out your work ethic and drive, how you are in a work environment. On
your cv, it would also be a good idea to showcaseyour skills in using software
and computers. An employer in TV will mostlikely want to see this and see
how well you work with technology; mentioning this might divide you from
other competitors and push you ahead. Italso might be a good idea to do
some voluntary work, whereyou spend time shadowing someonein the sector
you want to do. This is unpaid time where you watch what happens and
sometimes do smalljobs. This is extremely beneficial to your CV and profile, as
it presents you as a patient and hard working person to your employer. Italso
signifies passion, and that it’s not justa job for money; it shows it’s something
you’reactually interested in and want to participate in.
Interview techniques

6. In the same way that having a strong CV or social media page will interest an
employer, employers want to ensurethat whoever they’rehiring can be
trusted and will be dedicated and professional. Itis all well and good having a
strong CV or online presence, but if you go into an interview acting really cocky
or rudeyou mostlikely won’t be hired. Being professionaland holding yourself
to a high standard will help you stand out at an interview. To preparefor an
interview, practice non-verbalcommunication, how to dress smartand
appropriately for the job, think of a question you can ask the interviewer, don’t
be over confident or too nervous etc. Itmay be a good idea to investin a
calendar, this way you can note down every deadline and date that is
important and you need to remember. When you have good time
management skills it makes your professionallife a lot easier as you will never
accidentally miss a deadline etc.