It's February. Already. Time is flying by.
I've now been on the BBC production Talent Pool for 9
months and nothing is bringing home the fact that I technically only have a few
months left more than all the twitter posts I see calling for people to apply
for PTP2013.
Applications open on the 18th Feb. so it seems a good
time to review what I have gotten out of the scheme myself in the last 9 months.
Perhaps if you are thinking of applying my musings will help you decided.
In fact I'll make it simple for you in case you don't
want to read further....
If you want to work in TV and radio. APPLY.
Seriously you have nothing to lose and everything to
gain.
Saying that don't expect to be constantly employed by
the BBC during your year on the scheme should you be lucky enough to get on.
I was, with no exaggeration, ecstatic when I found out
I had got a place. I literally jumped about my living room for a good five minuets. I couldn't wait to get started and getting started first meant 3 days
of initial training. Some of this is long and tedious (a five hour health and safety on-line module or example) but I wouldn't have given up those 3 days for
anything. It was a chance to meet my fellow PTPeeps (what we ended up refer to
ourselves as on twitter) and as I soon learned networking is everything in
media. It really is who you know and you'll make some good friends at the
training.
At the training we were told they had a whole host of
BBC programme makers clambering at the
doors to hire us and waiting for us to be trained and that while they couldn't guarantee
it they expected most of us to be in some kind of placement with the first
couple of weeks.
So it was a bit hard to deal with the silence of my
phone for the weeks afterwards. Even harder when the weeks turned to months and
no call came.
And it wasn't just me. No one from the Bristol group
of PTPeeps had had anything and only a handful of others had.
I don't for one second blame the fabulous people
running the scene for this. I think they may have got carried away in their
enthusiasm for the scheme and their enthusiasm for us in predicting demand and I
also suspect that demand told to them was over exaggerated but when they said it
i do think they believed it.
The two people running the scheme: Don Kong (yes that
is really his name, isn't it great!) and Simon Wright are your closest allies
and best friends in starting out in your media careers They are always there
when you need it at the end of a phone line (or more often at the end of a
tweet) With advice and friendly words and they will do everything in their
power to get you that first job.
You have to do some work yourself as well of course
and a lot of those first two months I spent e-mailing people within the BBC,
telling them we were here and asking to meet for a coffee. Also attending
Networking events, some organised specially for us, some external.
Finally I did get an interview; For a five week
placement as an IT co-ordinator in drama. It wasn't the production or editorial
role I had been hoping for. But after two months of waiting for an opportunity I
wasn't going to scoff at it and during that month I learnt a lot about BBC
systems that I may not have learned in another placement.
The moral there is don't refuse the roles in areas
away from where you are aiming. You never know what you might learn.
It was five months till I was offered my next BBC
placement. A 10 week contract as production management assistant in Radio
Drama. It's my ideal role and I very much look forward to starting it next
week.
But it is worth remembering that there may be long
periods where you get no work form the BBC.
And now I'll tell you why none of that matters. Why if
you REALLY do want to work in tv and radio why all the positive of this scheme
outweigh the one negative of not knowing when you'll get your next pay (and
really that's a good thing to get used to anyway, the whole media industry runs
on short term contracts)
For starters you’re not restricted to just working for
the BBC. If you get a full time job elsewhere that you love that's fine. You might also get other short term work. During
the 5 months between BBC contracts I filled my time working as a day-runner for various independent production companies. which ties in quite well to my next
point....
Contacts! The PTP is amazing for making contacts in
the industry. People within the BBC will (mostly) be more willing to meet with
you for a coffee and a chat, which may not lead straight to a job but in a
months time when they need someone they may just remember your enthusiasm.
Then there is your fellow PTPeeps. I've made some
great friends through the PTP and some of those friends have gotten me jobs on
other productions outside the BBC. The first runner role i had was because
someone from the PTP who was already working on it recommended me. From that I
got more work with that production company and my CV started to look appealing
to apply for day-runner jobs off my own back.
And perhaps the best reason to apply for PTP is the opportunity to then apply to the PTS, the Production Trainee Scheme, the prestigious 18 month
fast track that only those on the PTP can apply for.
I didn't quite make it onto the scheme I did however
get to the interview stage, not getting on to it may be my biggest disappointment
to date in my life but I feel honoured that I got that far. To the last 33 from
which the 11 trainees were chosen. That opportunity alone is worthy of applying for
the PTP.
My 9 months on the scheme has been a roller coaster of
ups and downs. And the only decision I've made that I might be tempted to change
if I had a time machine might be to apply to London instead of Bristol. There
were many more placements coming out of London (and also Manchester) than the others
locations However there was probably also more competition in applying to London.
Maybe I wouldn't have made it onto the scheme at all.
It would be a tough call to make. What isn't a tough
call is to apply at all. If you have any desire to work in this industry do it.
You won't regret it.
