I was fortunate enough to receive a four week work placement with North One Television on June the 1^st. After just finishing my final year jumping into this four week internship was amazing! From my first year I always knew I wanted to work in television so I worked incredibly hard to receive work experience including one week as an Office Runner at Objective Productions, freelance work as a Junior Researcher and working on a Lincolnshire feature film as a Production Assistant. It was these snippets of work experience and an obvious determination to work in factual entertainment that I believe secured me this position and I would urge all students to take on whatever experience you can as it will benefit you massively when applying for entry level positions.

On my first day entering North One’s London office I had no idea what to expect, but after introductions with the small development team and a tour of the office I was filled with excitement and determination to take in everything I could from this experience. Over the first three weeks I worked within the development team as an intern, working on several different research tasks and being encouraged to pitch my own ideas! I am extremely grateful for the team’s welcoming attitude towards me and making me feel part of the team. The main things I learned from working in development are you work at an extremely fast pace! Balancing several different projects at once, I also learned the value of teamwork and communication as working together and blending thoughts and ideas are the best ways to develop a project and making it ready to pitch to commissioners.

On my final week of the internship I worked as a Runner for a North One Production, this was a great opportunity to develop my technical skills and I really enjoyed it.  Working as a Runner gave me the opportunity to shadow the Production Coordinator who was nice enough to show me key skills needed in production management like PMI.

Though there are several things I learned from this experience the most valuable thing I have gained is the connections and experiences from my colleagues, every member of the development team was extremely helpful telling me how they made that step from runner to researcher and this knowledge is invaluable! From being in the office and seeing the ins and outs of a production company has also given me a clear idea of what role I want to take within the industry which is that of a Production Secretary. The team was extremely helpful with this – passing on connections with former Production Managers who shared a lot of useful information that has allowed me to set a clear career path for myself, and the experience I need to acquire to achieve this.

Looking back at this experience has allowed me to acknowledge the benefits of work experience, it truly is invaluable and extremely necessary if you want to work in TV. I have also learned that in the television industry there are no short cuts and you have to be prepared to take on roles such as a Runner and an Intern if you want to achieve your overall goal. Even if you think you can do more specific tasks the things you will learn while working in positions will be invaluable and if you persevere and work to the best of your ability your hard work will be acknowledged. As for me a week after my internship I was invited to an interview at North One and have secured a position as a Production Secretary (started in mid-July!). I am beyond happy with this position and hope this is the start of a long and prosperous career working in production management.