The film sector has many employment opportunities in Greater Manchester, in the United Kingdom and worldwide. In Greater Manchester there are companies like the BBC. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), it creates which inform, educate and entertain millions of people not just in the UK but worldwide which are funded through the licence fee paid by UK households. BBC offer apprenticeships, which could lead to continuing to work for them after the apprenticeship has finished.  A national (just Britain) organisation is Channel 5, Channel 5 is a British free-to-air television network, it is funded through advertising. Netflix is an international (everywhere) organisation, it is a subscription-based streaming service that allows people to watch films and tv shows when connected to Wi-Fi (can also download tv shows and films). 

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 All these organisations have employment opportunities, BBC and ITV have employment opportunities locally, Channel 5 doesn’t make most of its own programmes, so there aren’t many employment opportunities in production for this organisation, but they suggest sending any details to any production company. Netflix do have many employment opportunities in production (and many outside of production) and they are worldwide opportunities so going for a certain job could mean you are working in a different country.  

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Some of these organisations also offer apprenticeships. Getting an apprenticeship at a company like the BBC would be very good experience and would open lots of employment jobs for you in the future because of how influential they are on the industry. Once you get an apprenticeship, in any of the organisations in the industry, then you can move around all the different departments within the industry, this is extremely helpful if you are still unsure what part of the industry to go into as you can get a taste for each department. 

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Other than using an apprenticeship to get into the industry, getting a voluntary or a low down (paid) job, which you can find on online platforms is another way in. Facebook is a good way to get an on set voluntary job, if you join many film groups within your area (for example joining a Manchester film group) there are usually people who ask on there for volunteers for certain roles on set whether that be camera operator, runner, actor etc. This experience can be very beneficial as they can allow you to network with people and develop your skills. 

For me, I would prefer to stay in Britain when getting a job in the industry, though if I found that I really wanted, and was at my level, but was abroad I would still apply for it as it would be a very worthwhile experience which would develop my skills. My preferred role is in production though I would like to get experience in all the different stages. 

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I will be going to university straight after college and so I will go from university to the industry. As previously mentioned there are apprenticeships (at level 4) which you can go onto after college, but there are also higher-level apprenticeships offered by the BBC, ITV and many other companies that can get you into the industry. With these sorts of apprenticeships (specifically for BBC apprenticeships) once you get an apprenticeship within the company you can bounce around the different departments, and so you could end up preferring a different role, in film and TV, throughout your experience. 

 

 

To round up all the information, the best ways to get into the industry are to get experience and to network (A LOT). Getting experience can develop your skills and understanding in the industry, then networking can mean someone you have worked with before may contact you for a job in the future, whether that be paid or voluntary, which will then lead to EXTRA experience. 

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