The Uncharted Freelancer| Graduated? Kickstart Your TV Career| Issue 7| July 2024 Edition
Laura Masters
WFTV Award Winner| Soho Editors trained 2nd Assistant Editor| HETV and Features| Assistant Editor| Junior Editor| Un/Scripted| Available Now| Founder of The Uncharted Freelancer| #Editing #Assistant Editor #Avid#Adobe
Hello everyone, and welcome to Issue 7 of The Uncharted Freelancer. Last month's article Issue 6: Traveller Survival Guide For Freelance Work focused on areas of; finding your accommodation, accommodation websites, transport, travel insurance, visas, currency, healthcare, travelling around London and Cardiff, travel product essentials, backpack and suitcase essentials, where to get a good rucksack, and keeping safe while travelling. For those of you who know me personally, know I'm a big fan of travelling and have worked in different parts of the UK and overseas for work. Therefore, I thought it'd be a great idea to share some of my tips and knowledge of travelling for work.
This month has been quite exciting for me, and very busy. I enrolled on FREE workshops with futuresunlocked.com to learn more about building a brand, Social Media marketing and strategy planning.
Some very exciting news to announce that I was invited to London where I won this year's The Elouise Carden Rising Star in Post Production Award from Women in Film and Television, Picture Shop and Radiant Post Production. I will be featuring this in a separate article at some point later on in the year. This was a complete shock, and a very lovely honour which I'm still very touched about.
As far as employment is concerned, I have been applying for more Assistant Editor work and still not working like many other freelancers who are in the same position. Therefore, we need to keep applying and showing our self-worth, skillset, knowledge and experience to employers for them to value us and keep us in mind for future work.
Graduated? Feeling lost?
First of all, congratulations on graduating from college or university. So, you have completed your degree after a few years of studying and working hard to get this undergraduate Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree. Perhaps, maybe a Masters degree. What next? Well, that's where The Uncharted Freelancer comes in. I know myself how it feels and boy what a journey it really has been working on and off in television, and still trying to get to my destination of hoping to become an Editor. I've had so many rejections, ghosted, let downs but to coincide, I have also had some luck in finding opportunities and have met some amazing people. There are also potential employers out there who may send you a rejection email looking at your strengths and giving some advice. I always appreciate that. Hopefully my guide will be able to give you some guidance into the television industry which I could've done with myself starting out when I graduated.
My Own Struggling Journey Into Television
Let me share with you the difficult journey I've had as well as many other freelancers trying to establish a career working in television. I graduated from university in 2015. As a student, I had various jobs working in hospitality and retail. Doing these jobs not only gave me money but I was able to build strong rapport with work colleagues, experience of shift work, cash handling, problem solving and customer service. In 2017-2018, I applied for a local Trainee Editor internship to help a very small agency with social media editing and corporate work. This gave me a taster into editing working with Adobe Premiere Pro. I stayed working in retail for three years until 2018 when I went freelance due to being made redundant. Between these three years, I would pick up day running jobs from the Facebook TV groups for Britain's Got Talent, X Factor and The Voice. Highly recommend doing runner days for these programmes as a new entrant into television.
TIP: Look out for Day Runner jobs in this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tv.runners/
Students Employment/Jobs
If you've just graduated and you still have your student job, keep it! Please take my advice. When I graduated, I kept my student job working as a Supervisor of a family owned retail store for three years before making the move to go freelance after a small creative agency lost their contract to be renewed. It was national minimum wage and not the best of money, however, I was able to earn money and help support my family too. Mostly, I worked 45 hours a week. I used to put money away to pay for my driving lessons.
TIP: If you receive tips from cafe/restaurant work put them by in an envelope somewhere safe and save them. You never know when they're going to be needed.
Struggles As A Freelancer
As a freelancer, we have to fight our way through to try and get success to help us on our journey to our job destination whether that's a Director, Producer, Editor, Writer, Camera Operator, Director of Photography (DOP), Line Producer, Sound Recordist, Art Director, Make-Up or Production Manager etc. Sadly, there is no manual to guide us in the industry and we have to try and get their on our own paths that we try and shape through advice and knowledge from others as well as learning what works and doesn't work.
TIP: If you don't have a staff job, you need to make as many contacts as you can to get enough work as a freelancer to pay your bills.
Times Of Unemployment
This is very true. During spells of your career, you will be unemployed. If you're unemployed longer than 8 weeks, look at seeking job seeker's allowance - that's what I do. We contribute into the system when working and paying tax. So, we may as well claim back while looking for work. It's also important as you'll get your National Insurance (NI) stamp paid. You are allowed to work and still be on Universal Credit as long as you inform your work coach and you won't have to attend appointments (if working).
Here is a link to the Universal Credit sign up if needed: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-to-claim
TIP: If you're looking at changing into a different area of TV to work in, you may also spend time unemployed. This happened to me at times.
Savings Are Important
Exactly! This is so crucial. With the cost of living also, your mortgage/rent and other bills still have to be paid. It's hard to say what to save because you can't predict what you're going to earn and spend throughout the year. All TV job roles differ depending on the genre you're working on and the skillset required. I usually try and put by a few hundred pounds a month if I can if working on a bigger project or more if I'm on a remote job. I do have a mortgage so usually do try and either work remote/local but if working away from home, I still need to be able to pay my bills back home and where I'm staying for work - if accommodation isn't provided.
Saving Coppers & Save The Pennies (bank product)
For saving coppers, I have a tub where I save up; 1ps, 2ps, 5ps, 10ps and 20ps. Sometimes 50ps when I earn a bit more money then ￡1 coins. Usually I spend these on some groceries I need from my local shop. When I was a child, my family and I would start this from the beginning of the year and put them by for the annual fayre and craft stalls that came to town. As we got older, we would then save them by to put towards paying bills or put towards flights for a holiday.
You can save these up and cash them into your local bank branch or use a coin converter machine at a supermarket. If you go on their website: https://coinstar.co.uk/GetCash you can see where your nearest machine is - usually in Morrisons or Tesco.
TIP: A coin converter machine will take a percentage of commission from your total by doing these calculation service for you.
I highly recommend doing these two. I have Save The Pennies with my current account with my bank. Using this feature, I ended up with ￡50.00 which I didn't expect before the new tax year started in April. You can put this in your savings account such as an ISA. Again, this will differ for everyone depending on your spending habits. But ￡50.00 is better than nothing, eh? Depending on your bank, some banks offer products that will vary compared to competitors. On my bank statements, I get a breakdown on how many pennies have accumulated over the month.
TIP: This is a great feature and can make a small difference in your savings account over the year.
What Can I Do As A First Job In Television?
Well, how I got my first runner job in television was from my college lecturer for Britain's Got Talent which was a few days at an event in Glasgow.
Here are a list of entry job roles to apply on the Facebook groups;
Foot In The Door Doesn't Exist
You have probably been told as a student that when you get your foot in the door, that's you for good in the industry. Nope. That is not true. If you're transitioning to work in a different format/genre or job role, it's like starting all over again as people don't know you and you have to build up a new set of contacts. As a freelancer, you are always trying to get your foot in the door on new productions and companies - it never ends.
Facebook Groups That Advertise Jobs
TV Talent in Scotland
TV Talent North
Women in Film & Television in Scotland
Women In Film & Television
TV and Film Crew Jobs Scotland
TV And Film Jobs
People in TV: Available
PAID Film and TV Jobs UK
Actors & Crew UK
Film Crew UK
Film & TV Production Crew Jobs/UK
People in TV: Runners
TV Runners
The TV Runners Hub
DRAMA TV
People in TV: Translators and Transcribers
TIP: There are loads out there but these are the ones that I have found work on.
Where Do We Get The Skills?
Depending on what your area of field is, having a varied and diverse skillset is very beneficial. There are a variety of ways to get skills we need to thrive in our profession working in a freelance industry. There are a few places where we can get the skills;
ScreenSkills - I highly recommend which has been beneficial to me being out of work and enabling me to gain skills I didn't have to continue working in my profession in Post Production.
You can find out more here on workshops, FREE courses and funded traineeships on ScreenSkills website: https://www.screenskills.com/
You can also look at the different career paths there are if you're thinking of working in a different department and looking for a new career path working in Film and Television.
FREE Courses and Traineeships For Everyone
TIP: There are more out there but these are the ones that I am aware of.
SWOT Analysis
Downloadable Documents
Last month, I spoke a little about a SWOT analysis which focuses on four key areas; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. If you have completed one of these documents, use this as part of your learning and development of being a freelancer in the Creative Industries. Here you can find out more information and download their FREE template:
Networking Events Near You
TIP: Also look out for networking events on LinkedIn and on Facebook TV groups.
Job Websites
There are a variety of job sites to make a profile on and put your CV up for work:
Apprenticeships
TIP: There are more companies out there you may find who I haven't heard of. If so, let me know and I can add to this list. Thank you!
Women in Film and Television Mentoring Scheme
If you're a female working in film, tv or digital, there is a mentoring scheme you can apply for. This scheme is aimed at helping women who are at mid-career level to support them more in their careers to get to where they want to be career wise. This could be a woman wanting to move into a different job role or genre of television. There is a mentoring scheme in each UK nation; Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. You can find out more here on their website: https://www.wftv.org.uk/mentoring
TIP: The deadline for this is Monday 16th September 2024.
FREE TV Memberships To Join
Royal Television Society (RTS) - https://rts.org.uk/membership/types-of-membership. The Student and Futures memberships are both FREE.
TIP: If you're 33 and under, you can get the full RTS membership for ￡33 instead of an annual fee of ￡75.
Paid Memberships You Can Join
Can also use the FREE membership too
Can also use the FREE membership too
Can also use the FREE membership too
TIP: There are others out there but these are some of the ones I'm a member of.
Self-Promotion Websites
FREE websites
Other Websites
CV/Cover Emails
Top Tips I was told by employers for your CV and my own which has gained me TV and non-TV interviews and employment.
Where to also find other CV tips:
Facebook Group - People in TV: Runners
Talent Manager
The TV Watercooler
LinkedIn - Your Digital CV
I tell everyone that I meet at networking events, courses and jobs - create yourself a FREE LinkedIn account. LinkedIn has been very beneficial for me career wise and I'd be lost without it. I have gained incredible advice from industry practitioners, connected with potential employers and gained employment and you can also do courses in your career field when you upgrade your account to premium. I usually do this once or twice a year. You can also find jobs on LinkedIn and contact hiring/recruitment staff as well to introduce yourself and find out a bit more about the company and required job role.
Business Cards
Business Cards are a great marketing tool to advertise your services to potential employers and clients - especially at networking events. Also, very handy for someone to keep your business card in their purse/wallet if they need to contact a freelancer last minute for a project. I'm working on designing a business card for myself also at the moment working with Adobe Photoshop and going to use VistaPrint.
Where to design a business card
Here are five websites to design your business card. Some of them allow you to upload your own design if created on Adobe software or other creative software. I usually create my own designs with my Adobe CC software using Photoshop and exporting my design and uploading to VistaPrint. You can also design your business card on the websites I have provided links to below;
123PRINT - https://www.123print.co.uk/business-cards
PixarPrinting - https://www.pixartprinting.co.uk/business-cards/
Trade Print - https://www.tradeprint.co.uk/business-card-printing
VistaPrint - https://www.vistaprint.co.uk/business-cards/
Business Card Design Tips
TIP: Use can use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator if you're an Adobe CC member.
There are other business card websites out there also. My preference is Vista Print due to being able to upload my design and I find them quite reasonable price wise. Also as well, I sometimes like having my business card double-sided with a nice matte finish added.
Being Yourself
I can't tell you how important this is. To work in this industry, kindness, manners, consideration and a smile can say a lot about you.
Here are some DONT'S;
What will help you in the industry are;
TIP: Always be wary of people as not everyone is your friend in television, and some befriend for your connections.
Professional Profiles
Do feel free to check out my portfolio if you have time: https://lauramasters.myportfolio.com/
You can also check me out on Film Bang: https://www.filmbang.com/listings/masters-laura
Click here to see my IMDB profile - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11158228/
or
You can now find all my professional profiles of; my website/portfolio, email, newsletter, Film Bang and IMDB listings here on:
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this seventh edition of The Uncharted Freelancer. I do hope this gives a great insight into what to expect, know and watch out for embarking your career working in television. I hope you tune back in for the eighth edition which I'm still deciding on.
If you would like to find out more, don't hesitate to contact me directly on here and REMEMBER to subscribe to my monthly newsletter if you haven't already. If you enjoy the articles, please share with your LinkedIn connections and fellow freelancers who can get involved with The Uncharted Freelancer. Thank you to those of you who have subscribed to the newsletter series.
Project Manager @Ayrshire Film Company, Delivering the British Film Institute, film academy short courses in Ayrshire and TVAyrshire & Freelance Film & Editorial Makeup Artist, Educator and External Examiner at UCEN.
7 个月Another great insight into the industry, thank you for your hard work.