High-end TV Careers Schools Roadshow
Inspiring the talent of tomorrow
Gritty Talent is delivering the ScreenSkills High-end TV (HETV) Careers Schools Roadshow - and we need your help!
It’s an ambitious educational initiative funded by ScreenSkills’ High-end TV Skills Fund engaging six schools and their key stage 3 pupils across Bristol.
The project will focus on highlighting job roles in the HETV industry where there are currently skills shortages and will signpost pupils, teachers, parents and carers to resources for career pathways into the industry.
To support this, we’re seeking a wide range of industry professionals to help deliver a short session, including a Q&A, to illustrate what a future career in HETV could be like for those pupils.
Did you grow up in Bristol and have you worked on HETV formats in Scripted or Unscripted? If you can devote a couple of hours between November and March - in a paid contributor role - we’d love to hear from you!
Be a force for positive change in a young person’s life
From November 2023 to March 2024, Gritty Talent will be visiting six schools all around the City of Bristol to deliver a day of interactive sessions, exciting talks and informative Q+A’s to Year 9 students on the cusp of making decisions that will shape the rest of their life.
The goal is simple - illustrate the possibilities of what a career in HETV can look like; demonstrate the sheer range of viable careers and illuminate the path towards them. To help us do that, we’re seeking a diverse range of industry professionals who’ve walked those same paths, starting from the same points here in Bristol.
We’re not only looking for diverse characteristics, but a diverse range of careers, including: Production Accountants; Line Producers; Location Managers; Production Coordinators; 1st Assistant Directors; Production Managers/Supervisors; Producers; Editors; Grips; Art Dept and Post Production Supervisors.
This is an opportunity to be the guide you may or may not have had - to play the role of the mentor that helped make you everything you are today, or that you wish you had the beginning of your journey. It’s a chance to give back to the industry in a way that goes above and beyond the contributions of your role - securing its future and helping to pass the torch to the talent of tomorrow.
Not only that, but by taking the Roadshow to schools in less privileged areas of the city you’ll be a force for indescribable, positive change in a young person’s life, who otherwise may not have been afforded the option to pursue a rewarding, passion-driven career in the creative sector - or even be aware of its existence! That is, until someone takes the time to show them.
The UK produces some of the best and most loved television programmes in the world. Last year alone, £4.30 billion was spent on HETV production in the UK, feeding into the TV sectors £20 billion revenue from that same year - itself representing a significant contribution to the nations economy.
Why is this important?
Scaling it back, Film and TV production contributed an around £20,134,750 to Bristol’s economy through inward investment in 2022 by 220 recorded productions.
The programmes we create, the quality of our productions and the numbers we see as a result are all made possible by the work of the world-class talent the UK produces, and put frankly: we need more of it.
In a fast-evolving landscape where viewing habits are rapidly developing, audience expectations are growing and the international competition is becoming more fierce than ever, it is imperative that the industry seeks raw and ambitious talent to continue doing what we do best. The urgency to act is only compounded by the ongoing skills shortage, the strikes in Hollywood, as well as the knock-on effects of the commissioning slowdown here in the UK.
Like the industries operating in the STEM sector, we must connect with younger generations to create clear career pathways and illustrate the opportunities that could lie ahead for the most tech-savvy and media literate generation of all time. This is something we are currently failing to achieve.
Findings from BFI and ERIC’s 2022 report ‘What’s Stopping Young People from Pursuing Careers in the Screen Industries?’ indicate that one in five young people said their dream job would be in the screen industries. Despite this, 83% of young people surveyed said they weren’t aware of screen industry’s guidance being available at their school.
It’s evident that very little information is distributed by the industry to schools and careers teams - 93% of which reported they receive requests for careers guidance about the screen industries, yet 64% didn’t feel confident giving career guidance about Film & TV, and 29% couldn't name a single resource they would direct young people to for careers in any of the Screen Industries.
Collectively, we have the power to really shift the dial and breathe new life into our industry. The ScreenSkills High-end TV Careers Schools Roadshow is the opportunity to do just that.
Help rebuild the talent pipeline and secure the future of our industry
The ask is as simple as the goal: offer a few hours of your time to host a short interactive session, including a Q+A with a group of Year 9 students that helps define and understand your role in HETV sector and how you get there. If this is something you are able to commit to, and are as passionate about providing opportunities to young people as we are, we’d love to hear from you.
Send an email to roadshow@grittytalent.tv and we’ll organise a call to further explain the ScreenSkills High-end TV Careers Schools Roadshow and answer any and all of your questions.