Where to find TV jobs
You’re UK-based, just starting out and you’re looking for a job in television or film. You’ve heard that you need to start as a Runner or a Production Assistant or something like that, but you’ve got sod all idea where to find these jobs.
Here are two good places to look.
1. The Unit List. This is a Facebook-based group. ‘Like’ it, and you’ll get email updates on upcoming telly jobs. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112882818734728 TUL is primarily telly jobs in my experience. Searching Twitter for the hashtag #tvjob will point you to jobs that have been posted by TUL too.
2. Mandy.com. Online forum/job posting website. Go to http://www.mandy.com/1/filmtvjobs.cfm?jt=uki and fill in the form to get a list of available jobs. You can then have that sent to you as a daily email. Mandy covers jobs in film and TV.
3. Combinedmind.com is a decent aggregator of tv/film jobs. It reposts opportunities found on TUL and Mandy and occasionally stuff from elsewhere. Worth a check. http://www.combinedmind.com/jobs/browse
If you know of any other good resources bung ‘em in the comments and I’ll update this post.
[edits]
Teenie tipped me off four other sites, so I went and had a look.
4. Grapevinejobs (shouldn’t that be three words?) are a broadcast & media sector recruitment agency. Very simple. Go search for jobs. It’s free if you’re a jobseeker.
5. Judy Fisher can prove that they are London’s leading media and arts recruitment specialist. Apparently. They’re an old school recruitment agency who focus on media and (guess what?) arts. Nothing wrong with old school. As far as I can see the fees are paid by the recruiters, so you might not find entry level jobs here. But have a look, goddammit. You never know.
6. “ProductionBase, the industry’s online network that allows freelancers and groups to showcase their work, connect and find their next opportunity in TV, film and commercial production.”
It’s not free. There are various subscription rates depending on who you are and what you want and I’d go so far as to say the rates are high enough to lock out penniless grads looking for entry-level jobs. However they do have a 7-day free trial thing so you can give them a stab and the rollover graphics on the ‘About Us’ page are fairly amusing.
http://www.productionbase.co.uk/
7. Broadcast Magazine has a small jobs section. That’s the section that’s small, not necessarily the jobs. If you want to work in TV production you should be reading Broadcast. End of. If you can’t afford the subscription, find a friendly production company who’ll let you take away their copies when they’re finished with them. I used to drop into the hypermodern foyer area of The Mill’s Soho office and read all their industry journals and directories. They didn’t mind.
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/
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Teenie, and 1 other are discussing. 
script advice newsletter – Spring « Scriptadvice.co.uk's Blog 5:13 pm on April 6, 2011 Permalink
[...] http://laurencetimms.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/where-to-find-tv-jobs/ [...]
Teenie 5:23 pm on April 6, 2011 Permalink
Here are a few others:
http://www.grapevinejobs.com
http://www.judyfisher.co.uk
If you have no experience at all and aren’t sure about which area you want to work in, providing you can afford it, the BBC offers work experience placements which you can apply for on their webpage.
Another alternative is to do what I did. Compile a list of Production and Post-Production companies and send out your CV to all of them. If you are willing to start as a Runner, there isn’t much that you need in terms of experience just a lot of enthusiasm, so if your CV happens to arrive at a time when a company is looking to hire, it’s your lucky day.
laurencetimms 9:27 pm on April 6, 2011 Permalink
Thanks Teenie. Two good sites that I didn’t know of. I’ll add them to the post.
I wholeheartedly agree with the approach you took. Don’t ask, don’t get. The only thing I’d add is that if anyone is considering showering the TV/film world with their CV make sure the bloody thing is well written, succinct and honest. You wouldn’t believe some of the rubbish CVs I’ve seen in my time. No excuse.
Oh, and don’t go asking for jobs at places you can’t actually get to. Apart from that, go for it.
Teenie 7:08 am on April 7, 2011 Permalink
Oh, forgot one that generally has lots of runner jobs, and other more senior roles too. The downside is that it’s subscription based, not sure how much they charge these days…
http://www.productionbase.co.uk/
Broadcast has a small job section too, but the magazine is good in general just to keep up with what’s going on in the industry:
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/
I’ll stop hogging your comments section now.
laurencetimms 8:20 am on April 7, 2011 Permalink
No problems Teenie, you’re good. Thanks for the other tip-offs. ProductionBase looks pretty expensive, so I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has used them.
Stephen Jerffni 11:27 pm on February 20, 2012 Permalink
If you actually want a job in film, then you need to go to websites like http://www.productionbooth.com, they have all the crew calls for tv and film as well as a great software for production companies to manage groups. Basically…if you are in film and you dont have an account with PB… then you arent in film.