![\"No](\"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/2009-02-10-Moray-Coulter-ALL.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As the government works hard to promote its Train to Gain initiative, what relevance (if any), does this hold to the TV and Film world? If training is so important why isn\u2019t it regarded so amongst employers? This week I expose the misconceptions and ask: is it worth it? <\/b><\/p>\n
There are two perceptions among programme-makers which seem to be at odds with reality. The first is that there isn’t much training available, and when it is available, the freelancer bears the cost of it. The second is that if you could get the right training it would give you that essential advantage when applying for the next job.<\/p>\n
If you have ever worked within the BBC, you will know that it can be training course heaven (or purgatory, depending on your frame of mind). The corporation provides a vast range of the best television training available to anyone in the world, and often seems to place its employees on arrays of courses as a way of filling time in between production jobs. If you want a lot of training, then try to work at the BBC.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you don’t have the luxury of rolling BBC contracts, then most of the other broadcasters and big indies run their own training options, but you may find that you are only put on them when there is a pressing need for you to have those specific skills. Beyond that, only some 20% of production companies provide any training for their freelancers at all. But this isn’t to say that they don’t pay for them; the government sector skills council for the audiovisual industries, Skillset, collects a TV Freelance Fund levy from broadcasters and indies set at 0.25% of turnover, which I calculate as at least \u00a33.5 million annually from the indies alone (fourteen years ago, I administered the fund, and it was barely a million then). This money is then used to subsidise up to 70% of individual freelancers’ costs of gaining new training on accredited courses. I hope you get your share of this!<\/p>\n
Then there’s that second perception. The television production industry seems to be out on its own with a culture where most employers don’t regard the training you’ve done as relevant to your ability to do the job, or to do it any better than if you hadn’t taken that training at all. This relates specifically to production training – health & safety and financial courses command more respect for reasons of profit and insurance, if nothing else. You will often find that potential employers pay no attention to the training you’ve had, but they do want to know what you have learned on earlier productions. This flies in the face of the best efforts of Skillset, which has spent over a decade establishing National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in television production skills which employers can take as proof of a person’s professional abilities. But in practice, most employers still don’t accept NVQs at face value.<\/p>\n
This is why modern apprenticeship schemes, where the trainee spends weeks or months effectively doing the job that they are being trained for, have been taken more seriously by employers. These schemes though are few and far between and a substantial proportion is run by training body FT2 (I declare an interest here, I am currently Vice-Chairman of FT2) and TRC Media.<\/p>\n
The prevailing attitude among employers is that anyone can learn the nuts and bolts of production skills, but that it’s the other stuff you bring to the role that matters – Are you excellent at dealing with awkward people? Can you be efficient and systematic? Can you understand and develop a narrative structure? Can you explain basic epidemiology? Are you politely dogged? This explains the disdain that many employers feel for college media courses, although their graduates may well have learned excellent production skills while on them.<\/p>\n
There are more mismatches in the television training world. Skillset has announced that it is giving particular weight to supporting multi-platform and entrepreneurial leadership skills into the future, but training bodies themselves say that their most popular courses are still in DV directing and shooting skills. Where the government wants you to go, and what programme-makers themselves see as useful look very different.<\/p>\n
So what is the point of training? Well, of course you really can learn new skills and develop your professional abilities by undergoing training, and I would advise that you gain as much of it as you can. However, the skills you learn will help you make better programmes, or to do them in a different way, rather than be a passport to a better-paid or more senior role. Obviously, if you work well then you may get that promotion as a result. You can look at where you want to be in your future career, and then find the training to help you get there. If you know that you are training for your own improvement, and not for your employer (or for the government’s targets), you can pick and choose your future skills accordingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the government works hard to promote its Train to Gain initiative, what relevance (if any), does this hold to the TV and Film world? If training is so important why isn\u2019t it regarded so amongst employers? This week I expose the misconceptions and ask: is it worth it? There are two perceptions among programme-makers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[360,399,398,189],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-word-of-mouth","tag-skills","tag-skillset","tag-train-to-gain","tag-training"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/TOTI-Podcast-Artwork.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":[],"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/turn-on-tune-in-2","embedCode":"
No Train Without Gain<\/a><\/blockquote>