Want to be a presenter- help!

[KingCatMeowInSpace]

My son wants to be a tv presenter - talks non stop about it - anyone offer any advice or words of wisdom about what I should advise him to do - he's halfway through high school.

He likely needs to be in stage school and have been there for a while. Can he see if he can intern at any local stations?

Stage school. Amateur theatre groups (when they reopen after Covid). Start doing interviews now, via Instagram. Try to get unpaid jobs as a compere or host, even if only for the experience. Make a backup plan because it’s difficult to be successful as a presenter.

Perhaps go into journalism. May be worth writting to tv companies see if they do work experience days/placements and also find out what they are looking for.

I would recommend he joins debating classes and anything that could help him with public speaking. If there is a broadcasting school, that would be a good start.

A lot of television presenters start in kids tv. Then move onto other areas when they are older.

What sort of presenter? The routes are myriad....

Then he needs to go into either acting or broadcast journalism. It's ruthless to get into though.

How old is he? If he’s 16, get him to join Arts Emergency and apply for a mentor.

arts-emergency.org/

Making YouTube or tik-tok videos is a good way to become comfortable in front of the camera and potentially build an audience base.

What field? He needs experience, perhaps through school events, maybe drama school or journalism route (both of which are academic first). Or researcher. Ideally with a demonstrable area of passion such as sports. Even getting a foothold is very competitive.

Depends what he wants to present...local radio stations will often offer work experience.

My friend’s MIL is a political editor for the BBC and presents a local news programme occasionally
Her study was journalism though and she also took courses in politics.

Have a look at GoThinkBig for opportunities. But lots of internships needed - more likely to be in with a chance with smaller local stations/channels to start with. YouTube news or documentary channels as well. Unfortunately will be unpaid to begin most likely so a PT job to save funds for travel might be useful.

Could also look at being a TV extra if there’s anything which films by you.

Would second stage school idea!

Is there a college radio station he could get involved with?

Thanks everyone so far/ he's 14 and would like to do shows like quiz shows or programmes like would I lie to you, task master- light hearted tv I guess you'd say. He does lots of tik tok and YouTube videos but I'm aware that so do most teenagers.

Most of the shows you mentioned are hosted by (I think) celebrities. To start off as a presenter on tv, he should be going to a drama / theatre school and taking any experience on offer to perform or record.

It's not the sort of job you fill an application out for. He needs to be forming a network of contacts.

Does Hospital radio still exist? Or start a school radio station at lunch time??

University radio certainly exists, and starting a podcast is possible. The best advice I can give is to look at who he admires, and to study their careers together. So for Would I Lie To You, the backbone there is Radio 4 comedy. And the backbone of R4 comedy is stand up or in the case of Victoria Coren, newspapers. He needs to scaffold his career - it’s great to have that as a final outcome but how will he get there? I would suggest BBC local radio as a potential first step (the competition to be a broadcast assistant is fierce though, and many are journalism graduates)

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions - shall look into them all