Leaving TV production

[BirdsInTheAttic]

Has anyone (or anyone you know) had a career change from television production? After over a decade on the Production Management side of things I am starting to wonder whether (now in my late 30s) it might be time to move on

The working environment I’m in at the moment has been getting increasingly stressful and tbh toxic, and I’m nervous that moving to a new department/company within the same industry might just lead to more of the same. I am wondering whether there’s a fresh start out there somewhere with less shouty colleagues and fewer ridiculous schedules and budgets!

I’d be really interested to hear from anyone else who’s left this kind of role for something different. I feel like I have good transferable skills for something along the lines of Project Management, but should I be looking to get a specific qualification (Prince2? Something else?) for that?

I’m not averse to the idea of studying, and I could afford to take a bit of a pay cut if necessary. Quite tempted to jack it all in and study floristry or something, but really do need to think of a more solid plan!

Bump for the evening crowd

Are you more on the creative or execution side? I'm in PR and agencies (marketing and advertising too) are always on the lookout for content managers. This doesn't have to be the person who does the doing as such, but someone to lead on the ideas and then oversee their execution.

Lots of agencies would love to say in client pitches that they've hired a production manager from XX channel / the production company that makes XX, to give add a bit of gravitas - quality content creation within their portfolio of skills.

Just as crazy on the toxic environments and tight deadlines I'm afraid but IME personally better in house than agency side, and again lots of companies are increasingly seeing the need for content strategy and hiring accordingly.

Ooh thanks @thatcurlygirl, really interesting and all new to me (I am pretty institutionalised in TV at the moment!)

I’m on the execution side, I guess; my role sits within a team making the programme, I’m responsible for hiring, contracts, scheduling the project from start to finish and managing the budget. I set up the relationships with suppliers and keep everyone abreast of progress. I have line management duties and also act as a general agony aunt for the team

Do they sound to you like the kind of things that would transfer well to PR? Are those kind of jobs advertised? Am off to do some googling .....

Events management? Have you been involved with the outside broadcast side? I met somebody who did that sort of thing once, it sounded like there was a lot of variety (and unpredictability when it was a live broadcast).

Your skills sound 100% transferable and are in high demand at the moment, mostly in "full service" agencies that offer PR, marketing and advertising services.

And almost all now pitch for social media work too - another area in which content is king so you could be of great help for an agency looking to grow this part of their offering.

Have a look on these sites initially and search for jobs with content in the title:

Campaignlive
PR week
Marketing Week
Guardian jobs

I'd avoid indeed/monster etc general job sites like that for now as you won't see the wood for the trees!

It's worth getting in touch with some companies like Blue Skies Recruitment and discussing your skills and what they think they could put you forward for. They specialise in PR / marketing / advertising roles. Could help you get a gauge of what kind of salaries to pitch yourself at too.

Personally from what you've said so far I think you could be great in an agency as a studio manager for a content or design team (managing their workflow, scheduling their tasks, costing up budgets, approval processes etc and also contributing to overall creative concept).

If you're patient and calm but confident under pressure you can transform a design studio from an ok team to one producing brilliant content, I've seen it done!

Sorry got a bit carried away - Hope this helps :)

That was meant to say

Have a look on these sites initially and search for jobs with content and/or studio in the title:

Thank you for all of that, it’s so helpful (also, can I come and work for you? You sound very supportive and encouraging )

In your experience is there any room for flexible working in these roles? I’m currently part time 0.6 fte) but very open to upping my hours if it’s in a less hideous environment!

Ah that's so nice of you to say - I actually do run my own PR agency but had to scale right back following a pretty horrendous car crash that made me take a whole year off with operations and other miserable stuff!

Getting back to work now, I've missed it so much! And I miss having my little team - I fully recognise the agony aunt role you mentioned. I carved out a firm but fair auntie type persona too!

Mainly full time roles for that type of job BUT if you have any savings to tide you over during a change of focus then you could look for contract work - often design studios within agencies will bring in studio managers during times they have multiple projects running to make sure someone is on top of them while the regular studio manager keeps the usual workflow running nicely. Day rates are good so give yourself a timeframe you can get by with on savings but work out a day rate that would reimburse those savings if that makes sense.

If you ever need someone to cast over a cover letter or initial email draft for recruitment agencies etc then honestly pop me a DM anytime! I'm bored stiff on my part time hours but they're doctors orders so sticking to them. But helping people makes me happy so I'm always happy to share some advice in my down time!

Good for you for looking at ways to branch out and do something new 😊

Thanks @thatcurlygirl you have given me a lot to work with! I hope your return to work goes smoothly, sounds as though you’ve had a rough time

Hi @BirdsInTheAttic

I used to be a production manager at the BBC, I left for similar reasons after the birth of my second child. I've moved into HR Management, although I didn't have a solid HR background or any qualifications I was able to talk myself into a job with various hair-raising examples of 'difficult situations' I'd dealt with along with budget and project management experience. If that appeals at all then the OU do a Masters degree or there are various online CIPD courses you can do.

You really do have loads of transferable skills so really picking what industry and role you fancy is probably the hardest part. Have you thought about other media jobs like talent manager or production accountant? Also, don't be put off applying for a job if you don't tick all the boxes, my current job said 2 years HR experience was essential but actually my other skills put me ahead of other candidates and they were happy to send me on a few courses to fill gaps in my knowledge.

One good thing about TV is that you'll have no shortage of answers to those 'can you think of an example of....' interview questions.

Ooh @ExPM, that all sounds interesting and my situation has a lot(!) of similarities to yours (are you in or out of London?)

The part about hair-raising interview examples rings very true, I have amassed a good few of the ‘working with difficult people/crisis management ‘ type

What led you to the HR job? Was it something you had considered before?

@BirdsInTheAttic
I worked in London but move away to an area that doesn't have much in the way of media so HR was quite a pragmatic decision based on the local job market, I also wanted something that you could do anywhere in the country if we decided to move again.
I did consider a job as a studio manager at a VR company that looked really exciting but I felt I'd be exposed if they went under and there weren't similar jobs around.
I think whether you go for that kind of studio manager job depends on which bits of the job you've had enough of as you're really doing something very similar but hopefully with smaller egos.

Hi - just wondered if you left TV production - I'm in a similar position and trying to figure out what next...

I'm so glad I found this thread. As I write this, I'm in the middle of trying to rescue a shoot in India during my Christmas break because our fixer decided to walk off the project three days before the shoot! I was meant to have two weeks off to look after my son and have a proper holiday but it's all gone down the toilet. I've been dipping in and out of work constantly since going on leave when I can spare a second or two. The guilt of ignoring my son and family whilst I'm taking phone calls and writing emails is horrible. Plus I get snappy because I'm stressed out by egos/demanding schedules/ ridiculous budgets. I've tried to leave Production Management on multiple occasions even before motherhood but never really succeeded. My current job isn't all terrible. My commute is reasonable enough so that I can do nursery runs, I get to work 4 days a week and most of my co-workers are great fun. But because I work for a small independent company it's often reactive work and I have to oversee multiple productions with little production support. This often means it's difficult to switch off let alone take time off. And because I'm overstretched in a high stress environment and just generally have low self-esteem, I always feel like I'm never doing enough. I'd love to find a buddy/mentor who's going through the same thing as I'm sure I'm not the only one! Has anyone ever used a career coach?

Aah I feel your pain and know how hard filming in India is having set up multiple shoots there hasn’t year.
I went to a ‘Career Shifters’ evening a couple of months ago which was quite helpful if you have no idea of what career you would like to do.
Happy to keep in touch - my email is [email protected]

Ah, I hadn’t seen your earlier reply @Pattib, sorry for ignoring you!

And @laic84 that all sounds so familiar, including the feeling of never doing enough. I ended up feeling as though it was actually impossible to do a good enough job iyswim - not sure how much that was just me and how much was the job.

Are you able to get any feedback from anyone higher up the chain where you are? I found that that was not at all forthcoming for me, which I think contributed to the awfulness

I have now left, to take a slight pay cut and a sideways-ish move into a non-profit organisation. It’s a lot calmer!! But I’m not sure about my plans longer-term. Happy for either of you to PM me if I can be of any help

BirdsInTheAttic- great to hear from you.
How did you go about finding work in a non-profit organisation?

I’d love to say I found it though networking or contacts but in reality I just trawled online job ads and applied for anything that I thought I could transfer my skills into!

BirdsInTheAttic - congratulations on making the move away from TV production - it's given me hope!

BirdsInTheAttic - do you mind me asking which websites you used for online job ads? I’ve called a couple of temp agencies who weren’t very helpful and am not sure where to start with the search ... thanks!

@Pattib I think I found the role I moved to on Guardian Jobs. Charityjob.co.uk has a lot too

BirdsInTheAttic - thank you so much! Have a lovely weekend.

I did - I used one. Not much happened though. A lot of money for not much gain. What did you decide to do? I want out - desperately - and don’t know where to start.

It might be worth trying another company OP, there is such a shortage of PMs at the moment, you are gold dust.

I feel the same way! Still haven’t found other employment and not sure where to start looking…