Media Parents

I started my career in film and television in post-production and then worked freelance for all sorts of production companies and projects, writes Megan Toogood. I was a production co-ordinator for Complete Fabrication Special Effects and Modelmakers who specialised in high speed liquid effects and leatherwork, and whose credits included the Harry Potter films for work on the Quidditch costumes. I was a production co-ordinator, then production manager for their production company, Completely Fab, and made commercials for clients including Kinder and Ferrero Rocher. I produced short films and volunteered at the Greenwich film Festival.

Megan Toogood worked as a Production Coordinator for the Quidditch props company Complete Fabrication

My children and my part-time MA in Screenwriting led me to a portfolio career, hopping from project to project, always interested in the novelty of doing something new. But as clients recommended me on to other clients and new opportunities presented themselves, I gradually drifted further and further away from the TV jobs I really wanted and I’ve realised it’s time to steer the ship in the direction I want to go! My varied experience means I’m looking for something like TV researcher, marketing manager, PR, communications, brand manager, publicist, events organiser, conference producer, festival producer, production coordinator, or maybe sales and distribution.

And who can argue with promoting pirate takeover day as a really fun job? asks Megan Toogood

Some of my jobs have been really fun, with a massive sense of achievement. I’m proud of the research I did into communities that are under served by arts and museums – it contributed to a major funding bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund that resulted in a travelling museum project – the Maritime Memories Machine. And who can argue with promoting pirate takeover day as a really fun job?

I was delighted to be shortlisted for the content marketing awards for work with publisher Wiley on their ‘Backfiles’ – a digital product that provides access to research going back to 1791.

It was a buzz to get a very technical product launch featured in industry press. Working with publishers has opened my eyes to the weird and wonderful, from astrobiology to medical devices.

Portfolio freelancer Megan Toogood is now looking for TV projects

Freelancing has helped to become a quick-study, working out what lies at the heart of a project and how best to communicate it to audiences. I’m a strategic marketing and communications planner and a very experienced copywriter. I am happy juggling an enormous array of different projects, in one month last year I worked simultaneously in museums, engineering, higher education, pharma, and the charity sector on a variety of projects that included copywriting, PR, social media promotion and print commissioning. I never miss a deadline.

I’m usually involved in communications work, but I also get projects off the ground and make things happen – I was the convener for a TV industry event for LCC alumni and am a Co-Producer for a series of theatre nights in Waterloo.

With child number one at secondary school and child number two about to follow its time to consolidate the many different experiences into a single role, that I really want, and stop my talent for being headhunted leading me in the wrong direction. I’m not sure what the perfect job will be, but I do feel sure there’s an organisation out there with a strange skills gap to fill and once we meet we’ll be perfect for each other!

http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/8957/megan-toogood