Media Parents Back to Work Scheme 2019 has opened for applications – yes it’s back! To get an application form or recommend a friend drop us a line c/o www.mediaparents.co.uk contact button.

I cannot express how much difference the Media Parents Back to Work Scheme made to reigniting both my career and my confidence writes PM Hannah Williams. (Hannah is currently looking to fill a gap before her next contract, so if you need a PM let her know: https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/11460/hannah-williams-lovell)

PM Hannah Williams, 2nd from right top, with the other 2018 Back to Work Scheme Winners at Edinburgh

Since returning last August I was mentored by the wonderful Becky Parkinson at Merman. After a lovely chat and first meeting I suddenly found myself as one of the Merman team managing the Post in the UK for Frayed – an extremely exciting, funny and brilliantly written new comedy drama by Sarah Kendall.

This mainly involved coordinating Australian and UK post to work harmoniously together, as the show was shot (predominantly) in Australia and post was being split between the two countries. It couldn’t have been more perfect as it was almost exclusively home-based, aside from a few meetings or visits to the post facility in Soho.

I split 3 days across 5 which worked perfectly around my 3 children. Working with Australia came in quite handy when my children are creatures of unsociable hours anyway so I could catch up with the team in Melbourne first thing/last thing and still pick up/drop off my children at school. It just required a bit of multi-tasking and careful use of my time.

Hannah Williams gets back up to speed with industry events at Ed TV Fest

In my first few weeks back to work I felt slightly rusty but Becky was inordinately supportive and I knew I could always ask if I needed help. As it turns out, maternity leave hadn’t sapped all traces of experience and I found that I settled back into it quite quickly and loved it. Initially the contract was 6 months but I was kept on for a while longer and am hoping to rejoin them at some point in the future.

Since Merman, I took on some pre-production for a new children’s animation (which was also working exclusively from home) and am now actively looking for my next venture.

I think what this process has taught me is that I may have been out of the industry over enormous changes to tapeless or 4K but technical gaps can be answered by a simple question (or extensive google). Even the people who haven’t left the industry are still asking questions and are learning. Skills will never leave you but new knowledge can always be obtained if you need it.

The invaluable pep talk with Amy at the beginning of this journey, all those months ago in Edinburgh, still rings in my head today. Even if you have been out it does not erase all the hard work you have put in prior to babies. You are still the same person as you were with the same skills and the same talent so never make excuses for yourself.

Back to Work Scheme Winners Hannah Williams and Melissa Bishop at Media Parents Summer Party

The scheme has helped me hold onto that and regain the confidence to still see myself as a valuable asset, even if I have to be more specific about my hours and work schedule. So thank you Amy for calling me from your holiday when I had emailed you in two minds about the scheme. I really appreciated that as the support from Media Parents and the mentors from this scheme has been invaluable.

And to those of you who are a little shaky about going back to work or are thinking about applying for this year’s Back to Work Scheme if it goes ahead – DO IT! The worst that can happen is that you meet some amazing people, gain invaluable networking skills and get to have an incredible mentor and new network to support you. And if that’s the worst that can happen then you have no excuse!

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/11460/hannah-williams-lovell

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Media Parents Summer Party and made it such a good laugh. And of course thanks to the lovely ClearCut team for making the atmosphere so warm and welcoming. Our next event is the brilliant Media Parents Job Share Event on July 24th so please join us at that – click the link https://mediaparentsjobshare.eventbrite.co.uk – invite friends, the more the merrier. Photos of the summer party are here:

It was great to welcome Dragonfly's new Talent Manager Gayl Paterson, here with Raw Cut's Tina Lohmann and freelancers

BBC Scripted Head of Talent Jacqui Taunton Fenton with BBC Children's Exec Ros Attille and freelancers

Curve Media's new Talent Manager Catherine Mabb meets freelancers

Renegade's Director of Production Ed Nissen with Emporium Productions Exec Matt Holden

Back to Work Scheme Winners Hannah Williams and Melissa Bishop are currently looking for work to fill gaps - grab them while you can!

Huge thanks to Joanna Gretton from Media Parents and to the ClearCut Team for hosting so well and making everyone feel so welcome

Thanks to everyone who made it - it was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new people. Join us on July 24th for our JOB SHARE event - the more the merrier!

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events. Flexible Working Event July 24th - sign up now

https://mediaparentsjobshare.eventbrite.co.uk

We’re delighted to announce our summer party on Wednesday June 19th, courtesy of our kind hosts Clearcut Pictures. Media Parents members are cordially invited to join us for an evening in the garden, please sign up to the guestlist on the Media Parents watercooler. After the success of our recent Bristol Media Parents Flexible Working Event we’re also gearing up for our London Media Parents Flexible Working Event on July 24th so save the date and watch out for that guestlist opening following our Summer Party. Here are some photos from last year’s summer party, with thanks again to Rowan Bray and the Clear Cut team.

Media Parents Summer Party last year was a glorious affair on a warm summer evening in Bloomsbury thanks to the Clear Cut team.

Huge thanks to all the companies and freelancers who attended last year's summer party and made it such a good laugh!

ITV's Back to Work Scheme Winner Geoff Dibben with Media Parents' Joanna Gretton

Renegade's Director of Production Ed Nissen with Dragonfly Coordinator Danny Leitch

Baby Cow's Head of Production Judith Bantock with Media Parents freelancers and returners

Clear Cut Pictures MD Rowan Bray with Media Parents members

Maverick's Head of Production Maria French

Tiger Aspect's Comedy and Entertainment Exec Cat Fox

Outline Productions' Production Exec Emily Freshwater with Sister Pictures' Back to Work Scheme Winner Jenny Madalura

BBC Scripted Drama & Comedy Head of Talent Jacqui Taunton-Fenton with Media Parents freelancers

Barcroft Media Exec Jude Parker

Series Producer Gayl Paterson with Katherine Bovey

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us - we look forward to seeing you again this year!

To sign up to the guestlist for the Media Parents Summer Party on June 19th see the link on Media Parents watercooler

To sign up to the guestlist please see the watercooler at https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events. Summer Party June 19th; Flexible Working Event July 24th and more...

We’re delighted to be working Bristol indies, Films at 59 and Outline Productions for an evening championing flexible working in Bristol on May 23rd, hosted at BBC Bristol. In addition to welcoming employers from Outline Productions, Films at 59 and BBC Bristol we’ll also be joined by employers from Aardman Animations, Icon Films, Love Productions, RDF West, Plimsoll Productions, Off the Fence, Mustang Films and Transparent Television.

If your company is working flexibly with staff, can offer or would like to explore possibilities, then this is the event for you! If you are a freelancer working flexibly or interested in it then this event is a great opportunity to find out more, and even find job share partners. To see photos from our recent Bristol CV event, go here: https://blog.mediaparents.co.uk/2018/12/bristol-media-parents-event-gallery/

We’ll be sharing results from our flexible working survey so please fill it in and share it.
COMPANIES: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DLZXF8N
FREELANCERS: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/X6Z5KV7

Helen Veale, Creative Director, Outline Productions, sponsor at our last event.
At the event we’ll hear from Films at 59′s job sharing producers, Media Parents’ flexible workers, Bristol companies with flexible roles in play, and find out how to make flexible working work for you! We’ll be posting the guestlist on the Media Parents watercooler ahead of the event so you can connect with attending talent.
Get your ticket using the link on the watercooler at  www.mediaparents.co.uk
Freelancers please ALSO send CV in an email titled with your name, job title and genre to events@mediaparents.com. You will need to sign up for a ticket too.
Thanks to Films at 59 and Outline Productions for sponsoring this event and making it possible. Thank you to the BBC Club for hosting again.

Thank you to Rob and Jasmine at BBC Bristol Club, and Clare Adams for all their help at the November and current events. See you on Thursday!

Thursday’s companies are specifically looking for these job types:

Production Managers, Co-ordinators, Shooting PDs, Series Producers, Shooting APs, Researchers, Runners/DITs, Editors, Nat Hist PDs.

There will be an opportunity to talk about flexible working at the beginning of the evening too, and to connect with potential job share partners in the crowd. If you need any help finding someone please ask Clare Adams on Thursday.

Sign up for a ticket here and send a CV to events@mediaparents.com to gain entry to the event:

https://bristolmediaparentsflexibleworkingevent.eventbrite.co.uk

Media Parents celebrated International Women’s Day this year by launching a survey about flexible working in TV. It’s your opportunity to tell us – as a freelancer or an employer – what you’re doing flexibly, what you want, and what you want to know.

For the Media Parents FREELANCER flexible working survey CLICK HERE

For the Media Parents EMPLOYER flexible working survey CLICK HERE

Thanks for taking the time to fill it in, together we can change things for the better.

SAVE THE DATE for our late late International Women’s Day Celebrations on March 28th, see site emails for details. To sign up to our mailing list go here:

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events.

I am a self-confessed property addict with a real passion for houses, interiors and antiques writes PD / Edit Producer Ginny Bing.  My interest has led me to working on many series on these subjects.  I’ve filmed people doing up houses, buying property and antiques at auction, I’ve debated interiors styles and filmed with many leading interior designers.

PD Ginny Bing networking at the Media Parents Cardiff event.

I love nothing better than looking at property online, in the flesh, debating areas and assessing whether a house is a bargain, a potential gold mine or a disaster zone. Although I was born and brought up in London I  developed a taste for looking at property in the country. What kind of house would I live in if I could live anywhere?

What kind of house would I live in if I could live anywhere? Ginny Bing, PD & Property Developer

The poacher turned gamekeeper and I became a property search agent, using my contacts in London and abroad to find the most amazing houses for wealthy clients.  It was a chance to see how the other half live. I accompanied one client on a private jet out to Lake Como so that I could show him a house I had heard about on the grapevine.  I hunted for dream homes in London, Italy and the South of France.

My TV experience spans a wide range of factual entertainment and obs docs for BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five as well as channels overseas. Recent TV jobs include: Edit Producer on a new series for Channel 4: ‘Sun, Sea And Brides To Be’, which is currently airing on Saturdays at 3.30pm on Channel 4.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/476/ginny-bing

I recently renovated a former coach house in the Wiltshire countryside outside Bath. When I’m not working in TV you can find me working on my current house in Wiltshire and advising people on buying and selling property in Bath and the surrounding areas.

Access Ginny Bing’s profile via Media Parents here:

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events.

When I go into a production office or when I look at the staff page of production companies I am constantly dismayed to see the lack of diversity, writes Petal Felix.  Some seem to be entirely staffed by white people and that feels quite off-putting to see nobody who looks like me. If women are under represented in the media, then that is an even greater problem for black women.

Petal Felix with Media Parents' Joanna Gretton at Back to Work Drinks

When there was such a furore about the gender paygap I read with interest the features in the newspapers but, the reality for many like me, is if we can’t even get through the front door it is immaterial what the pay is.

There is a very clear cultural disconnect between the people who make TV programmes and the millions who watch them.  Creativity needs diversity in thinking and for that to manifest onto the screen you need a diverse workforce, which I just don’t see at the moment.

Petal with HoP Mags Scholes and Skillset HETV Drama Returner Fred Archer, celebrating his placement at Tiger Aspect

After several years out I have decided its time to go back to doing the thing I trained to do and the job I loved - TV production. Most of my working life has been spent as a journalist, first in radio and then TV making films for the BBC and independents. But I haven’t worked in TV for ten years, and although the experience can’t be taken away, aspects of production have changed. Although I am happy to upskill I already feel at a disadvantage

A friend said I must join Media Parents. So I go to the Media Parents ‘Back to Work’ drinks, which is initially daunting but turns out to be hugely enjoyable and gives me a boost.    Meeting people who are in the same boat as me, having taken time out for family, albeit most have young children where I am at the other end, having just seen the last child off to college.

There’s another chance to network, a  Media Parents CV event,  hosted by Shiver and there are a number of other production companies represented there. I talk to the companies I think best suit my interests and skills and the following day email the contacts I made.  I have been given  good advice on how to rework my CV  and also been told I have good experience and my training as a Journalist should stand me in good stead.

Petal Felix talks to the Raw TV talent team at Media Parents CV Event

Still, getting my CV ready to send out, it looks woefully inadequate compared to the many I see with very recent TV credits.  It does feel good networking, entirely different to years back when I would avoid any work-related social event. Now I am much more confident and also eager to speak with others going through the same experience.

I have started emailing production companies and meet with Heads of Production, Creative Directors and Talent Executives. All seem interested in my experience and are generous with their time, but there is still a slight nagging feeling, which I am constantly battling with.

Eventually, after meeting with the Managing Director and Creative Director of Factory Films in Brighton I go in, initially for two weeks unpaid work.  I am given several programmes to work on  for the  BBC and Channel 4, short films and documentaries.  I love it and it reminds me I can do this. It’s the week before Christmas and they ask me to stay on for another weeks paid work. I am ecstatic, and its not about the money.

So  here we are in January. I am applying for jobs and I don’t mind taking a job below my Producer scale but I also know I’m more likely to be successful if I can get across the threshold and meet people face to face. I have great skills and experience  and am always full of ideas so I hope TV can deliver for me.

https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/15825/petal-felix

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events.

Happy New Year! Following the success of last year’s event we’re inviting you to Negotiate with Media Parents, Maverick and Spelthorne Community Television on Wednesday January 23rd. Maverick TV’s Head of Production Maria French will join Spelthorne PM and Unit List guru Jude Winstanley and Media Parents Director Amy Walker for a brilliant training session on negotiating rates and flexibility as a freelancer.

Maverick TV's HoP Maria French at Media Parents 2018 Negotiating training with Exec Matt Holden, and returner Emma Sayce who went on to work flexibly at Maverick

"Make friends with Production Managers, they have the intel on rates" suggested Jude Winstanley. Pictured with Media Parents Director Amy Walker at Media Parents Negotiation event in 2017.

Join us for this year's Negotiating event on Weds Jan 23rd, see below for ticket link.

Get your tickets here : https://negotiating-with-media-parents.eventbrite.co.uk

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events.

Warm thanks to everyone who attended our Bristol Media Parents at BBC Bristol at the end of November. The evening was kindly sponsored by Wall to Wall Television / Warner Bros Television Production U.K. Head of Wall to Wall West, Emily Shields, Deputy Head of Production Emma Fenton and Head of Talent Susie Worster met freelancers, and Wall to Wall’s Media Parents Back to Work Scheme mentee Melissa Bishop is Bristol-based and attended the event. We’d also like to thank Outline Productions for sponsoring and attending, the EndemolShineUK team and PACT. Thanks to Seadog TV & Film and RDF West for supporting too. Here are some photos from the night, the majority kindly taken by Clare Adams https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/freelancers/15905/clare-adams.

"It was great to meet new people and to reconnect. I met some people in person for the first time who I'd wanted to meet for a while." Emily Shields, Head of Wall to Wall West

Helen Veale, Creative Director, Outline Productions: "I just want to say a huge thank you for the Bristol event. We met so many such great people who we’d love to work with. And it was a really fun evening. We’re so grateful to be hooked into your network and thank you for organising things so brilliantly."

"Thanks for organising it. There seemed to be a good mix of people there" Susie Worster, Head of Talent, Wall to Wall Television

"I wanted to say a huge thank you for hosting the Bristol event. I’ve felt very ‘out of the loop’ over the last few years and realised I’d lost a bit of confidence about working in TV. The Media Parents event was such a tonic for me, I bumped into a few friends, chatted to people who said they’d felt the same and all your representatives were really friendly and encouraging. It has really lifted my confidence and I really enjoyed it." Carolyn, Returner

Tanya Gottlieb, Talent Manager Endemol Shine "We crew across the board in Bristol in factual, fact ent and specialist factual (for Tigress) so it's great to meet talented grown-ups."

"Just wanted to thank Media Parents for putting on this event, and thanks to Wall to Wall and Outline and the other companies for taking part. It was a brilliant evening. I met so many new people and as Ive only been in Bristol a couple of years it was really useful for making contacts with South West media companies as well as fellow workers. Really excellent night! Thank you!" Graciela Watson, Edit Producer

"We had a great night. We'll definitely be using Media Parents at Seadog when we're next crewing up" Linda Stephens, Head of Production, Seadog TV & Film

"Thank you - it was definitely worth the journey from Wiltshire to be a part of the evening." Donna Bernard, Presenter

"As a Bristol-based Exec it was great to meet people outside my network and catch up with other freelancers I know. There was so much talent in the room, it was brilliant." Katy Fryer, Exec Producer, Outline Productions

"What a brilliant night, and what a great organisation Media Parents is. I'll be telling all my friends!" Philip Jones, Story Producer

"Thank you for organising the event, it was great to catch up with my Back to Work Mentor Emma Fenton from Wall to Wall, and also other Bristol production companies that were new to me." Melissa Bishop, Returning AP / Researcher

"I made some really great contacts and have signed up to Media Parents". Maddi Knibbs, Series Producer

"It's always great to come to your events, thank you, it's so good to meet the talent". Emily Knight, Talent Manager, RDF West

"Thank you so much for connecting me to other freelancers at the event. We have already been in touch and are talking about collaborating on a project". Jon Nicholls, Composer

Thank you to Rob and Jasmine at BBC Bristol Club, David Postlethwaite and Matt Holden for all their help at the event. Thanks also to Clare Adams for the wonderful photos. Until the next time!

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events.

Join us and be merry at Media Parents Christmas Drinks, kindly hosted by Clearcut and sponsored by Alias Hire! Hurrah! We’ll be joined by freelancers and companies including the BBC, Dragonfly, Merman, Kantar Media, Renowned Films, Lime Pictures, Outline Productions, CTVC, Maverick Television, Raw TV, Rawcut TV and Media Parents. No CVs this time, just drinks and chat.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at Media Parents Christmas Drinks last year - we will raise a glass to Trevor Showler this year!

Drop us a line c/o www.mediaparents.co.uk to join us at Media Parents Christmas Drinks

Alias Hire is a multifaceted company providing excellent service across three divisions; Equipment Rental, Training and Live Services.

We’re based in the ever-expanding creative world in Hackney, East London, where we service local, greater London and national clients. We supply cotemporary camera stock and associated equipment as well as provide in-house training on a wide range of technical, production and post-production courses. We boast the highest-spec for live streaming and we can stream from ANYWHERE there’s a mobile phone data signal

Alias Hire really is a one-stop shop for all your production needs!

Click image to join Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk for great jobs, training and events.