Media Parents

www.mediaparents.co.uk held a flexible working meeting in May attended by some of the employers and freelancers in media who support flexible working – a list of them can be found on this blog. Herefollows part 5 of a series of articles summarising comment from that evening.  Media Parents will be announcing another flexible working meeting very soon.

Amy Walker created www.mediaparents.co.uk to help freelancers to work more flexibly and to enable employers to benefit from a highly experienced flexible talent pool

Laura Djanogly / Jessica Sharkey job sharing Directors of Production, Hat Trick Productions.

Jessica Sharkey (centre) and Laura Djanogly (to her left) job sharing Directors of Production at Hat Trick shared some insider tips

Laura – Joined HT as Head of Production in 2001 and began the job share in 2004.  Jessica had previously worked at Hat Trick as a freelance Line Producer.   In 2003 a heavily pregnant Jessica did some budgeting work for a newly pregnant Laura.  They got on well and realised that with their shared values and working practices they could make a job share work.  They went to Hat Trick management together and suggested job share which was accepted. The company realised that having two people with varied backgrounds and experience meant that they could cover all the genres the company produce in one role.

They follow the philosophy of  “It’s not my job, it’s our job”. They have only one email inbox, as they both believe they have to be “one person” to lessen impact on others.  They didn’t want anyone to have to repeat themselves, and things have to continue to move forwards. Handover notes are crucial and can be onerous, but serve as a good log and checklist.

Laura: “Handover notes can be a review and analysis, which is necessary and good. You’ve always got a safety net then too. The company knew us both individually and that helped. Sharing the workload does increase productivity as we often feel guilty if we leave a problem unresolved, and neither of us feel we can have a ‘coasting’ day as it impacts unfairly on each other.”

They have a hand over day on Wednesday when they are both in the office, and as Laura said, “it is nice to hand over to my work wife”.  Jessica comes in fresh on Wednesday ready for the challenge.

“To have two minds on one problem is a good thing, and writing handover notes means a revisit and sometimes a resolve of problems too.” To have two sets of skills and two sets of experience tackling one job is of benefit to the company. It costs HT half a day’s extra salary, and has been going 6 years as a job share.

While there is no other job share at Hat Trick, there are flexible working hours held by people in various positions, including  senior employees working 3 and 4 day weeks.  Some PM jobs don’t need to be 5 days a week, some can be part-time.  Since this meeting took place Justine Randle (see below) has been working 2 days a week at Hat Trick.

Jessica: “We’re sharing the workload and therefore also the stress” (as they cover all productions at HT, a considerable amount). “There’s also instant holiday cover!”

Justine Randle / Rachel Peters were job sharing Production Managers on The Bill at talkbackTHAMES.

Rachel Peters: “I believe it really is about getting the relationship right, and working in similar ways.”

Read on for more comment on flexible working.  Please feel free to add comment or email admin@mediaparents.co.uk to contribute to the blog on flexible working or best practice in media.  Thanks to Lorraine Molloy for taking the photographs and to Envy Post Production for hosting this event.

www.mediaparents.co.uk held a flexible working meeting in May attended by some of the employers and freelancers in media who support flexible working – a list of them can be found on this blog.  Herefollows part of a series of articles summarising comment from that evening.  Media Parents will be announcing another flexible working meeting very soon.

Helen Veale, Joint MD of Outline Productions speaks out for flexible working

Reacting to Karl Burnett, HR Director, BBC Vision, Helen Veale, MD Outline Productions said that she believed that “the lack of flexible working isn’t cultural it is economic. At Outline we have only got around 12 permanent employees – everyone else is freelance hired for a specific role on a specific production. We can only hire people according to the budget and schedule approved by the broadcaster on each production.”

“But that doesn’t have to mean that there are no opportunities for media parents. The imperative is to get the best staff for each role on each production and often that can mean working mums. A recent attempt to recruit senior staff on a series involved looking at over 100 CVs conducting loads of interviews and after weeks of looking finding the right people, both of whom were working mums just returning to work. It is a real struggle to find the right people for jobs – and if those people are women with kids employers still want to hire them. Women with kids should not underestimate how highly valued their skills are.”

“Be proactive about it. Come with a strategy that works for us both – tell me how you will be able to deliver what the production needs in the way that works for your family responsibilities.”

“If you are looking to work flexibly, come in with a plan about how you are going to be able to do that. If you want to work a job share, find your partner and come in as a pair. As an employer it puts more of a burden on me if I have to recruit two halves of a job separately, but if you arrive as a job share and are the right fit for the job it would be easy to say yes, especially when it is so hard to find people with the right skills and experience.”

On the media parents website www.mediaparents.co.uk we ask employers to state in their profiles what kind of flexible working their company supports.  It can be assumed that any company listing on the site will be amenable to your approach.  There is a watercooler where you can find a partner to jobshare with, and you can mark on your profile who you would partner with.

More thoughts on flexible working from Helen Veale, Joint MD Outline

Helen Veale, Joint MD of Outline Productions - approach companies with a practical strategy for flexible working, the economic arguments are clear

“Most of the women at a senior level at Outline have got kids and the really make it work – some have worked part time, some have worked fewer days during school holidays or adjust their working hours the school run. As long as the work gets done within the schedule of the production, or to the deadline it doesn’t matter when the work gets done or if it’s at the office or at home.”

Flexibility works for everyone in the current financial climate

“Flexible working on productions is probably easier on long running formats as Emily Booth said, but not all productions are like that. Lots of Indies are doing shorter run series, or one-offs which might make it harder to accommodate flexible working. However the key has always got to be, come to the production company with a clear positive explanation of what you are asking for and how you are going to make that work for the production.”

Helen also thought it was a shame that there were only two men at the meeting. “On the whole it takes men and women to make children, and men need to take their share of the responsibility. Get your partner to help you so that together you can cover the childcare and juggle what you need to work flexibly.”

Next: Laura Djanogly and Jessica Sharkey
Job share – Director of Production, Hat Trick Productions.

‘It’s not my job, it’s our job’. TO BE CONTINUED…

Here is a one in a series of summaries of comment from the first Media Parents flexible working meeting.

Karl Burnett – HR Director – BBC Vision “It’s not about attendance, it’s about output – the vast majority of flexible working won’t have any extra cost and will actually save money”.

Karl Burnett, Director of HR, BBC Vision quotes from an Ariel article on flexible working

Karl agreed that the Broadcasters should lead the way with flexible working and he was alarmed by the figures that Emily had stated. Since 2005 the numbers of people at the BBC working part-time has increased from 11.1% to 12.7%. In News some 32% work part-time, but Karl said there is nothing innovative about this, but instead it’s solid policy and a good attitude to different style of working. The BBC has extended the law so that it is not just parents who can request flexible working, but anyone who wants to do it.

The types of flexible working at BBC are; term-time only, from home, unpaid leave and job sharing.  Karl also showed a copy of the week’s Ariel magazine which contained the article, ‘Does flexible working work for you?’ (we are asking Ariel for permission to reprint this).

He did say there was a long way to go still, and although some 32% of Senior Management work flexibly, it’s not the same at more junior levels.

He also noted we should recognise that big employers need to enable flexible working, and the BBC can be a model for this kind of behaviour. Karl did acknowledge that for small companies and small teams flexible working can have a big impact.

Karl used to work at Nickelodeon with far fewer employees than the BBC, and they had returners coaching for new mums coming back to work. Even as a smaller company they recognised the need for this.

At the BBC 87% of new mums return to work and 90% return to work in the News department. Employers should think of flexible working as a culture, not just policy, and managers need to see the positive side to this, and not as onerous. Actually, part-time work can be more effective than full-time, as more hours can be worked by a part-timer.

media parents at the meeting

Managers should not be afraid part time work can help drive the productivity.

Gaps in the workforce are not a bad thing – changing jobs and having placements elsewhere can all be positive.

When working at Channel 4, Karl said there were efforts to help flexible working. Workshops were held with key managers being asked what their fears were about including flexible working employees. The workshops would then seek to show the benefits to these employers too. He felt that the important issue was that it was a two-way street between employer and employee. A job share can be a nightmare, but mostly they work really well. His advice is to try a job share, and then be happy to tweak it if necessary. Individuals who do job share should be mindful of impact on the rest of the team.

Next: Helen Veale – Joint MD and Creative Director, Outline Productions. Reacting to Karl, Helen said she believed that “the lack of flexible working isn’t cultural, it’s economic.”

Media Parents held a meeting about flexible working in media, and several companies were quick to support this.  Herefollows a serial summary of comments from the meeting.  Many thanks to all who attended and to Envy Post Production for hosting the event.

Amy Walker, Director of Media Parents hadn't bargained on a bar stool

Amy Walker, Director of Media Parents www.mediaparents.co.uk is a new jobs and social networking website which will collect part-time, short-term, jobshare and regular hours TV jobs in one place. the site will give employers access to a uniquely experienced talent pool, and improve the work/life balance of parents and experienced media freelancers, keeping a diverse talent base in TV production.

so why was Media Parents formed? 5000 women and 750 men left the industry over the last 3 years according to Skillset’s latest figures.  at media parents we are asking for your help to return some of these people to the media jobmarket, to stop the next 5000 women leaving, and to enable employers to find this high-calibre talent easily.

There’s a considerable disparity between male and female stats in TV – only 50% of women in TV are over 35 compared with 64% in the national workplace as a whole. here’s another stat:  62% of people have children in the national workplace – only 34% of men in TV have children and 21% of women are mothers according to Skillset’s research. this is not meant to be a sob story - Media Parents is not about complaining or criticizing the status quo in TV – it’s about taking positive action.

in the wider workplace 48% percent of parents feel they do not have a choice over whether to spend time with their children or at work, and it’s a fair assumption that this figure must be higher in media as mediaworkers work longer hours – 45 hours/week on average, compared with a 32 hour week across the entire UK economy. if that average media employee worked all year round, the difference in those hours would mean the person in media would work 21 working days per year more than the average person – cancelling out standard holiday allocation really.  So what can we do about this?

Emily Booth, Deputy Editor, Broadcast Magazine

Emily Booth – Deputy Editor, Broadcast magazine talked about some of the results from Women in TV Survey conducted in May 2010. Also, the subsequent roundtable discussion that took place with contributors such as Lorraine Heggessey, Oona King and Jana Bennett. Links to Broadcast articles can be found at the end of this article.

• 87% per cent of women answering the survey believed that women were at a disadvantage compared to 10% of men. The reasons for this are the unreasonably long hours and the inability to get childcare to cover that. Also the inflexibility of employers.

‘Flexible’ was a word that used often in the responses. Key points that came from the survey:

-       Broadcasters should lead by example, have a crèche, they should be open to different methods of working.

-       Workplace childcare vouchers should be available for freelancers too

Questions / Concerns:

“When having time off to have babies, companies forget you and then workers find it hard to combine job and childcare”

“Companies don’t take into account the balance needed, and are intolerant”

At the Roundtable discussion that followed…

-      Suggestion made to have a ‘Post Programme Review’ – Companies look in detail at how the programme was managed in time and budget. Could it work flexibly in the future?

-      Identify long-running formats that could work flexibly

-      Improve networks for parents returning to work, and keep parents in contact when on maternity leave

-      The ‘macho’ culture both in the work place and on screen should be addressed

-      It’s a sterile working environment with long hours

Karl Burnett, Director of HR, BBC Vision quotes from an Ariel article on flexible working

Next: Hear what Karl Burnett – HR Director – BBC Vision had to say…

please feel free to comment here, or email admin@mediaparents.co.uk if you would like to write for the blog

mediaparents.co.uk is a new jobs and social networking website for people who want to work flexibly in media

www.mediaparents.co.uk held a meeting in May 2010 to promote flexible working.  The meeting was kindly hosted by Envy Post Production.  It was chaired by Media Parents Director Amy Walker and attended by the following people, who all support flexible working in media:

Amy Walker welcomes everyone to the 1st Media Parents Flexible Working Meeting. Special thanks to Envy for hosting the event.

Amy Walker: Director, Media Parents

Amanda Rice: Head of Diversity, BBC

Anna Bonnadio, Development Producer, Tiger Aspect

Annie Lee: Director of Production, Oxford Film & Television

Chi Ukairo: job sharing PD ex ITV

Dominic Briere-Edney, Envy Post Production

Emily Booth: Deputy Editor, Broadcast

Helen Matthews: HR Director, Tiger Aspect

Helen Veale: MD, Outline Productions

Jane Manning: Head of Production, October Films

Jane Manning, Head of Production from October Films works flexibly

Jessica Sharkey: Director of Production, Hat Trick Productions

Jo Dolman: HR Director, talkbackTHAMES

Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams: Diversity Advisor, PACT

Justine Randle: job sharing drama PM, The Bill, talkbackTHAMES

Karl Burnett, Head of HR, BBC Vision

Kathy Hale: Head of Operations / Production, Parthenon Entertainment

Laura Clark: Director, Indie Training Fund

Laura Djanogly: Director of Production, Hat Trick Productions

Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams, Diversity Advisor for PACT

Liz Mills: MD, Red Spider Productions, Director, Top TV Academy

Media Parent: Suzie Marsh, Series Producer and flexible working mum

Media Parent: Anita Webster, Series / Exec Producer

Media Parent: Terry Tyldesley, PD

Media Parent: Jude Winstanley, Director, The Unit List

Media Parent: Alison Kreps, Series Producer

Media Parent: Danielle Graham, Series Producer

Media Parent: Jo Molloy, PD

Chi Ukairo, Media Parent, speaks about working flexibly as a PD

Media Parent: Lorraine Molloy, PD

Media Parent: Mel Francombe, PD

Naomi Carter: Head of Production, Mentorn

Natascha Cadle: Facilities Director, Envy Post Production

Rachel Peters: job sharing drama PM, The Bill, talkbackTHAMES

Tessa Matchett: Ex job sharer, Head of Strategic Comms, BBC Vision

Tim Key: Series Producer, The Bill, talkbackTHAMES

Here follows a series of posts which summarise the comments made at the meeting.  Please feel free to comment, or to email comment to admin@mediaparents.co.uk

thanks to lorraine molloy for taking the photos.

Hat Trick’s Joint Director of Production, Jessica Sharkey, and Director of Operations, Kate Wilson,  hosted the Media Parents CV Event in October.  They were joined by Helen Matthews, HR Director at Tiger Aspect, David Postlethwaite, Head of Production at Touch Productions, Vikki Barron, Talent Manager from ITV Productions, Steve Wynne, Joint MD of Rival Media, and Amy Walker, Director of Media Parents, who all shared opinions and advice on best CV practice.  Here are some highlights, please also see Helen Matthews’ other posting for tips.

“Talent managers are more helpful than I’d thought!” Adelle

In addition to CLARITY in CVs, David also wanted to see TAILORED CVs for particular jobs. There are a lot of multi-skilled and flexible workers on www.mediaparents.co.uk so separate your job roles into sections on a CV, with the most relevant jobs at the top.

David’s last request was for HONESTY.  So what to do if you have a large gap in employment, to have a baby, or for other reasons?

“I was told not to panic and take the first job that came my way but to think about the skillsbase I want to build.  It’s so hard to have the self-belief to turn down work but I’ll give it some thought.” Donna

Helen Matthews advised DON’T TAKE THE DATES OFF YOUR CV as it could look shifty – instead OUTLINE OTHER SKILLS YOU HAVE PICKED UP if you’ve had a break in work.   Still keep the most relevant jobs at the top of your CV though as YOU NEED YOUR BEST ASSETS UP FRONT.

You can see more tips from Helen Matthews here: https://blog.mediaparents.co.uk/2010/10/media-parents-cv-event-tips-from-the-director-of-hr-at-tiger-aspect/

“Helen told me to use Linked-In for contacts – I would never have thought of that.” Sarah

Kate Wilson’s top tip for ways back into work after a break was to approach a smaller company and OFFER TO DO DEVELOPMENT WORK.  Some companies welcome JVs (Joint Ventures) because they can’t sustain large development teams so it can be worthwhile to suss out companies whose output is similar to your ideas.  Kate mentioned that a successful part-time stint in development can often lead to bigger things.

“I was advised to list celebrities that I’d interviewed, as many of them were Hollywood A-listers.”  Sheila

Jessica Sharkey’s advice was to KEEP IT SIMPLE.  A clear bold design will make your CV stand out to someone who is scanning lots of CVs quickly. Stick to TWO PAGES and don’t overload your CV with information. Don’t repeat things in your CV either – every word is vital.

“I was using too big a font and going on to three pages.  To be honest there’s stuff in there I now realise I don’t need – I find it hard to let go of my A-Levels!!” Joe

Amy Walker asked people to TITLE CVs WITH FULL NAME AND JOB TITLE.  Also TITLE YOUR EMAIL with your full name and job title, so the employer can find your talent quickly in a bursting inbox.

If you’re using a married name and a maiden name make it clear which name you want to be known by, and if you can, change the email account name that appears in inboxes to be your professional name so you can be found. DON’T MAKE ANYONE WORK TO FIND YOUR TALENTS OR YOUR CV – let it all sing out for you!

“The font on my CV is way too small – I can see that now!” Clare

Vikki Barron’s top tip was to WRITE YOUR AVAILABILITY in your email.  Your CV shouldn’t just be what you’ve worked on, but should clearly SPECIFY YOUR SKILLS at the top of the first page.  This should include the particular cameras you shoot on, or other technical equipment or programs you are trained to use.

Another tip from the floor was to INCLUDE THE NAMES OF SPs or EXECS AGAINST CREDITS.

“I am going to put the names of my referees on my CV from now on.” Matt

Steve Wynne also picked up on covering letters. SPELLING MISTAKES and WRONG ADDRESSEES ARE AN INSTANT FAIL. Accuracy is important because it reflects your precision in your work.

Likewise be accurate in your CV.  GIVE A FRIEND YOUR CV TO LOOK OVER – if there’s a mistake in there and you add your credits as you gain them you could potentially have a blunder in your CV for years!

“It’s been brilliant to actually meet people face to face – I am going to keep in touch now by email.”  Several Talent Managers and Media Parents!

Crikey, hope this is useful reading, it’s taken years to write – anyone want to give me a lesson in how to lay out a blog?!  Get in touch if you’d like to write for the blog too: amy.walker@mediaparents.co.uk

Tonight’s Media Parents CV Event was a great success – the overwhelming response was delight from the talent managers at the level of talent, and the freelancers were delighted by how approachable the talent managers were, and how useful the advice and contacts were.  Huge thanks to everyone for giving up their time to come, and to Hat Trick for hosting in their lovely coffee bar.  I’ll be writing soon with tips from the talent managers, but first, here’s something Helen Matthews, Director of HR at Tiger Aspect, prepared earlier… but first Helen’s response to tonight:

“Met some lovely hugely talented people tonight. Huge congrats on what’s becoming such a success.”

HELEN MATTHEWS’ 10 MINUTE TOOLKIT

About You

Identify your transferable skills – remember to think about what you have achieved in your “gap”

For example: writing a blog/ doing accounts for your partner/ helping in your local community

Use positive language and action verbs (for example…)

Targeting your perfect job – prioritise what’s important to you for example:

Networking – think about your last position, your personal contacts & your professional network

Network in a way which works for you

Be clear about what you want

Look for people you click with

Always follow up & keep in touch (but don’t over do it)

Use online networking for eg  media parents, Linked in

Keep informed and be up to date – websites, broadcast, media guardian etc

Action Plan

Who is my network?

What are my first steps?

When will I do this by?

How can I make sure people know who I am and what I’m about?

How am I going to meet with and catch up with these people?

Applying for Jobs

• Target your CV.
• Use key words from the person spec/job description/advert.
• Give clear examples of achievements and actions which can always be backed up.
• Be confident and sell yourself but be honest about your role and contribution, it doesn’t take long to find out who actually did what, integrity is everything.
• Attention to detail! Nothing screams out more than a spelling error.
• Do keep it to 2 sheets of A4.
• Don’t use colour and fonts thinking it will make yours stand out – it’s the content that is key.
• No photos! We’ve seen many strange and wonderful pictures, they’re just not appropriate. (but it’s great to see you on mediaparents.co.uk!)

HUGE LUCK IN YOUR SEARCH

www.tigeraspect.co.uk

www.mediaparents.co.uk

HELEN MATTHEWS IS HR DIRECTOR AT TIGER ASPECT

Helen Matthews is HR Director at Tiger Aspect

Helen Matthews joined Tiger Aspect as HR Director in September 2007, with overall responsibility for Tiger Aspect HR.

Helen had previously worked at the BBC in various HR roles, leading the HR recruitment and freelance contracting teams across London programme making departments, including Drama, Entertainment, Children’s, Radio & Music, Television and Sport.

Prior to the BBC, Helen had worked at various independent companies and broadcasters, including Planet 24 and ITN, as well as heading up the HR strategy for deckchair.com in early 2000. She is currently qualifying as an accredited coach in career and management coaching.  Please come and meet her at the Media Parents CV Event on Thursday October 7th.  Places can be reserved through www.mediaparents.co.uk contact us.

Helen attended and spoke up for flexible work practices at the Media Parents Flexible Working Meeting earlier this year, and has been actively supporting Media Parents from the outset.

Jessica Sharkey is Joint Director of Production at Hat Trick Productions

Jessica Sharkey and Laura Djanogly both spoke at the Media Parents Flexible Working Meeting and it’s great to be welcoming Jessica back to host the Media Parents Event, along with Kate Wilson.

Jessica and Laura oversee the whole range of programme output from the Hat Trick Group from initial development and budget negotiations, through production to delivery.

Jessica joined Hat Trick as Joint Head of Production in 2004.  Prior to this she was Production Executive at Alomo Productions, a role which followed 14 years in the freelance production world working in Drama, Comedy, Children’s and Documentary.

Kate Wilson is Director of Operations at Hat Trick Productions

Kate Wilson is Director of Operations at Hat Trick.  She is focused on ensuring Hat Trick has the right people and skills across the business, and the companies in the group offer the best possible environment for profitable creative activities.

Kate joined Hat Trick in 2005 having previously been Head of Human Resources (Commercial) at a group of museums including London’s Science Museum.  She has also worked in HR at Breakthrough Breast Cancer and as a pedagogical researcher in Liverpool and India.

The Media Parents CV Event is a great opportunity for CV advice and networking. If you are thinking of moving from production to office-based TV, if you are coming back into work after a while, or if you just thinks your CV should be selling your skills more effectively, then this is the event for you.  Places are strictly by reservation only.  Contact us through www.mediaparents.co.uk