Work Placement - looking and securing

Looking for work placement was a long and stressful process. I had a CV written up which included the website to my work. I chose to do a work placement for a production company because I feel I could gain some experience on set with a professional crew and learn from the producers as this was what I wanted to take on as a future career. I was not looking for a commissioned job as I would not have the opportunity to ask or learn from a professional producer any questions about their role.

First process, I looked at different film and TV sites for job opportunities such as Mandy, film and tv pro and I had already secured daily updates on my emails from previous years. I applied for runner jobs which were suitable for me. There were very little in job offers that suited around the university timetable especially when this unit was given to us at short notice. Some offers were for 1-2 weeks, some a couple of days. This was not suitable for me as the unit was looking for me to be at one place for a consistent amount of time. This made looking for a placement difficult. Other companies were looking for internships for 6 months or more.

Deadline was coming up to find work placement. In the end I was desperate to find any work. I managed to find a Director who was a family friend, looking for an assistant to help him for his films. I arranged to meet him at his home to discuss the role I would be undertaking. 

Jackson Pat - Director, Producer known in the chinese society for directing a popular TV series in 2013 - current called 'Triumph in the skies'.

This show is a drama following a bunch of air crew and their lives. This show gives an opportunity to the audience to see different parts of the world as they fly out to different countries. The series is so popular, they have just released a film in Hong Kong.

After the meeting with Jackson, I contemplated about the role. I felt that to role could potentially be a big leap for what he is asking me to do. The tasks discussed are mainly to be his P.A. He was honest and mentioned he was in pre-production and there was not much going on, but I thought I could still learn about the pre-production process in the professional world. Such as story development, finding funding etc...

I had received a interview for another production company for the next day. Keeping with an open mind, I attended the interview.

'STORY IS A NEXT GENERATION CONTENT COMPANY, CREATED BY THE BRAND AGENCY DIXONBAXI, LEADERS IN HELPING THE WORLD’S BEST MEDIA COMPANIES TO INSPIRE THEIR AUDIENCES. WE CREATE FILMS, TV SHOWS AND CROSS PLATFORM CONTENT.' 

The creators of 'Story' originally worked as a brand agency called 'Dixon Baxi' who created adverts for the media, who then formed another company that creates story based films. I had an interview with Gareth Coulam Evans which went quite well.

The interview process was to find out more about myself and what I was doing, my career plans and styles I enjoy. Through the interview I felt comfortable at answering his questions as I knew where I am heading for my career and the type of film making I am interested in. The interview was informal as we sat on a couch discussing each others projects.

After a few days, I found out that there was someone else who they took on for internship, so I was back to Jacksons offer.

Whilst I was still thinking about working for Jackson, before I got my papers signed, I decided to follow him for a few days to see what he does in pre-production.