Broadcasting Careers 101 - Finding Television Production Jobs

With the enormity of the television industry and the massive projects that are undertaken, there are literally hundreds of television production jobs and career opportunities that you can choose from. With so many kinds of TV genres and types of television productions that you can choose to be a part of, your TV job hunting become much, much easier. You have TV shows like series, sitcoms, and documentaries, live TV broadcasts like the news, sports events, and concerts, reality TV like contests, lifestyle shows, interviews, and others, and TV commercials, which can be shot in studio or on location, just like a film or TV show. Aside from the usual TV jobs you can also find online TV career opportunities and be involved in productions like podcasts and online TV shows.

With so many television production types you have, each one comes with its own set of TV jobs and all you have to do is decide which area of TV you enjoy working in more. You can start off in any TV production, by offering your services free of charge as an intern in exchange for knowledge and contact. Contacts are the number one thing that you need for making it in the sometimes harsh world of TV and the TV networks and TV studios will be more inclined to consider you for a position if you are determined, skilled, have some media background or training, as well as contacts.

There are 3 sections in the television industry that you can work in. The first is the TV networks, who are behind the biggest budget TV shows in production. The networks offer TV jobs ranging from network executive to news reader, to cameraman and sound engineer among many others. Then you have the TV studios, where most of the TV shows and reality shows, TV commercials, and online TV series are produced. Here you have producers, directors, camera operators, make-up and hair artists, props, arts, and wardrobe departments, assistant directors, lighting and electricians, sound engineers and lots of crew members, cable runners, and gaffers. The last area you can get TV jobs in is the freelance sector. You can end up working as any member of the crew or cast for any TV show, reality TV show, TV commercial, live TV broadcasts, and in online TV. Being a freelancer will help you to get work in lots of different TV productions and genres, and you can even make more money, although you will have some inconsistency and periods without work, which you have to take into consideration.

Working in any TV industry sector is hard work and in most of the TV jobs you will be working 12 hours a day or more. Some of the network TV jobs in the management side of things will see you working sometimes the normal 8 hours a day, but you can end up working for much longer, especially when you have a new production scheduled. Most of the work that is done on set or on location with a TV studio is a 12 hour day and you will be working pretty much the entire time with a lunch and dinner or breakfast and lunch break. Depending on what job you have on set for any particular shooting day, you may only be called in for a half day or less, and sometimes even if you are on set for the full day, you don't have to do that much work. Some days will see the stunt men and special effects team doing most of the work, while other days will be the make-up and wardrobe teams doing a lot of changes and working hard for the full 12 hours.

In television production you also have the opportunity to become involved in front of the cameras in TV shows, reality TV, TV commercials, online TV in podcasts, or in live TV broadcasts, as TV hosts, presenters, actors, new readers, and TV anchors. This kind of TV job will tend to pay a bit more than many of the other jobs behind the cameras, but it also requires a certain level of training, expertise, skill, personality, and a look that will capture and entertain audiences.

The television production industry is an exciting one to be involved in and it provides tons of scope for talented, creative people to get a job doing something that they are passionate about and love. It offers job opportunities for actors, make-up artists and hair stylists, managers, directors, designers, artists, electricians, camera operators, audio engineers, lighting technicians, catering companies, and much, much more.