Film & TV

Maybe if you think about film, you think about the actors in a MARVEL classic, or if you think about TV, you think about the writers of Stranger Things or the director of Euphoria.

But there's far more to making a film or TV show than first meets the eye. In fact, for every actor (exc. extras) on a high-end production, there are on average 10 people who work behind the scenes.

Most of the skills used in the film and TV worlds can be transferred over. So if you want to work in film, there’s a high likelihood that you can work in TV too and vice versa!

But do you know the breadth of careers that enable these productions to come together and end up on our screens? There are a large number of people that work behind the scenes in TV & Film that you may not know exist. Departments such as lighting, audio, construction, costume, props and SFX (makeup) rarely get highlighted, but are enormous parts of these industries.

There are also entire subindustries, such as terrestrial TV (we're thinking of Emmerdale and Big Brother here) vs streaming/high end TV (anything featuring on services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime), or the blockbuster film vs indie films. Then there are also genre specialisms, such as drama, comedy, documentary… the list goes on.

  • The film industry, also known as motion pictures, includes many varied contributors, such as producers, screenwriters, actors, crews and film directors. It also includes more craft-based roles such as carpenters, prop-makers, prosthetic makeup (SFX) and costume.

  • The TV industry has a very similar layout and structure to film with production, crew, cast, hospitality and more involved in creating a show.

  • Film:

    🎥In 2019, 84,000 people were employed in the film industry, the third highest figure since 2010.

    💰Total film industry turnover increased by 86.5% between 2014 and 2018, rising from £9.1 billion to £17 billion

    📽Of this number, 66,000 worked in film and video production. There were an estimated 15,000 in film exhibition and 3,000 in film and video distribution.

    💡In 2019, over half (54%) of people working in film and video production were self-employed compared with 18% of the total UK workforce.

    💰 The UK film industry added over an incredible £6 billion to the UK economy in 2018, which is more than treble the contribution made in 2012!

    📈The industry also increased from constituting 0.4% of the total services sector in 2012, to 0.8% in 2018.

    ⬆️ From 2009 to 2018, global film takings rose from $29.5 billion to $41.4 billion, an increase of 40%. Over the same time scale, total global takings from UK films grew by a whopping 470%, from $2 billion to $9.4 billion. Therefore 62% of the global industry growth is attributable to takings from UK films!

    TV:

    📺In 2019 the TV sector's revenues were £3.3bn, up 11% on the previous year.

  • There are lots of players and drivers that are changing the TV and film industry!

    💻 VoD and digital platforms will be game changing: streaming services are in direct competition with traditional TV and film, through investing in the production and licensing of globally successful own content. Broadcasters and media companies are also launching their own on-demand offerings and global content producers are setting up their own streaming services. On-demand video has also hugely transformed consumer behaviour, with immediate needs at the forefront when thinking about relevant and anytime TV and film content.

    🎥 Digitisation is changing the fundamentals of production processes and distribution of content, with All-IP becoming standard practice for TV and video, and fast fiber optic networks and 5G enabling more flexible and mobile consumption of media content.

  • IntoFilm have a super informative map of career options and other helpful resources on their website

    ScreenSkills have a full roster of careers resources to explore!

    BFI have plenty of classroom resources and lesson plans available on their website

    RTS have a comprehensive list of career options in the TV world for students to learn from

    BAFTA have a video hub where people who work in the industry talk about their career paths and jobs

Like the sound of Film & TV?

Learn more on the ERIC app through our industry guides. When you’re ready to explore further, you can start browsing the Film & TV section for opportunities, internships, events, courses and more!