Managing tricky relationships

This course targets professionals in unscripted TV and children's TV, with session content varying based on the date:

• Unscripted TV only - Wednesday 8th May - 12:00-13:00
• Unscripted TV and Children's TV - Monday 13th May - 12:00-13:00 

As part of the Your life at work strand, we're offering training aimed at sharing workplace best practice as well as how you and your teams can stay healthy, happy, and productive at work. 

Making a great unscripted TV series is all about good teamwork. Most members of a TV team need to manage up and manage down, as well as managing relationships with their peers and with contributors. We all know that communication and diplomacy are the way forward. However sometimes, especially in pressurised deadline-driven situations, relationships can become tricky. This can happen in pre-production, on shoots and also in the edit.

This session will look at strategies for improving the management of relationships in all stages of unscripted TV production. It will explore effective methods for ensuring these relationships are as problem-free and transparent as possible. This will be a safe space where scenarios can be examined confidentially, and methods for solving identified problems can be discussed. With real-life examples, practical solutions and lots of tried and tested tools this session is open to anyone - be they managers, mid-level, or more junior team member – looking to improve their relationships at work.

There will be breakout rooms during the session and having your camera and sound on will be encouraged, although not enforced. Any scenarios or real life case studies you bring along to discuss will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

Who it's for

Anyone who works in a team in unscripted TV or children's TV (dependant on date). They can be in casting, on the shoot or in post-production, on the production side or on the editorial side.

The majority of the USF online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least 3 credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible. Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

Speaker

Jo Woolf is a Series Producer in Factual TV and a TV trainer and coach. Jo has been in television for over 20 years, working her way up from a runner position to the management of large teams. She’s worked on factual entertainment series, observational documentaries, specialist factual shows and many popular formats, for companies both large and small. This has given her first-hand experience of managing up and managing down in many different teams, configurations, and scenarios. She is a strong believer in teamwork, respect, and the power of good communication skills.

How to apply

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘apply for ticket’ and follow the instructions to apply for your place: you must login or register before you are able to complete your application.

Places on these free online courses are limited and applications are often highly competitive. To stand the best chance of securing a place, please be sure to consider the following:

• When asked to list your three most recent credits, please include the programme title and your job role.
• When asked what you hope to gain from the course, please be concise but ensure you cover the specific elements of the topic you would like to gain knowledge of and what gaps in your skillset you believe the course may address. A rewording of the course title or a general comment on career progression does not tell us much about how this course would benefit you.

If you are no longer able to attend, we ask you to please use the “decline ticket” function on the right hand side of the page so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.

This course is supported by ScreenSkills, by the Unscripted TV Skills Fund and Children's TV Skills Fund thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

This course would normally cost participants to attend, but thanks to this support, we are able to offer it to you for free. If you fail to attend, we reserve the right to request reimbursement of costs, unless your place can be taken by someone else.