Kate Burley on the Unscripted TV junior editor programme

“I love storytelling,” says editor Kate Burley of what drew her to the screen industries. “I love the task of taking shot after shot after shot and assembling it all together to create a cohesive piece that tells a story and is entertaining to watch.” In particular it was this interest in post-production practices that led her to further hone her skills and start considering turning a hobby into a career option. “I've wanted to be an editor since I was 14,” she said. “I discovered my love for the craft when I started making content on YouTube (before Google even bought it!) and used various software over the following years to enhance my skills, including Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.” 

Kate further developed her knowledge studying for a degree in film production technology and received a position at Birmingham company CrowTV a few months after graduating. “After only a few months working there, they transferred me to their London base to train more as an edit assistant/technical operator,” she explains. “I then got a new job as an edit assistant at Rapid Pictures in London, where I worked for another three years and gained new skills.”

She moved back to her hometown of Birmingham to join local company Manor Production Services LTD “fundamentally as a senior editor assistant, but over the last year I've begun a new role as a junior editor, working on a variety of factual entertainment-based programmes". It was here that she learned about the ScreenSkills junior editor programme, “My boss at Manor put me forward for it,” she explained.

Supported and developed by Unscripted TV Skills Fund, the junior editor programme is designed to help 20 unscripted TV edit assistants across the UK make the step up to junior editor. It's a six-month workplace-based training programme that starts with an intensive bootcamp to equip each delegate with the skills and confidence needed to be assigned to productions to edit and learn on the job through real tasks and provides monthly mentor check-ins and course tutors to offer rounded, flexible support.

It's blend of practical guidance and tailored input by industry experts proved extremely useful for Kate. “It was a real highlight meeting the experts and getting their insight. It allowed me to learn from industry experts and to work with senior editors who mentored me during the course.”

She continued: “Without the course I definitely would not be where I am today as it provided the opportunity to move away from my primary role and work fulltime as a junior editor trainee. Since then I've worked on several productions: I was part of the edit team for the first and second series of Shop Smart, Save Money (Channel 5); I worked as an assembly editor on Great British Menu S19, where I even got to edit parts of the programme; I'm now working on a new series of a show for Discovery+.”

The programme is returning and currently accepting applications for a new cohort, something Kate would easily recommend: “These programmes are important to help young people who are starting out in the industry and get a real insight into the reality of it. The industry is in a precarious state at the moment, so it's important to help those starting out to gain the tools they need to hopefully make it.”