Art assistant Mellisa Harrison has done two placements through ScreenSkills High-end TV Trainee Finder programme, on the Netflix series Sex Education S3 and the final series of the BBC drama Peaky Blinders.
Mellisa wanted to work in the television industry but didn't know how to enter it. She says she found the Trainee Finder programme when she went on the ScreenSkills website to look for training opportunities and thought the programme fitted her situation and her ambitions perfectly.
She was delighted to find that her being a more mature applicant – was not an issue. “I have been well received in my placements and think part of the reason I have got on so well in them may be because I am a little bit older and have a bit more experience in other aspects.”
Mellisa, who is based in Manchester, first studied graphic art and design and then did a master's in design practice at Glyndwr University in north Wales.
She might have entered the industry several years ago when a friend offered her a job as a runner on a television series but, despite being torn, wanted to complete her studies first and achieve her qualifications. But that ambition to go into TV never left her.
Melissa feels she got a lot out of both placements. “I'm one of those people who likes to know why I'm doing something, so if there is an instance like that I ask a lot of questions - and this programme enables that.”
She particularly enjoyed working in the art department on Peaky Blinders, where she says she got a lot of support from Natasha Carlyle, who had previously done ScreenSkills training, and the production designer Nicole Northridge.
“Natasha was so helpful because she had previously been the trainee, and Nicole made me feel like I wasn't the trainee on the job because she trusted me to do a lot of things. She gave me some really nice things to do that I think I may not have the chance to do again for a long time yet on other jobs. I'm really thankful to both of them.”
Mellisa thinks her future may be in prop-making. “My final project for my masters was about creating things and sculpting and that's when I started to think about what sort of job I could do that wasn't just graphics based, but is a job where I could also make things. So I started thinking about prop-making.
“The job I'm doing at the moment is a mixture of graphics assistant and assistant buyerbut I think I would like to be a prop-maker eventually – but I'm open to all options at the moment.”
She believes the Trainee Finder programme has helped her settle on her career path. “When you go in as a trainee, you get to do a bit of everything. I got to get a good insight into the art department and how it works – I have done a bit of everything, from graphics to set decorating and buying, and of course I've fetched people lunches.
“You get to dip your toe into so many aspects of High-end TV and get a broad scope of who does what.”
Mellisa enjoyed the ScreenSkills training that is part the Trainee Finder programme, such as in wellbeing, accountancy and being a freelancer. Next on her list is prop-making training when a place becomes available.
She believes that her placements have helped her develop her skillset - “I can see more clearly where my skills can be applied” - and would recommend the Trainee Finder programme to anyone entering the industry, whatever age they are.”
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