Overview of the role
Series producers (SPs) are senior editorial figures and leaders with responsibility for an entire series, ensuring quality and creativity by overseeing editorial and production decision making. They are informed by a strong awareness of the children’s television landscape and a sophisticated understanding of how to produce engaging and inclusive content for children. They are responsible for delivering a series on time and on budget while meeting all legal, compliance and health and safety requirements with particular regard to all working with children regulations, the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and other editorial and broadcaster guidelines. They work closely with executive producers and production managers and recruit and manage inclusive and high performing teams. They build and nurture relationships with commissioners and talent.
Core responsibilities
These core responsibilities are provided as a guide and are not exhaustive. The exact responsibilities in a particular job will vary depending on the size of the production company and team, the type of show and the budget available.
- Recruit and manage the team, fostering a transparent, responsible and creative working environment across all roles where all voices are heard. Instil inclusive and responsible practices with diversity and accessibility uppermost in mind.
- Ensure sustainability is considered at all levels of production and industry guidelines met.
- Work closely with production management colleagues on the overall budget and schedule to ensure deadlines are met and budgets adhered to, understanding how to work collaboratively and implement changes if overspends occur in order to balance the budget without compromising the editorial vision.
- Ensure the team is trained in, and complies with, all working with children regulations, safeguarding and welfare, GDPR/data protection, the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and broadcasters’ editorial guidelines.
- Ensure roles and line management are clearly defined. Set achievable work and personal development goals for reports and offer regular feedback. Ensure teams know how to escalate any concerns they may have.
- Performance manage teams effectively, openly rewarding hard work, good ideas and shared results while identifying and addressing any issues promptly and escalating where necessary.
- Hold regular team meetings for sharing ideas, listening to feedback and communicating updates including any changes to the editorial or schedules that may affect the wider team.
- Inspire creativity and inclusivity - working with an executive producer and commissioning team, create a unifying vision for a new project, including a distinctive visual identity and fresh, diverse voices and stories. Initiate fresh ideas for returning series. Encourage ideas from across the whole team, offering feedback and recognition where ideas are adopted.
- Know what the audience is interested in. Have a thorough knowledge and appreciation of current trends in content consumption (what, why, when, where) across all platforms and how to present engaging content. Understand the different age segments in the audience and ensure all ideas and topics are identified, shaped and pitched appropriately, bringing in child development experts to support where necessary.
- Communicate a clear vision for the project to the team, on and off screen talent, managers and commissioners and ensure all key points are discussed and agreed, including assisting in the completion of editorial specification documents.
- On a new series, work closely with executive producer, commissioners and business affairs to source and confirm all on-screen contributors, including presenters or experts, ensuring negotiations are completed in a timely manner and a clear vision for the series is agreed.
- Work with directors, executive producers and commissioners to set the tone and look of a series, including shooting style, graphic identity, music choices, studio sets where needed. On hybrid projects, work collaboratively and creatively with writers, performers, designers, musicians, animators and directors to plan innovative new narratives for the young audiences.
- Demonstrate an up to date awareness and understanding of how AI can be used to support content creation and generate cost savings and ensure any uses are employed and disclosed transparently and in accordance with production company and broadcaster guidelines and UK and EU law.
- Guide the rest of the team, sharing expertise, displaying strong editorial judgement and leadership skills and supporting the executive producer and production executive.
- Work closely with production management team to ensure schedules and filming meet all budgetary and regulatory requirements including working with children guidelines.
- Work with production management to ensure the budget stays on track, balancing any overspends in one area with cost savings in another while continuing to deliver on the editorial vision for the series.
- Oversee production teams on the planning of studio or location filming in the UK and abroad.
- Ensure the mechanics of a programme format are sound and that tropes like eliminations or reveals are appropriate for the age of contributors and the audience. Ensuring best practice is followed in teams when it comes to sourcing and fact checking with meticulous record keeping and following all GDPR/data protection rules.
- Quality control: display strong editorial judgement and story telling skills and offer support and expert feedback to producers from script drafts to voice over scripts, sustaining the narrative drive and audience appeal of the show across all episodes.
- Build respectful and productive relationships with on screen talent, providing feedback on performance and addressing any issues or concerns in a timely and appropriate manner, escalating where necessary.
- Ensure content flows smoothly from filming into post and provide clear creative feedback and oversight of post production, supplying edit notes promptly and communicating clearly with edits ensuring the final programmes are polished and delivered on time.
- Collaborate with colleagues and other departments on ensuring all deliverables are met, including materials for marketing and promotion on other platforms.
- Additional duty of care considerations are required when working with under 18s. These should be discussed with editorial management, commissioning editor and compliance contacts at the start of the production process.
- On casting, ensure all appropriate frameworks are in place including the employment of appropriate experts including media trained psychologists (MPPs) to assess suitability of contributors to participate along with welfare and background checks. Implement aftercare practices for contributors and families after production has finished especially around first transmission/upload.
- Production teams using young contributors may may decide to implement the principles of the Ofcom risk matrix into to determine a project’s level of risk and include steps that will be in place to mitigate potential risks to contributors before, during and after production.
- Use own expertise to ensure productions understand and work within the appropriate regulatory frameworks on working with children along with broadcaster safeguarding and welfare guidelines.
- Ensure productions are diligent in applying GDPR/data protection rules including ensuring all personal data relating to children is stored in a safe and appropriate way.
- Use own expertise and work with colleagues to ensure productions comply with all other legal, contractual and health and safety requirements.
- Keep up to date with industry best practice and Ofcom and broadcaster compliance guidelines especially those with particular resonance for children eg. harm and offence, imitative behaviour and ensure all content complies.
Skills
Check out the role specific skills, transferable skills and attributes for the role of series producer in children's TV.
- Strong awareness of the children’s television landscape, trends and commissioning priorities.
- Knowledgeable on all working with children regulations, editorial guidelines and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.
- Understand how younger audiences consume content across all platforms and how to present engaging and appropriate content for different age groups.
- Display strong editorial judgement and story telling skills for younger audiences and offer support and expert feedback to producers. Ensure content is entertaining, empowering inclusive and appropriate for the age of contributors and the audience.
- Up to date with industry best practice and Ofcom and broadcaster compliance guidelines
- Creative vision: experienced in a variety of content, good writing and storytelling skills, fair and originality in creating visual identities for shows.
- Ability to lead and manage colleagues to do their best work in the best working environment.
- Communication: able to convey creative and editorial vision, clarity on direction and goals for teams, liaise effectively with senior managers and commissioners.
- Sound editorial judgement and excellent writing skills.
- Skilled at spotting and dealing with legal or compliance issues
- Excellent established relationships with presenters, agents, experts and TV commissioners.
- Multi-tasking: able to juggle multiple shoots, edits, teams.
- Problem-solving: able to prioritise and make quick and effective decisions, listen to others and be proactive.
- Fiscally aware: understand production budgets and efficient working practises and scheduling.
- Passion for serving young audiences with entertaining and empowering content and a commitment to fostering diverse and inclusive creative voices.
- Resilience: adapt positively to changing work priorities and patterns, ensuring deadlines continue to be met and fostering resilience in teams.
- Positivity: able to keep the team morale high particularly during challenging production periods.
- Proactive: exploring new ideas and non-standard ways of working which will enhance and deliver the best results for the ideas.
- Drive and energy: get things done in pressurised situations and escalate appropriately when necessary.
- Ethics and integrity: honest and principled in all actions and interactions, clear and transparent communication with teams, talent and stakeholders. Respectful and inclusive of others ensuring all voices are heard.
- Flexibility: willing to both listen and learn and to accept changing priorities and working requirements; flexibility to maintain high standards in a changing environment.
- Professional development: develop an ethos to learn and seek out development and networking opportunities.