BBC wildlife filming question

[me54022]

Hi, i wasn't sure how to title this. i have a friend who is really into wildlife and has done a course on wildlife filming, she wants to get into a career based on this, maybe for the BBC, i say that, but she is just wanting to do filming whatever the channel or film. (No rude comments about filming)... Can anyone advise how she can get into this? It is a real passion she has and is good at what she does and what she knows. She asked me if i knew anyone that could help in anyway, she would be greatful, i thought i would give you guys a go and see what you have to say.

Many thanks

Mandy

[docwra]

One of my best mates is an F1 cameraman, when hes not doing that he shoots parliament. He started by working on various shoots as a runner for free while he was at uni, then he went and worked for a couple of the less glamourous Digital channels (Gems.tv and bidup.tv IIRC) - even then he was still doing shoots at the weekend for free. Eventually, after 3 years at uni and probably another 3 years of working most weekends for nothing he got offered a decent job

Ive got to say, more than a couple of times I asked him if all this unpaid work was worth it .......... seems like it was as hes pretty pleased about it all now as you can imagine, but Ive never known an industry where so much unpaid work is expected of you before you break into an actual career. If d imainge that unless you are extremely talented or well connected, getting into something that everyone wants to do (how many people were on the course, and how many nature cameramen do you think the BBC take on every year) is going to take a while.

[Asht_200]

^^^^ as Doc said. most people in the film / cameraman industry start off pretty low down and do a lot of stuff for free. Also tell him to film as much stuff as possible to put on youtube. It is the best medium for a video to go viral and get noticed

TV / Film is very difficult to get into - one of my mates was a production manager for Bourne Ultimatum. It took him 20 years to get a real break.

[me54022]

WOW, it does seem like hard work, well ill pass on what you have said, its very helpful. Thanks for this.