Week 1 - Local Market Research

The first step to working with a company is to find out what companies there are in the area. There are several conditions to look for in a company that would make an ideal match for me. They are:

• Commutable distance away (within one hours travel time)
• Passionate co-workers
• Industry connections - are they well connected?
• Projects where I have some experience or interest. My current mindset is to go into more online media or documentaries.

With these things in mind, I have scoured the local market to see what media companies there are.

1. Estuary TV

Estuary TV is a local TV station found on Freeview channel 8, based in the University Centre Grimsby.

It is broadcast to 350,000 homes in the North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire area. The station works closely with the community, local businesses and independent producers to produce television for local people. This means it has a variety of programming, from sports shows to documentaries to news. It is probably the best opportunity in the local area to experience a TV station and how they operate.

Estuary is a commercial public service broadcaster provides local news every day, combined with a varied schedule including current affairs, business, environmental, historical, documentary, films and entertainment programming.

Historically, they are the UK’s longest-running local television station. Estuary TV was the first local TV station to launch, on November 26th 2013, as Grimsby was one of 19 selected for the Local TV licence.

Comparing this company against my owns wishes for work experience:

• A very good commutable distance away, no further to travel than coming to Uni.
• In the past I have tried on several occasions to volunteer for them to no success. This has kind of put me off offering my services to them in the future. I'm unsure whether I feel they would be passionate co-workers or not.
• Being an actual TV station means they are well connected, if at the very least with the other 18 local channels I already mentioned. If TV station work was where I want to end up, then this could potentially be a good option.
• I now have some experience in recording vox pops and cut aways, but I'm unsure if I actually want to go into TV station work, rather to be more in a production house. Although having it on my CV would definitely do me no harm.

2. Resolution Television

Resolution TV are based in Scunthorpe, and produce, broadcast, and distribute entertaining TV advertising, online video, and creative solutions, including induction systems, for national and global organisations. They are a production house rather than a TV station.

They started the company 11 years ago, and have since completed over 3,200 projects. 34 television adverts have even been aired this year alone.

So far, I have seen this being the most exciting prospect out of all the media companies in the local area. Here's why:

• While not particularly close, the train from Cleethorpes to Scunthorpe is reasonably well connected.
• My tutor, Dan Carter, in talking about the different companies, said the people working here were very pleasant yet they would work you hard. That seems perfect.
• Because of their work with other national and local TV stations, for example ITV, they are certainly well connected.
• They definitely check the boxes when it comes to my interests. I have experience already in online videos and online induction systems. The type of productions they make is more or less what I would like to get into.

3. Eastcoast Pictures

Eastcoast Pictures are a Grimsby based media company, that produce a wide variety of video content. Productions have been made for ITV and the Local TV Network, as well as corporate videos for businesses, including promo videos and staff training videos. Content is also produced online for social media and YouTube.

It is run by Julia Thompson, who used to be the Executive Producer and Director of Entertainment for Sony Pictures Televison International (UK), and also a producer for ITV.

They have many clients around the North Lincolnshire area and beyond.

This would be a good option for me, as although I hear they use Final Cut Pro 7 as editing software (which I dislike), Julia is obviously well connected and the company has a lot of clients in the local area. Business is going well for them and they have a lot of upcoming projects.

• Based locally in Grimsby. Very close by.
• Julia Thompson is clearly a very driven woman from what I've been told and also what she's achieved in such a small amount of time. Andy Ward, a classmate, also works for her so there would be some familiarity too.
• Very well connected both locally and nationally. Particular connections with ITV.
• Our interests do align, although what they do is probably not exactly what I would want to get into as a career. I would however take it as a learning opportunity as well as a chance to gain work experience and connections in the industry.

From what I've seen locally, these are the media companies that catch my eye the most. I will be excited to work with like-minded people in the industry and also hope to be able to contribute well to the company I end up working with!


Reflections on Week 1

As I'm writing this reflection at the end of the module, I now have the advantage of hindsight. When I wrote this blog originally, I was almost certain I wanted to go with Resolution Television. As a result, I don't think I gave the other companies much of a chance to impress me. I don't think this was a good attitude, as if I had just gone with that first impression, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to work for East Coast Pictures. I think at this point in time that I couldn't have hoped for more from ECP and it has been an amazing experience to work with them. I'm glad that I didn't just go with my first impressions and dug a little deeper into each company, as by so doing, ECP actually ended up impressing me most of all.

It has taught me a valuable lesson for the future. First impressions are not always what they seem. I (hopefully) won't fall for that again.