About Me

My name is Alex McColgan, I am 27 years old and a student at the University Centre Grimsby, studying BA Digital Film and TV Production. 

In this blog, I am writing about my experiences in a work placement at East Coast Pictures for one of my modules. I started the blog before I even started the search for a work placement, and for the purposes of this module will finish it the week after my last official day (although I will continue working for East Coast Pictures outside of this module).

I am going into this work placement with the intent on pursuing a career as a Producer.

Below is a SWOT Analysis I wrote before I started the work placement and another I wrote after the work placement. Together, I am hoping that there will be areas I have improved on and can evidence with the use of these SWOT analyses.


SWOT Analysis (Before Work Placement)

Strengths

• I have experience in the industry. I used to be an editor for an online induction system and worked in this role for a year and a half. I also have a YouTube channel and produced over 35 documentaries, with combined views of 800,000 and 7,000 subscribers.
• I am intelligent, honest, compassionate and a good leader. I care about people and their wellbeing. I work well in groups as well as working on my own. My integrity means I'm fair but my desire to succeed means I'm firm about things I find important.
• People say I have good leadership qualities, and I'm a good listener. I take time to hear what someone has to say before responding thoughtfully. I'm also good at achieving goals and getting what needs to be done, done.

Weaknesses

• I don't have enough contacts in the industry or the local area, as I'm not local. There could probably be more work experience opportunities for me if I lived closer to London.
• I occasionally struggle with being motivated, and sometimes rely on the energy of people around me to get myself going. While I have done work by myself and out of my own volition, I am sometimes disappointed in myself not to have done more with the time I had.
• I have a family, so it is more difficult to just drop everything for a project somewhere. This also means more financial restrains compared to maybe other people in the industry. Although this isn't really a weakness as I wouldn't swap my situation, it might prove a setback to this career path.

Opportunities

• I have a contact with Mark Proctor of TLC. He even offered some work experience last year.
• I have a YouTube channel, and access to YouTube Space in London.
• I have contacts in my church throughout the world in the industry.

Threats

• I have threats from my fellow students on the course of all levels and year groups who will be vying for the same work based placements as myself.
• As people have better contacts than me, an employer is more likely to go with the person they know rather than a newcomer.
• As I am not so flexible with my time, other people may be favoured over me.
• Sometimes a lack of motivation means I am slow on the uptake, and other people might gain work placements over me if I am not proactive enough early on.

 SWOT Analysis (After Work Placement)


Strengths

• I now have a lot more experience in the industry. As well as the experience I had before the module, I have now done multicamera tricaster shows at a location and now know how to set them up, be a part of them in the team, work as a moving camera-op and how to pack everything away afterwards too. I have more experience doing corporate promo videos. I also now know how to create and pitch a format to television companies.
• My Youtube channel has grown a lot over the course of the eight weeks; I am now approaching 8,000 subscribers and 900,000 views.
• I didn't compromise any of my personality traits during the work placement, and I feel the previous SWOT analysis still describes what I feel my strengths are.

Weaknesses

•  The amount of contacts I have in the local area has now improved, the most valuable one being Julia herself. I was also able to meet a variety of industry professionals in the local area and further out as a result of this placement.
• While I did struggle to motivate myself sometimes, once I was doing the work and being part of the team, it became a lot easier. I didn't miss out on any opportunities due to laziness, which for me is a success.
• My perceived worry about not being able to be flexible actually did not arise as a problem in the work placement fortunately. I was able to attend all the opportunities I had, even if it meant getting a lift with someone, catching a bus etc. This might yet prove to be a problem for me in the future but for now it worked out alright.
• Weaknesses that I found out about myself were that I struggle to spontaneously come up with stories, and I could do better with the lay out of a presentation.

Opportunities

• The same opportunities still stand from my previous SWOT analysis.
• I now have more opportunities with a continued work placement at East Coast Pictures, which will hopefully lead to paid work.
• I have made contact with clients we have worked for.
• Perhaps something will come of the new format we will pitch to the TV studios!

Threats

• In this instance, the threats I perceived at the start of the module were not as bad as I thought. I did consider it quite a competitive module, but it turns out I was actually the only one to apply for East Coast Pictures for this module (excluding Andy, who already works there). Julia is actually looking for more people willing to do work experience as she has the work for them but for whatever reason, people aren't applying.
• My worry at this point is that the pitch I spent a long time on will never actually get pitched if it falls behind on Julia's list of priorities. I will just gently remind Julia from time to time, as it is completed and just needs to be sent off.

Overall, I've seen a lot of growth in myself and the experience I have as a result of this work placement. I consider it has been hugely valuable to me and will continue to serve me well in the future, potentially even giving me the foundation I need to get into the industry.