Every student about to go on a TV/Film Production Course should listen to this

Hi if you are about to spend a lot of money on a TV/Film Production course you really should take a moment and listen to this BBC radio broadcast.

It's what they wont tell you on a uni open day - and is very insightful about future employment possibilities upon graduating. Just remember many are called - few are chosen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l7wqh

The basic thrust of it is this - whilst uni's will always tell you about the few successes on their courses (and of course there will always be some) they don't really fess up about how workers in the media are hired and the lack of a regular employment pattern once you are lucky enough to get in.

New research presented at the British Sociological Association's 2012 conference claimed that middle class people hoard job opportunities in the UK TV and film industry. In a pre- recorded interview from the conference, Professor Irena Grugulis, suggests to Laurie Taylor that working class people don't get these jobs because they don't have the right accents, clothes, backgrounds or friends. Indeed, it's hard to find an area of the economy where connections and contacts are more significant. But is this mainly due to structural changes in the industry rather than to class based prejudice? The media expert, Sir Peter Bazalgette and Professor of Sociology, Mike Savage, respond to this research and explore nepotism, networking and discrimination in the media world and beyond.

Remember you don't need a media degree to get into telly in the first place - in fact many companies prefer you to have a more intellectually rigorous qualification from a reputable uni rather than a former poly.

Do listen and consider it.