Ben Fearnley

Prior to completing the summer internship, I had just graduated with a degree in Film and Television Production from Teesside University. I wanted the opportunity to expand my skill set with a wider range of knowledge of areas related to the media industry (especially marketing elements) – my previous studies had focused more heavily on production skills and knowledge.  

Due to the global pandemic, I hadn’t had the opportunity to gain any formal work experience related to my field of study, meaning I lacked any long-term professional experience and felt I was falling behind compared to my peers.  

The opportunity to work in TVCA’s Marketing and Communications department offered exactly the kind of experience I was looking for, as well as having the added benefit of being paid whilst gaining experience. After finding out about the TVCA’s internship, I instantly applied! 

During my time on the internship, I had the ability to work on a variety of projects and tasks with colleagues across the communications and marketing department, as well as the other 2023 interns. 

The primary project I worked on was the marketing campaign for the 2024 Summer Internship scheme. The work on this project included planning out the campaign strategies, drafting posts for social media outlets, creation of design/content briefs, and leading meetings with other interns to plan content and strategies. 

Other work I had the opportunity to be a part of included planning Teesside International Airport social media posts, creating website posts, drafting press releases and developing graphic design ideas. 

However, my favourite part of the internship must be when I had the opportunity to visit an active set for a TV show filmed in Northumberland. This was a great opportunity, catered towards me by the TVCA due to my university studies and interests. On this visit, I was not only able to witness the film production process, but I was also given the opportunity to chat with crew members who gave me an insight into working on a site TV set. 

Throughout the scheme, your work is always valued throughout the team, and are a respected member of the department. These values helped me to feel part of the department. 

Throughout the internship, I developed and acquired new skills, predominantly marketing and communications based, and key transferable skills from the office environment. These included analysing social media analytics, video production and editing techniques, co-ordination, leadership, verbal and written communication, and organisational skills. 

Collaboration is a skill heavily used throughout daily life at the TVCA. I was able to use this in a variety of contexts during my time on the scheme, such as providing feedback and discussions in department meetings, working on group projects, and generating ideas with the design team. 

One of my weakest skills prior to starting was in relation to my inability to step outside of my creative comfort zone. I was able to work heavily on this by working with, and gaining feedback on work from, the entirety of the team. This support I had allowed for me to develop my creative side and understand how to work more creatively.  

I originally planned to work my way towards working as a freelance filmmaker, whether this be in-house at a production company or starting my own company. 

I still plan to work as a filmmaker, but I would now also actively look for filmmaking related opportunities within communications and marketing departments, after seeing first-hand the opportunities available for filmmaking within them. 

The TVCA Summer Internship has provided me with a fantastic insight into an actively working communications and marketing department and an excellent set of transferable skills which I could confidently take into any working environment.