College of Production Blog

Simon Smith is the presenter of our podcast - the CoP Show - and manages the trainee schemes, BBC induction and the Fusion project for the BBC Academy. Here he discusses the Production Talent Pool, one of the main routes into entry-level jobs at the BBC. The most regular question we receive here at CoP is "how do I get a job?" And over the past year we've tried to help new entrants find a way in w... Read more

Media is a tribal business. We tend to define ourselves by which group we live within, whether that’s radio, tv or online. And the radio tribe are often heard suggesting that their medium is usually the bridesmaid to television’s bride. But not this week. Here at CoP we’re preparing for tomorrow’s Radio Fast Train day. It’s a free day of radio training and a celebration of all things a... Read more

We recorded our final podcast episode of the year on Tuesday. In time honoured fashion we invited a few friends of the podcast back to reflect on the tv, radio and online content which moved, amused or diverted them this year. We lured Steve Bowbrick, Jude Winstanley and Dan Biddle in with the promise of mince pies, sat them in front of tinsel covered mics and let them talk.Steve, Jude and Dan h... Read more

There’s a bit of a back to school feeling here at CoP this week, not least because we just recorded our first two CoP show podcasts of the autumn. And as befits the season of new pencil cases and fresh starts, we’ve chosen to go back to basics and answer the question most TV and radio professionals get asked all the time: how do I get a job in the media?I’ve been asked this hundreds of ... Read more

The digital world is all about disruption. Obvious, yes, but not all cliches are unhelpful. The internet has seen old orders of things torn down to make way for new rules, as young upstarts spot cracks appearing in ageing habits. There are countless celebrated examples, from Google sidestepping the advertising industry to Napster letting the digital cat out of the bag for the traditional music ind... Read more

The usual view from my CoP desk is the A40 at White City. This week I've swapped it for the rather more inspiring landscape of the Howgill Fells in Cumbria. I'm out on location with Lambing Live, producing our transmissions this week. I worked on series one and loved it so much that I was determined to go back again. And it seems I wasn't alone. The majority of the OB team and production staff wor... Read more

The College of Production site has now been live for a month. More of you are coming to the site than we initially anticipated and we're delighted that for lots of you it seems to be the useful resource that it is intended to be. But there are always improvements to be made, so I thought this would be a good moment to summarise some of your feedback and give you an update on what will be happe... Read more

Toby Whithouse, writer and exec producer of BBC Three's Being Human, joined us in the CoP studio on Friday. Kate Rowlands, of BBCwritersroom, interviewed him and the video of the Talk will be available here in a couple of weeks' time. But for those of you eager for a sneak preview, here's some of the advice and anecdotes he shared. The bulk of the discussion was about Being Human, but we also hear... Read more