This month's Featured Pro Member is Rosetta Bain, Series Producer. Below she shares her career story with us:
Why did you decide the editorial route was where you wanted to work?
I’ve always been fascinated by what motivates people and love telling the stories they have. I have great admiration for those with technical skills, but my interest has always been people.
How did you get into Series Producing?
I worked my way up through the ranks, from research assistant to researcher in BBC Radio News and Current Affairs, then I moved across to television working as an AP and finally producer. I consistently had very good people around me in senior roles and I learned from their example. It’s taken a few years (!) but I’m grateful for the experience each of those roles gave me.
How did you learn to be an SP? What skills do you need?
I was fortunate to have some of the best examples to follow – my bosses, in the main, had a brilliant combination of skills – people management and editorial judgement – and I learned by watching them. Paying it forward, I see my job as doing all I can to enable my teams, large or small – on location or in the edit - to do the best work they can.
These days, with budget cuts and the down turn in commissioning, many projects can be challenging when trying to deliver top quality with half the resources, but the stand outs for me in the past have been:
Showrunning a series about 6 amateur miners building searching for gold in the farthest reaches of Greenland for a US network. Covered in real time, the narrative changed daily and managing 20 cast and crew plus a network exec across two time zones was a challenge. 80% of it was done through the pandemic from my kitchen table.
During a 36 hour network Telethon I ran an overnight studio from 8pm to 8 single-handedly. The studio show consisted of performances from bands and comedians as well live action/stunts and pre-recorded VTs from around the 13 regions. My exec fell asleep - I was a junior producer. I knew I could wake her any time I got stuck – but got through it. Mainly as she had trained me!
What would be your advice to someone trying to get into your area of expertise? (especially now during this tough time in TV)
This last year has affected people in disastrous ways. I have thought about leaving the industry, as have many others. I try to focus on what I believe people want to watch and develop ideas of my own.
What are you watching right now?
Literally everything. I really like the pace and energy of US programming. I get a lot of inspiration from the talent and ideas on Youtube. Content creators have picked up the ball and are running with it – what they are interested in isn’t covered by mainstream tv, so they create it themselves. I have a lot of admiration for that.
Rosetta filming a taster tape with controversial YouTuber, Nicole Arbour
Why do you like using Talent Manager?
It’s very user-friendly. Helps me feel part of a larger community, working in tv can sometimes feel very isolating.
In particular, what are the benefits to being a Pro member?
The workshops and network events are really helpful. I use it to gain insight on both my applications and to get a sense of what is going on in the industry through the job posts.
Thanks to Rosetta for taking the time to speak with us. Rosetta is available for work from Dec 2023.
Why did you decide the editorial route was where you wanted to work?
I’ve always been fascinated by what motivates people and love telling the stories they have. I have great admiration for those with technical skills, but my interest has always been people.
How did you get into Series Producing?
I worked my way up through the ranks, from research assistant to researcher in BBC Radio News and Current Affairs, then I moved across to television working as an AP and finally producer. I consistently had very good people around me in senior roles and I learned from their example. It’s taken a few years (!) but I’m grateful for the experience each of those roles gave me.
How did you learn to be an SP? What skills do you need?
I was fortunate to have some of the best examples to follow – my bosses, in the main, had a brilliant combination of skills – people management and editorial judgement – and I learned by watching them. Paying it forward, I see my job as doing all I can to enable my teams, large or small – on location or in the edit - to do the best work they can.
What kinds of programmes do you work on?
My early experience was entertainment/shiny floor and I have evolved to specialist factual, factual and ob-docs/reality. I also work in development – thanks to getting a greenlight from TLC (US) for an original idea. I then spent some years working in the US for some top American production companies.
These days, with budget cuts and the down turn in commissioning, many projects can be challenging when trying to deliver top quality with half the resources, but the stand outs for me in the past have been:
Showrunning a series about 6 amateur miners building searching for gold in the farthest reaches of Greenland for a US network. Covered in real time, the narrative changed daily and managing 20 cast and crew plus a network exec across two time zones was a challenge. 80% of it was done through the pandemic from my kitchen table.
During a 36 hour network Telethon I ran an overnight studio from 8pm to 8 single-handedly. The studio show consisted of performances from bands and comedians as well live action/stunts and pre-recorded VTs from around the 13 regions. My exec fell asleep - I was a junior producer. I knew I could wake her any time I got stuck – but got through it. Mainly as she had trained me!
What would be your advice to someone trying to get into your area of expertise? (especially now during this tough time in TV)
This last year has affected people in disastrous ways. I have thought about leaving the industry, as have many others. I try to focus on what I believe people want to watch and develop ideas of my own.
What are you watching right now?
Literally everything. I really like the pace and energy of US programming. I get a lot of inspiration from the talent and ideas on Youtube. Content creators have picked up the ball and are running with it – what they are interested in isn’t covered by mainstream tv, so they create it themselves. I have a lot of admiration for that.
Rosetta filming a taster tape with controversial YouTuber, Nicole Arbour
Why do you like using Talent Manager?
It’s very user-friendly. Helps me feel part of a larger community, working in tv can sometimes feel very isolating.
In particular, what are the benefits to being a Pro member?
The workshops and network events are really helpful. I use it to gain insight on both my applications and to get a sense of what is going on in the industry through the job posts.
Thanks to Rosetta for taking the time to speak with us. Rosetta is available for work from Dec 2023.
