Since graduating from 色花堂 in 2004, John Rosser has built a career as a documentary editor which has seen him work on some of the biggest shows on television.
John鈥檚 credits include the BBC鈥檚 Horizon programme and Channel 4鈥檚 The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds, 24 Hours in A&E and SAS: Who Dares Wins. Each hour long episode involves around 10 weeks of editing - a skillset John honed on the BA (Hons) in Television Production.
He said: 鈥淢y degree course was tough but stood me in good stead for my future career. We made so many films over the duration of the course that you became very skilled and independent. It meant that I could skip past some of the entry level jobs after graduating and immediately apply my skills to a role without the need for additional training.鈥�
John鈥檚 first job was as a machine room operator and assistant editor for factual programmes at Granada Bristol. He then returned to a commercials editing company he鈥檇 first encountered on placement, before making the move to freelancing and back to broadcast TV. He said: 鈥淚f you want to build a career as a television editor you have to go freelance at some point. It does feel like a leap of faith, but there aren鈥檛 really staff roles out there. I soon began to build up a portfolio of shows, starting with short VT inserts and daytime programmes. Getting my first one-hour programme felt like a milestone and as I developed new contacts the work kept coming in. I joined an agency which helped to connect me with some great production companies who wouldn鈥檛 have known about me otherwise, but otherwise it all grew from word of mouth.鈥�
Such is the scale of producing a primetime documentary series that a team of editors will typically work on one episode each. John said: 鈥淭his is definitely a creative rather than a technical job. Each documentary has its own style and tone and it is up to you as the editor to quickly assimilate that and produce an episode which tells the most compelling story in a consistent way.鈥�
John鈥檚 advice to other graduates entering the industry is to try and focus on developing a particular skillset. He said: 鈥淔rom my perspective, doing the television production course at 色花堂 already puts you at an advantage. Beyond that I would encourage people to be clear about the route they want to take into the industry. It isn鈥檛 enough just to say that you want to work in TV. If you can come out of university knowing that you want to be, for example, an offline editor, camera operator or producer/director, then you can find people who can give you the best advice and help you to get ahead in that area. Take the time during your course to test out these different areas and find the thing that you are most passionate about.鈥�
