Post Production for Unscripted Production Teams, Gorilla Academy, March 2025

2025 has been yet another busy one for Media Career Advice!

We ran multiple iterations of each of our 1, 2 & 3 days courses plus our shorter courses in 2025 which allowed us to train 85 people in the PC, PM and PE/HOP role, plus how to set up overseas filming, understanding kit, how to be a better manager and developing great formats for unscripted TV. As well running our longer form courses, I continued to provide short courses for ScreenSkills focusing on budgeting and scheduling, managing cost managers and post production paperwork and introduced a new short course – ‘Setting up Shoots in Remote and Hostile Environments’ which has proved a really popular session. 271 people undertook these courses in 2025, with us running a total of 28 bitesize courses across three iterations.

We offered some free webinars throughout the year. These included Setting up Shoots in Eastern Europe and Setting up Shoots in the Middle East, which are available to rewatch here. We continued to work with Directors UK, running two sessions on how to get the best out of being a mentor for Directors UK as part of their Inspire mentoring scheme. I was also asked back to run a 3-part training course on creating a budget & schedule for unscripted TV for TRC as part of the ScreenSkills Series Producer Programme, which is always a joy to run.

I continued to work closely with the NFTS, providing training in the role of the Production Co-ordinator in unscripted TV as part of the NFTS/Prime Academy Video Craft Academy Traineeship. I also ran a full day course for ‘Budgeting & Scheduling for Unscripted TV’ and a two day course on ‘The Role of Production Assistant (Unscripted)’. Alongside the training, I worked with NFTS Cymru Wales, NFTS Leeds & NFTS Scotland to provide one to one CV reviews to 28 individuals who were interested in pursuing a career in production management.

Similarly, the BFBS Academy (British Forces Broadcasting Service) asked me back to run a 4hr CV and cover letter clinic for the trainees on their creative media production course. This offered tips and examples of how to write an effective CV and cover letter for the TV and Film industry. This will be followed up by one to one sessions with the 8 trainees to provide bespoke advice on additional CV improvements in the new year.

I got to work with a couple of new clients, including Gorilla Academy to create and run a two day course on ‘Post Production for Unscripted Production Teams’ which we ran in person, in March & November at their post facilities in the center of Cardiff. We were also approached by ITV Academy to develop some bespoke production courses, including ‘Finance for HoPs’ which our trainer Viki Carter ran in November and will be running again in January. As well as a two day course on ‘Post Production for Production Managers’ in conjunction with Gorilla Academy in February.

NFTS/Prime Academy Video Craft Academy Traineeship, February 2025

A particular highlight of the year was working with IMG to provide a bespoke Production Executive Professional Development Programme for 10 of their PEs. Run alongside modules on professional management provided by Alex Dalton from Leading Ideas, we provided two days of training on the role and responsibilities of the Production Executive, business & legal affairs and financial & operational elements. Plus we provided the PEs with an industry mentor who undertook three hours of mentoring to help them progress and thrive in their roles.

Our busy training schedule resulted in us training a total of 445 trainees across 49 courses. We also had 85 participants join our free webinars. I managed to squeeze in 43 one to ones with those looking to start or transfer into the industry as well as very experienced freelancers looking to refresh their CVs or cover letters or move into different roles within the industry. Our newsletter subscription grew to 1,753 individuals and our combined social media is now at 1,521 followers. Of course, we couldn’t have done it all without your support. So if you took part in training or a one to one session or kept an eye on our newsletters and social media, we owe you a massive thank you!!

I’m really proud of our stats for 2025, especially as I took 5 months off for maternity leave to welcome my second child Rosie, who is almost 8 months old now. As a comparison, we are almost on par with our 2024 stats which were for the full 12 months, whereas the 2025 stats just cover 7 months. 2025 also marked our fifth year in business. With 60% of new businesses failing within their first 5 years, I’m so proud that we are continuing to grow year on year and that we get to work with returning clients and new clients, plus amazing individuals which makes our work so rewarding.

I want to give a huge thanks to our team who help us keep succeeding year on year. Our amazing trainers – Viki Carter, Anna Roberts, Matthew Harrisson and Kate Fletcher. Plus my husband Leigh Way, who keeps things running behind the scenes with our newsletters, social media posts and course listing/advertising and also looks after our two children when he’s not on the computer.

So what’s coming up in 2026? We’ll be continuing to run our full day and short courses through our company, plus working with organisations to provide free training through our ScreenSkills short courses or fully funded training such as with Gorilla Academy and NFTS. We’ll also be providing more free webinars throughout the year. Don’t forget that you may be eligible for a bursary or funding to attend any of our paid courses, so do take a look here if you are interested in joining.

We’re working with companies such as IMG and ITV Academy to provide bespoke training courses to meet their needs. Plus, will be looking at running some brand new courses through our company. More details will be released for those soon. Do let us know if there is any training or webinars you would like to see and we’ll see what we can do. Also, if you are a trainer, or are looking to start training, do get in touch as we are always on the lookout for new courses to run. And a reminder that it can feel quite lonely running a small training company, or starting up as a trainer, so I have a private Facebook group where we can all come together to continue share tips or ask questions. The link is here if you’d like to join, or forward it onto someone else.

I write this every year and don’t end up adhering to it(!), but I am also going to try and reduce my number of working hours so I will have more time to spend with my 3.5 year old and 8 month old. So in practice, some of our regular courses may be a bit more spaced out or I may have a bit less time for one to one career advice sessions, but I will do my best to accommodate everyone.

Don’t forget you can find all of the information on our training courses by visiting - https://www.mediacareeradvice.co.uk/training-talks and taking a look at our training calendar, or each individual training course page. Check if you are eligible for external funding here - https://www.mediacareeradvice.co.uk/external-funding Plus you can find out more about what one to one sessions we offer here - https://www.mediacareeradvice.co.uk/one-to-ones

Hope you have a fantastic 2026!

Hannah Gosney, Company Director & Trainer

2025 Round Up

Introductions