Top tips on landing a job as a TV researcher – Pandora Monnas lifts the lid on her experience
Interview with Pandora Monnas
After graduating from City University with an MA in TV Journalism, Pandora joined Rogan Productions as a Researcher in December 2018 and has since worked across development and a forthcoming 3-part series commissioned by Channel 4. We caught up with Pandora to get the inside scoop on launching her career in TV and her top tips on becoming a great researcher.
How did you first get into TV and what was your first role?
My first role in TV was as a casting researcher at a company called Back2Back down in Brighton. Having had no luck getting work experience in London, I tried my luck in Brighton and made the unpaid commute for 3 weeks until – thank God – they offered me a job. I was casting for a show called Help! My House is Haunted… I got to speak to a lot of weird and wonderful people in the process, so I had a great time there but didn’t want to move out of London at that point so came back home after about 3 months. I was also pretty keen to work on something non-ghost related, so I enrolled in a masters in TV Journalism at City University.
Can you talk about some of the highlights of your career so far?
Highlights of my career so far (outside of Rogan) include doing an internship for Angus Macqueen at Ronachan Films – he made a documentary about the last uncontacted tribe in Papua New Guinea and it was the film that made me want to go into TV. I found it so interesting, so I was really happy to get that chance through my MA at City – and then I also stayed on there working on development over the Summer after the course finished.
But then coming to work at Rogan made me feel as though I could actually be ok at working in TV. It was so nice to get my first long contract. Highlights from my time here include being given the opportunity to work as a researcher on the upcoming Channel 4 production Putin: A Russian Spy Story. I felt very lucky to have received my first full researcher credit on such an amazing series.
And then working on the BBC Talent production, I got to meet Louis Theroux and David Attenborough (!!), who are both life-long heroes and people I never thought I would get the chance to meet.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love being a researcher because it allows me to dig deep into subjects that I’d never have got into before and you get to meet loads of cool people. You’re also allowed to trust your instinct and follow weird rabbit holes of information because you think they’re interesting – I don’t know many other jobs that allow you to do that, so it’s a privilege to be trusted like that.
My dream would definitely be to develop something and then work on it right through to TV – I feel like that would be so fulfilling.
What are the challenges of the job?
Challenges of working in TV in general is that it’s such a saturated market. I feel so lucky to have found my way in, but I’m aware there are always lots of other people keen to do it – which is a little nerve wracking. Also, coming up with original ideas that are genuinely worthy of making it to TV is a skill that I’m definitely still honing. So much of it has already been done! I think you also have to grow quite a thick skin when it comes to your ideas, because a lot/most of them won’t come to anything, and that can be a bit deflating.
It can also be hard work, and going out on location can mean long hours, but it’s the most interesting work I can think of doing.
What are your 5 top tips on being a good researcher?
- Try to ingest as much as possible from random sources – like podcasts or less mainstream news outlets.
- Try to think of the counterintuitive angle on any story.
- I find talking through my ideas with people helps a lot with creativity. It’s nice to be able to bounce things off people.
- Be thorough – fact check and spell check.
- If you’re offered an opportunity to help with a project, to go out filming and get new experience, take it!
What advice would you give to anyone starting out in the industry?
My advice to someone starting out in the industry would be to keep sending out emails and trying to get work experience wherever you can. Moving between companies on month-long or six-week contracts can be draining, but you have to keep in your mind that this is the nature of the game – it’s not personal!
