It’s no secret. Solid, paying jobs in journalism (television or otherwise) are disappearing fast. So are jobs in video production, engineering and other facets of what was once termed “the television industry.”…Even if you get a job, the pay is much less than in an earlier era. The situation in the traditional TV industry, to put it lightly, is not very promising.
Frank Beacham, a long-time industry observer, continues to write his interesting, useful columns for the TV Technology site–that’s an excerpt above from the most recent one of April 28th. I wanted to quote a bit from this column because it starts to give a sense of Frank’s long term, far-reaching overview of the industry. You’ve yet to read his advice, generous and uplifting as ever.
I met Frank years ago on the press circuit and know him as a sharp, funny guy who still has the charm of an old Southern gentleman, which he is.
I also wanted to point out this particular column as it has some good, down-to-earth advice for anyone kicking around for new work; the column is inspiring enough that you might still feel there’s something out there for you, and figure some ways of getting there with his advice. While the observations about trends in video production and the Internet won’t surprise most any regular observers of the industry, it’s still helpful to have someone who can identify where, how, and what steps you might take to make a business in these turbulent times.
As to Frank’s monthly column? It’s just a good down home read on a regular basis. For the full Frank, don’t forget to check out his website.