Meet Post-Production Runner Salina

Hello, everyone. My name is Salina, and I am the Post Production Runner at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire as well as Shepperton Studios over in Surrey. And this is actually my first job in the industry. I was struggling for a few years to try and get my foot in. I’m actually taking part in the governmental kickstart scheme that Pinewood has started to offer for entry level positions, which is amazing. But it’s only one of the many ways that you can get into the industry. The first thing that I found really useful is use your past experience, and find transferable skills to emphasise on your CV.

I worked in hospitality and retail, which really helped with customer service and I emphasised that on my CV. But to tailor it, I also added my personal project. So my blog, my podcast, my show documentaries that I just literally filmed on my iPhone. These type of things will make your application unique. I’m actually super, super grateful to have had this opportunity because I actually didn’t know much about post production. I knew what it was, but I had no experience whatsoever in film and TV. But it was being open minded and being consistent that really helped me get this role.

So once a project has been filmed and wrapped, it goes on to the post production stage, which is the editing stage. And our department deals with sound. So when we have clients come in, it might include film directors, producers, sound supervisors and editors, and they come in to work with our internal team. So we have a team of tech mixers, tech and sound editors. We have our operations manager, who’s my direct line manager, our head of department, a team of engineers, and we also have a team for localization who deal with translations. And a project could take a few days, a few weeks.

If we’re working on a returning TV series, they come in on the monthly and on the regular, so it’s really great because not everyone works on just a part time or full time basis, but we also work with so many freelancers who get regular work since they built themselves a reputation. They’ve networked. I personally never really realised how much thought and focus gets put on sound alone, so it’s been really insightful and informative. I’m learning so, so much, and it’s actually making me consider working as a sound supervisor in the future and carrying on my experience in the post production side of things.

What’s amazing on top of that is we do get to work on various projects, so very factual, reality, as well as drama. And I’ve met so many people, I’ve networked with so many people so it’s definitely an amazing department to be a part of. So I have plopped you into our kitchen cupboard because it is infamous as runners as we do the teas and coffees. Doing these is actually your networking opportunity. You are meeting everyone. And they are coming into work, and the first thing they’re going to want is a coffee and a tea. I meet and greet the clients that we have coming in.

Now, making the teas and coffees means I will be meeting them throughout the day multiple occasions. You are going to be that friendly face.