Assistant Producer: About the role

The main duties of the role are to assist senior production staff in all stages of a television production or series, with specific responsibility for the execution of a specific programme brief within editorial guidelines.

An assistant producer has to interpret ideas accurately and convey them on screen. During the production phase they must understand editorial roles in order to make balanced editorial decisions. They must also work with researchers to make reseource material accurate and relevant to the programme. After collating the material gathered the must identify key facts and trends and present them accurately while bearing in mind political sensitivity. Any unexpected problems fall first to them, causing them to have ot think concisely about how to solve such problems, however they may refer to mjore senior levels if needed. Budgeting is also key, they must plan within the budget, therefore it is essential to know market values and curretn production costs. This role clearly requires an understanding of all levels of production in order to comunicate with different parts of the crew, providing feedback and motivation when needed.

An assistant producer must be coherent communicators able to act decisively, diplomatically and sensitivly at the same time. They work with many creative people so must be able to view creative ideas in a logical and practical sense, ascertaining ways of collating and portraying this on screen. They are not legally required to be responsible for health and safety procedures however they must be able to complete health and risk assessments. As every member of teh crew they do have a responsibility to ensure their own actions do not cause health and safety problems.

Ed Charles is an Assistant Producer for Wild Horizons Ltd, he has worked on Saving Planet Earth, Springwatch, Nature's Great Events, which won the Best Series award at Missoula Wildlife Film Festival 2009. His current projects are Wild Planet: North America where he is the Assistant Producer on two of the episodes, Mountains and Great Plains.

For me specifically, wanting tHe has worked in natural history television for the last 5 years since leaving university with a degree in zoology and a masters in wildlife photography. He began his career working as a camera assistant for various wildlife cameramen on productions such as the David Attenborough series Life in the Undergrowth, but has since made the move to work more in an editorial role. He has spent the last 4 years working at the BBC’s Natural History Unit on a wide range of programming, including Springwatch, Saving Planet Earth, and the multi-award winning series Nature’s Great Events.


For me specifically, wanting to work in natural history, there are a variety of productions on going at any one time which i can strive to become involved with. Specifically Wild Horizons are given a lot of work by the BBC Natural History Unit. These are two companies i would most like ot work at. Without having a Biological degree i am most likely to gain work through creating a thorough showreel and gaining work experience through the exhibition of this and my knowledge of wildlife film firsthand.