Neil Percival worked in the TV industry for fifteen years, starting as a production trainee for a small independent company in Newcastle, and progressing to work as a freelance broadcast documentary producer/director for some of the UK's biggest factual TV producers. He ran an online community for freelancers in the UK TV industry, and created a successful networking group for media professionals in the North East.
Since joining academia in January 2007 he has taught professional practice modules on the BA Film and TV Production programme, and as Principal Lecturer has held roles supporting student experience, learning and teaching, and employability. His current role as the University's acting Director of Cultural Partnerships sees him working with organisations such as Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, New Writing North, Live Theatre, and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums to build collaborative activities that benefit students, partners and the sector more widely.
His research focuses on employment practices, sustainable careers and working patterns in the UK film and TV industry, and the implications for educators. He recently produced a teaching resource pack focused on employability and career launch in the screen sector, in association with the Screen Industry Growth Network; this has been rolled out to around 30 universities so far, in the UK and abroad.
Neil's research interests encompass working conditions and sustainable careers within the media industries, and development of employability within an educational context for those aspiring to creative careers. Based on former experience of running a major UK online community for TV freelancers, his work has explored various stages and experiences of media careers. A two-year longitudinal study (as a PhD thesis) tracked experiences of around 100 entry-level film and TV workers during the challenging early stages of launching their careers. He has carried out extensive research into attitudes to entry-level unpaid work in the UK media industry, with a survey of over 1,000 professionals in the sector exploring differences between the TV and film production communities.
Looking at career sustainability, he has also explored career exit from the media industry, interviewing professionals who have left the sector, and exploring the reasons why, especially in terms of gender differences and challenges of parenting. His research has also explored examples of collective action and resistance to exploitative working conditions, looking in particular at the 2005 TV Wrap campaign against unpaid work, and exploring ways in which resistance is mobilised and organised in the creative sector today.
He has recently published findings on the experiences of entry level UK film and TV workers in relation to their educational background, and examining the aspects of their education which helped them to navigate the early years of their career, or which they felt could have better prepared them for entry to the sector. He is currently carrying out further research to write a book about (un)sustainable screen sector careers.
He has also carried out educational research in relation to student group work, and use of video streaming to support formative assessment.
Learning & Teaching
Based on the findings from his doctoral thesis about educational needs in preparation for a career in the screen sector, Neil developed a new approach to reflecting with students on the ethical and practical challenges around unpaid work and precarity encountered during career launch. In collaboration with SIGN (the Screen Industry Growth Network) and for their national platform, Neil designed and produced a ten-lesson teaching resource pack for universities to adopt. This resource has so far been rolled out to around 30 different institutions, in the UK and internationally.
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