TCM Careers?

[CodyBlaine]

I was just searching for career opportunities on the Turner Broadcasting Systems website, but could not find a single listing specifically in regards to TCM. Why is that?

 

Reason being, I'm currently working on a bachelor's in Film Production, and will soon start on my graduate's degree for Film Preservation. I would like to know what TCM is looking for in their prospective employees, in order to make a personal checklist of sorts. Perhaps there are certain graduate programs that Turner Classics tends to pull from?

 

Any information you may have would be helpful, thank you.

[lzcutter]

Probably because the majority of folk who work at TCM like working there and like their jobs, so turnover is not as high as at other networks.

 

Here's the link from the Knowledge Center that includes a link for internships:

 

http://support.tcm.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=5481

[CodyBlaine]

That's completely understandable.

 

Thanks for the link!

[markfp2]

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that because TCM doesn't have commercial income, it probably operates with a smaller staff than most other channels. If it's like most other networks, much of the technical operations are automated thus requiring fewer people.

[FredCDobbs]

Does TCM handle any "film" at all? I thought they were all "video". The classic films are dubbed to video by some other companies, and TCM airs the videos.

[lzcutter]

Cody,

 

Fred's right. TCM does not do film restoration.

 

If you are looking for a hands-on career in film preservation, then you'll need to consider that TCM does not actively restore any films. Film restoration is handled by the studios and more often than not farmed out to various restoration companies, primarily in the Los Angeles area and NYC.

 

If you are seeking hands-on experience, you might consider UCLA Film and Television Archives or the Eastman House as places to look for internships or employment.

[markfp2]

> {quote:title=FredCDobbs wrote:}{quote}

> Does TCM handle any "film" at all? I thought they were all "video". The classic films are dubbed to video by some other companies, and TCM airs the videos.

 

I don't know of any network, cable channel, or even local station that still does any film programming. The station I retired from, last year, started switching to video in the late '80s because the studios stopped distributing on film and the news department went to tape. We did have a limited amount of movies running on film for a couple of more years because we had still some prints in our library that had runs left, but after they expired that was it for film.