Beyond the spotlight: How to carve out a career backstage

From animation to camera work, demand for skilled creative graduates is soaring

Purists may question the increasing blandness of the West End, but for the army of creative technicians working backstage on everything from lighting or props to set design and costume, the rapid growth of opportunities in anything from musical theatre to the Fringe is worth celebrating.

So says Rob Young, course director of the stage management and technical theatre course run by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, whose notable alumni include Luke Rittner, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Dance, and Kevin Fitzmaurice, formerly executive director for the Young Vic, now producer at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Young believes that while decent acting roles remain notoriously hard to find, even when times are good, behind-the-scenes work is booming.

"Despite the downturn, there are new theatres in many areas of the country and all of them need the input of professional technicians," he says. "Given that some 98 per cent of our graduates find relevant employment within weeks of leaving us, the old stereotypes about the theatre being very hard to break into no longer seem to apply if your interest is strictly backstage."

While there are an estimated 40,000 technical jobs in UK theatre and live music at present – and more perhaps in the Middle East, where recent arts centre openings have triggered an international search for new talent – treading the boards is by no means the only option for a graduate with a creative media career in mind.

Whether your interest is in live music production, D or 3D animation, camera work, lighting, directing, making models or special effects, the opportunities available in television, film, theatre, video, computer games, mobile technology or conferences and special events are set to rapidly proliferate over the coming decade.

Having decided that dreaming up new computer game formats or perhaps post-production television work is where your interest lies, carving out a successful path in the creative media sector may be as much about lateral thinking as technical know-how, according to Young.

"Be it an arts or fashion happening, the forthcoming Olympics or the conference circuit, all sorts of different organisations need people who know their way around professional lighting, sound and stage management, so don't restrict your thinking to the West End or to top-end film and television," he advises. "And don't forget that while business conferences in particular may have been hit by the recession, they will remain an important – and highly lucrative – arm of the creative arts for technicians."

According to the organisation Skillset – the sector skills council for the worlds of animation, computer games, corporate or pop promotions, film and television production, and interactive media among others – the total creative media workforce is already some 550,000 strong, with around 50,000 people working in computer games, interactive television and new media alone.

While opinions are divided on whether a postgraduate qualification is a useful fall back in these uncertain times or an unnecessary diversion, Dr Paul Parry, course leader of the Masters degree in animation and special effects at Sheffield Hallam University, believes that in his area of the industry, there is no contest.

"When it comes to the world of animation, having a Masters degree or even a postgraduate diploma has become an important differentiator at a time when there may not be much to choose between a whole raft of applicants with similar first-degree qualifications."

"Professional names such as Sony Computer Entertainments Europe and, I am told, the BBC are looking for that added extra that comes from an additional year gathering the skills and knowledge required by today's animation and special effects artists."

Once qualified, he says, a postgraduate career can take off in many different directions. "Many professions allied to film making now revolve around computer-generated images, motion capture and digital compositing. The opportunities in film and television production, advertising, games development, educational programming and web content are growing all the time."

While Skillset agrees that an appropriate postgraduate degree is "perhaps an advantage" in the special effects, music promotion or computer games sectors, Dr Parry warns graduates to be conscious of corporate belt-tightening among employers.

"Although more than 95 per cent of our postgraduate students are still able to find work within six months of graduation, they are tending to work in animation in its widest sense, rather than simply in the rarified atmosphere of the Hollywood blockbuster."

"Films are still being made and big name firms such as Sony or Rockstar are still producing a whole raft of games titles but, inevitably, the spending on sheer animation is likely to remain constrained until the economy picks up. All would-be animators need to understand that in these frugal times, they are far more likely to cut their teeth on a modest mobile phone application than on a big budget movie."

If yet more time at university may clinch you a job in one of the four main animation disciplines – D hand-drawn or traditional, D computer generated, stop frame, or 3D computer generated – a career spent behind the scenes at an opera house or provincial theatre need not necessarily involve more time in the classroom.

Professor Michael Earley is principal and chief executive at the Rose Bruford theatre school, which offers BA honours courses in subjects such as costume production, lighting design and performance sound. He argues that postgraduate study is not strictly necessary, or sometimes even desirable, for a role in technical theatre.

"A good first degree will give you all of the technical skill you need for your chosen specialism and should be quite sufficient. I don't believe that you should put off that critical first job any longer than you have to," he says.

"To make it in this industry, you need to be technically competent in your area and you need to possess an artistic sense that allows you to understand how your role fits in with the production as a whole. But having got one decent degree from a recognised provider, it's time to get out there and make some contacts," he adds.

While many aspiring animators inevitably look to Nick Park of Wallace and Gromit fame or big names such as Pixar for their inspiration, and film makers often yearn to emulate Quentin Tarantino, collaboration with the top theatre producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, or perhaps the composer Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, are often at the top of theatre technicians' wish lists.

However, the experiences of most recent graduates may be somewhat less glamorous, says Professor Earley.

"You are far more likely to take your first job in the Midlands, Wales or the south coast rather than the West End," he says. "While it may not be star billing, you are likely to find a well-equipped theatre and a starting salary of at least £16,000 a year; rising to around £50,000 by the time you have risen through the profession's ranks."

"If you are good at what you do and prepared to think laterally about where the jobs are coming from, you will find that your skills are in great demand."

'I wiggle the eyes in the scary portrait'

Assistant stage manager Joanna Hinton, 21, graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art's stage management and technical theatre course in July 2008. Self-employed, she has worked at the Royal Court as well as on pantomime. Hinton is currently assistant stage manager (ASM) and head of props on 'Scooby-Doo and the Pirate Ghost'.

"It's my job to make sure the right sizes of Scooby snacks boxes are on stage when Shaggy and Scooby need them, as well as move the wiggling eyes in the famous portrait that scares all the characters to bits. I also get the chance to cue in lights, sound and even the whole show if necessary.

I love children's theatre and panto, but I also loved being the ASM on The Girlfriend Experience at the Royal Court, which is a play based on a real brothel. It couldn't be more different.

I've always loved theatre, but as a teenager I was all set to go into the RAF as an officer until some work experience at school made me decide it was too disorganised.

Being mega-organised and able to balance the competing egos of everyone from the director to the scene shifter are key requisites of a successful ASM and I feel that it's a role I can take on very well, even if I sometimes need to be a bit assertive too.

It can be frightening being freelance at only 21, but the trick is to go after your next placement before the current one finishes. I'm already looking for the next job after Scooby Doo and before I know it, it'll be panto season again at the Wolverhampton Grand. Last year, I did Peter Pan and this year, they've invited me back for Cinderella.

Lamda (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) gave me a great start in stage management and, in time, I want to become a theatrical producer in musical theatre; where organisation and being able to get along with different groups of people will also be key."

'Being a gadget freak makes it easier'

Martin Simpson-Hughes, 27, is a regular lighting cameraman for BBC Breakfast. He also lists CNBC, Google, BP and Yell.com among his portfolio of clients. Although he began his drama, theatre and television studies degree at University College, Winchester with an acting career in mind, Simpson-Hughes describes his job behind the camera as "everything I ever wanted".

"I was 10 or 11 when Chris Evans and the Big Breakfast Doorstep Challenge happened to pick my street. As soon as I saw the camera crew, I was hooked.

Although a car accident at 13 led to some pretty bad GCSE results, I was accepted into sixth form college for a performing arts and media studies course and it was here that I caught my first glimpse of the various behind-the- scenes roles in television and theatre and how fascinating they could be. Being a gadget freak has made my understanding of the technical side of camera work all the easier.

After graduating, I became a runner for a short while in a corporate television firm, but my first professional camera assignment was for Great Guns Marketing, where I worked on an internet video. This led to some pretty nice assignments for luxury yachts and other top-end goods in Miami, France and Italy, but while such work is always nice to have, I see myself first and foremost as a news and current affairs man.

It can be hard to get a break into the television world when you're fairly new to the business, but I'm not too proud to take on other work – including telemarketing – when bills need paying and camera assignments are scarce. But I've already been very lucky; particularly in having more than 18 months of fairly steady work at the BBC.

Being behind the camera certainly isn't glamorous, but then neither is acting when you come down to it. If you are determined and hard-working, you will succeed. For me, it's sitcoms, television drama and maybe the movies next."