Electrician Conversion Trainee: Case Study – Lee Cooper

We spoke to Lee Cooper (Electrician Conversion Trainee 2019) about taking part in our Electrician Conversion Traineeship and how it impacted his career. Read his story to learn more about how taking part in our BECTU Vision programme has helped Lee transition to the film & TV industry.

06.03.22 Bectu Vision zoom webinar at BBC River City Studios
Lee, Electrician
m. 07811946280
e. [email protected]”

Lee attended a BECTU Vision open day at River City studios in 2018 where interested electricians were given a tour of the set to learn how the role of an electrician works in film & tv alongside a Q & A session with experienced film and TV electricians.  Following the Open Day Lee, an industrial and commercial electrician, was successful at interview for the Electrician Conversion Traineeship and began a 23 week paid placement.

The traineeship began with an introduction day to working in TV, learning about what’s involved in entry level positions, practical training on how to read production paperwork and understanding industry lingo and learning about the crew structures how the TV departments work together.

Lee then began a 12-week placement at River City studios in Dumbarton where by working alongside an experienced lighting department he learned about the equipment and the daily requirements of an electrician on a TV set.  Following his initial placement at River City Lee spent time on a variety of other productions in Scotland including Outlander, Deadwater Fell, Guilt  and Children’s TV programmes Molly and Mack and The Demon Headmaster, allowing him to see how different sizes of productions worked and build connections with other electricians working in the industry.

Alongside the on the job training Lee also visited Scotland’s largest lighting hire company ‘Panalux’ to build familiarity with the variety of equipment that is used on film & TV productions and also completed a 3-day Programme in the application of BS7909 to temporary power systems with a co-hort of electricians who were interested in transferring their skills into film & TV

Lee said of his experiences:

 I like the job because it’s very different felling to turning up for work every day in older jobs. I have never woken up and had that dreaded feeling of having to go to work – It’s a totally different job to using your tools and going onto a worksite every day or a factory or wherever it is your used to going to. It’s also a very different job compared to the-every day person would have and that makes it very interesting.  

The biggest challenges moving from another industry was adjusting to the manner and the way to work when on set, learning the names of all the equipment, the language used but the lighting department and the working hours which can be erratic and long. My time on River city and the other placements as part of the traineeship was enough time to learn the different skills and knowledge needed to progress. 

Overall, I would recommend the program to any-one wanting to enter the film and tv world. I learned a lot about the whole industry and particular in the lighting department.

Following the traineeship Lee has continued to work as an electrician on several productions and has recently been primarily based at River City