AUTUMN TRAINING SCHEDULE 2019
Wednesday, 28 August Google workshop for Journalists (Glasgow) £10 booking fee
A workshop being delivered by Abigail Edge and looking at: Google’s tools for journalists, covering advanced search techniques, Google Trends, verification and interactive multimedia
Friday, 30 August TV News Production (Glasgow) Funded
Only a handful of print journalists make the transition to broadcast journalism and even fewer find their way to television news desks. The purpose of this intense course is to give journalists the know-how to take a news programme from the morning conference to transmission. Although it is aimed at those wishing to transfer their skills to television news it is open to others wishing an insight into TV news production, so students planning to embark on a college or university course should find this extremely useful before they commit.
Monday, 9 September TV Reporter (Glasgow) Funded
Many skilled and experienced print journalists face an uncertain future as newspaper groups encounter challenging times and changing ways of news consumption. This course aims to give journalists/reporters a guide to an alternative career in broadcasting by learning TV reporting methods. The course teaches not basic journalism, but the differing techniques required to forge a career in broadcast news. The principles of news reporting and interviewing remain the same, but the methods and technologies are vastly different. Students will learn the language of broadcasting and the methodologies used in everyday television reporting and interviewing.
Wednesday, 18 September The ‘book route’ – Get your book published (Glasgow) £95 MR
This course looks at how to get your book ‘published’ through the eyes of an experienced author, Jean Rafferty. The sessions will cover: Your Project, Self Publishing or Traditional Publishing? Are Agents Worth Their 15 Percent? Publicity
Thursday, 19 September The Effective Freelance (Glasgow) £95 MR
The Effective Freelance is designed to cover not only the essentials of working as a freelance – organisation, negotiating, producing work, markets, law and financial record-keeping – but also living as a freelance, including personal finance, etc. It will include breaking into new markets, establishing terms, chasing payment, improving returns, specialist journalism, handling money, tax and deductible expenses, and copyright.
Wednesday, 25 September Subbing (Text Handling) (Glasgow) Funded
This course gives a one-day general introduction to the newspaper sub-editor’s craft. But it will be useful to any would-be journalist, or indeed anyone who uses written English. It unlocks a toolbox of tips and tricks to produce clean, accurate prose that makes its point and packs a punch. Run by an old hand in the national press, the course outlines the sub’s vital role as a publication’s last line of defence. It explains where subs sit in the news room structure, their relationships with other departments, and the mental checklist they need to complete before starting any story.
Thursday, 3 October The Entrepreneurial Freelance (Glasgow) £95 MR
The Entrepreneurial Freelance is aimed at providing the knowledge to understand the dramatically changed business and technological environments in which we must work. This course is based on 20 years’ experience of freelancing, of covering the business, financial and technology worlds, and meeting many of the exponents of the new freelancing. The objective is to enable freelances to become entrepreneurial, able to target new markets and manage their marketing, to take control of production and distribution, including using websites, blogging, online publication and print-on-demand. “Journalists must become entrepreneurs,” said New York City University Professor Jeff Jarvis. “They need to make smart business decisions when they decide where to put their effort. They need to sense and serve the market. They need to work with innovators…. The future of news is entrepreneurial.”
Monday, 7 October TV Reporter (Edinburgh) Funded
Many skilled and experienced print journalists face an uncertain future as newspaper groups encounter challenging times and changing ways of news consumption. This course aims to give journalists/reporters a guide to an alternative career in broadcasting by learning TV reporting methods. The course teaches not basic journalism, but the differing techniques required to forge a career in broadcast news. The principles of news reporting and interviewing remain the same, but the methods and technologies are vastly different. Students will learn the language of broadcasting and the methodologies used in everyday television reporting and interviewing.
Wednesday, 16 October Feature writing & pitching (Glasgow) £95 MR
Print journalism is said to be a dying industry and has been counted out repeatedly over the years. But it remains the main medium in which the world is examined in depth and where people are able to understand the context of events and not just hear the facts. Feature writing is the art form of print journalism, using story telling and the techniques of fiction to reach people both emotionally and intellectually. So if you’re interested in great writing and interested in people, this is the course for you. Given by a prize winning tutor who has won awards for feature writing, medical journalism, comment and travel writing and also been shortlisted for prestigious fiction awards, it looks at the core skills of writing, research, ideas, and interviewing. You will also learn how to navigate the difficult world of selling your ideas and how to pitch to editors.
Thursday, 17 October Scots Law for Journalists (Glasgow) £95 MR
Law for Journalists is a two-year course at HND level, or a 16-week course on block release – we will attempt to cover the main points in seven hours! As a result, the tutor will concentrate on explaining the principles of the laws governing journalists and how the laws apply in the real world. The course will also be as up-to-date as possible using relevant cases. The tutor is a rare combination of working journalist and lecturer in media law, so he will emphasise those areas which most affect journalists in practice. At the same time he has omitted subjects which arise only periodically, such as election law. Journalists are advised to buy and read Scots Law for Journalists, by Rosalind Mcinnes, 8th edition, published by W. Green.
Tuesday, 22 October Adobe Photoshop Introduction (Glasgow) £95 MR
An informative one day course outlining some of the most rudimentary functions of Photoshop. The morning will include group instruction with an accompanying slideshow and hand-outs. The afternoon will consist of one to one hands on guidance working through practical examples of the topics discussed. This course is aimed at individuals who would like to gain basic skills in Photoshop to aid them in enhancing photographic material and/or generation of artwork with application to design.
Wednesday, 23 October Audio recording & editing for journalists (Glasgow) £95 MR
This course will introduce students to the key concepts in capturing good-quality audio recordings in a journalism interview context. It will also cover how to import and edit these recordings using freely-available audio editing software and prepare it for use in broadcast, podcast, film, web, archive etc.
Saturday, 2 November Scriptwriting (Glasgow) £95 MR
If you’ve been itching to write and have ideas that need to come to life, this one-day course is for you.
Netflix will this year spend US $12 billion on original content, while here in the UK, the BBC spends more than £2.7 billion each year on content. A significant proportion goes toward creating hits such as Stranger Things and The Bodyguard and there remain significant opportunities for original programming and new writers to get their scripts to screen. But how do you take the germ of an idea and take it from script to screen?
This one-day introductory course will help to demystify the process. You will learn how to shape and form compelling plots, dynamic characters and engaging dialogue. You will get experience working on the structure of scripts, understanding how they are put together, the format and software packages which are industry standard. You will learn what makes good drama and comedy and get the inside track on how TV drama is put together. By the end of the day, you should feel more confident in putting your ideas on to paper and seeing your characters come alive.
About your tutor:
James Doherty is an award-winning scriptwriter and journalist. James has extensive experience writing for a number of recurring dramas from bodies under the patio at Brookside in the 1990s as well as scritpwriting credits on Channel 5’s Family Affairs, ITV’s The Bill and most recently, BBC Scotland soap, River City. A media all-rounder, James has also enjoyed a successful career as a public relations executive and is a former president of the NUJ. As a journalist, James wrote for The Big Issue and The Scotsman, among other titles.
Testimonials:
“The scriptwriting course was perfectly pitched. James delivered it with clarity, attention to detail, encouragement and humour. I learned new approaches to writing and felt well supported when given the opportunity to share my ideas. At the end of the course, I felt inspired and able to write!” Freelance journalist and artist
“I’d happily recommend to anyone who just wants to “start” writing as the course was great fun, friendly, informative, inspirational and freeing. Lots of great tips both technical and creatively and great support material.” Former broadcast journalist
MR = Member Rate
Funded = Course being funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Union Learning for NUJ members
For further information or to book, please email: scottishtraining@nuj.org.uk
NUJ Training Scotland 