Media Futures Week 3 Recap

Media Futures is a weekly event hosted by the School of Media and Communication, in which guest speakers share their industry experience and stories with current students.

In our latest Media Futures, our guest speaker was Vera Yambasu, a Casting Assistant Producer based in London. Vera specialises in factual entertainment, and her job consists of finding the ‘perfect’ people we see on television. Examples of this include The Great British Bake Off, Come Dine with Me, Teen First Dates and MasterChef.  

“No one really knows what they’re doing in the industry,” Vera laughs, sharing her experience as a runner when she first started out, before paving her way through various jobs in the industry. 

Despite casting appearing to be a straightforward job, what goes on behind the scenes is a lengthy process. 

Vera discussed and stressed the importance of welfare when being a part of the casting process. This is an important part, ensuring people who are cast are able to perform well on the shoot. 

The career advice Vera provides offers the opportunity for people to build contacts in the industry. Finding a nice but not getting stuck in a particular type of show is also important as variety is ideal. 

Find out about our next Media Futures session by following us @LeedsUniMedia