Becky Topping tells the story of how she got involved in TV production as an assistant director, how she rose through the ranks, what it really takes to work behind the scenes and how Covid actually helped her to get into the job.

From working on ITV’s The Bay, Brassic and Adolescence, Becky has hands-on knowledge of what makes TV work as a third assistant director for TV and Film. She’s been working behind the scenes for four years and has climbed her way up on the ladder spurred on through her love of production.

Here she tells us exactly what happened to get her where she is now, what challenges she faced along the way, some of her favourite moments and any advice for people who want to work in TV in the future. 

What is the job of a third assistant director? 

“I’ll do so many different things throughout the day, just making sure that everyone knows what they’re doing and sorting everything out.”  A third assistant director works with the crew to ensure that everything runs smoothly while on set: “My job basically means I get to a filming base in the morning and sort out crew radios, so we can all communicate on set.”

“I get the call sheets ready, these are just documents we we have everyday with all the times and cast in that day and what scenes we’re filming, and then make sure that every crew member has one to go off.” 

Communication on set is vital to make sure that everyone stays in the loop. This doesn’t just fall onto the crew members, background actors are usually an overlooked part of filming.

“I also direct the background artists, just putting them in the back of a shot doing whatever they need to do, whether it’s in a cafe or a park, I’ll direct their action to fit the scene.” 

It’s also important in her job to be constantly adapting to change, this can come in the form of moving from location to location, being continually aware of what is being filmed next or even adapting to different expressions or jargon that are used on sets. 

“They would typically be known as extras, though we don’t use this anymore, we use SAs which stands for supporting artists.” 

Working her way up

“I got into this whole thing by meeting a producer at uni who gave me an opportunity to do some work based experience on a Liverpool based tv series called Tin Star.” 

Becky attended the University of Liverpool, where she got her degree in English literature and Media and Communications, it was here that she gained the knowledge and experience that she’d carry forward into her job. 

“It was unpaid, which would never happen now, but I absolutely loved it at the time and it got my foot in the door.” She worked in the assistant director team as a floor runner during 2019, giving Becky her first taste of working on a real tv set and allowing her to realise that this was what she wanted to pursue for her career. 

“I think at the time I realised fully that this is what I wanted to do, I’d always thought about it in school and then uni but actually being able to do it was a completely different thing. It made me realise that if all these other people here were doing this for a career then I could too.” 

The effect of Covid

After filming finished, covid hit in early 2020 and Becky was forced to go into a more “conventional” line of work with film and TV sets being shut down all across the world. During this time, tv production was put on the back burner as lockdown loomed and no one could safely meet in large groups. Two meter distances were enforced meaning that filming was made nearly impossible and the tv industry took a large hit. 

Though, through covid, new ways were made to make film sets a safer place during the pandemic and therefore opened up entirely new job roles. “The producer that I’d met in uni got back in touch with me about a year into the pandemic and said he had a new company called Clean Sets”

“He wanted to see if I would be a covid cleaner on film and TV sets, and obviously I said yes. So I got back into it through Covid weirdly.” Even after getting back into production, Becky knew it wasn’t exactly what she wanted to do, “I wanted to be an assistant director”. 

As a covid cleaner on set, she was tasked with ensuring everyone had the safety equipment needed, including masks. While working on this set for ITV’s crime drama “The Bay”, she spoke to the assistant director crew: “I ended up just going to the AD team and asking ‘I really want to be a runner, can I get in?’”

Making an impression

Based on the previous work that she had done and the dedication she clearly showed to the craft, the team were able to get her working with them as a runner on different shows. “They ended up taking me under their wing and telling me that they’d get me in for some dailies on some other jobs.” 

“If I didn’t ask them, then I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now, it got my name back in the game.” 

Becky has now been working in TV production for four years and she doesn’t see herself stopping any time soon. It’s clear that she loves everything about both TV and film, so much so that she has dedicated herself to its production. While we don’t know what’s coming next, we do know that she won’t stop being involved in tv. From going from an unpaid runner, to a set cleaner, back to a runner and finally becoming a third assistant director, Becky has shown that if there is a way she can be involved on set then she will be there. 

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