Story Researcher, EastEnders

Maternity Cover

BBC are looking for a talented Story Researcher for a period of 6 months to cover maternity leave. The vacancy is based at BBC Elstree. While there is a fantastic package on offer, this role is not for the faint hearted. As a standard Studios Production contract it can potentially involve up to 55 hours work per week !

Job Introduction

With over 350 hours of in-house output a year, BBC Drama Production is making some of the most original, diverse and highly acclaimed television. These range from continuing drama such as Casualty, EastEnders, Holby City, and Doctors to series and serials such as Silent Witness, Luther and Our Girl, to name just a few!

EastEnders is the multi award winning soap broadcast four times a week on BBC ONE. It currently ranks as one of the most watched TV dramas in the UK tackling many controversial and taboo issues previously unseen on television in the UK. Through great writing and attention to detail the show manages to successfully balance gritty realism with high drama and entertainment to keep its millions of dedicated viewers coming back for more, on-screen and on-line, every week.

The Story Researcher reports to the Story Producer and works in close conjunction with the Storyliners, Writers, Script Researcher and Script Editors.

Role Responsibility

The postholder will be solely responsible for the following duties:

• To work closely with writers, developing and writing stories in a variety of formats.
• In conjunction with the writers, story team and Executive and Series Producers, produce clear and concise monthly story documents with sufficient detail to ensure clarity for commissioned writers and all departments within production
• Attend story meetings to give research notes and ideas to support stories
• Research alternative approaches to stories providing accurate and detailed supporting material
• Research issues arising from story and present comprehensive reports on every side of the argument.
• Read storyline material and to identify and report on possible areas of research.
• To stay up to date with current affairs and social and cultural movements particularly as they pertain to London. To look for opportunities to feed this information into story.
• To identify, and where necessary, establish and maintain relationships with experts in specific field, including the initial negotiation of fees or payments where appropriate.
• Undertake all necessary administrative tasks

Are you the right candidate?

People working on EastEnders are a talented, experienced and creative bunch. To join them and make this programme the most talked about on the channel, it’s really important you have the necessary skills we’re looking for. You should have:

• Significant experience as a Researcher, preferably in Drama.
• A passion for Drama and an in-depth knowledge of EastEnders is essential.
• An ability to write clear, concise and unambiguous prose.
• A broadly based knowledge and a familiarity with conventional and specialised sources of information and research techniques.
• The ability to interpret Editorial intentions, and to contribute to the generation of ideas and the resolution of story problems.
• Experience of establishing and maintaining office and administration systems.

Package Description

Band: BContract type: 6 month maternity cover.Location: BBC Elstree.

**Please note that this is a standard Studios Production contract and potentially can involve up to 55 hours per week **

• Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
• Benefits- We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days holiday with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.

Please note that the attachment is a generic job description for a Researcher. However, this advert is for a Story Researcher, EastEnders and requirements and duties specific to this role can be found below.

About the BBC

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity. 

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, social background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

More Information;

https://careerssearch.bbc.co.uk/jobs/job/Story-Researcher-EastEnders/36700