A history series needs a woman who remembers the night the town flooded. The researcher has spent a week calling local museums, a church choir and a retirement home. On Friday she finds her, eighty-eight and sharp, with a box of photographs in the attic. The researcher is the person who finds what a programme needs to tell its story, and makes sure it is true.
What a researcher does
Researchers work in two places. In programme-making they support the programme producer on a specific show. They find contributors, check facts, gather archive footage and photographs, prepare briefing notes for the presenter, and often go out on shoots. In development they work for a development producer or head of development, looking for new ideas, stories and formats that can be pitched to broadcasters.
Much of the work is on the phone and online, but it also means visiting people, gaining their trust and explaining what being on television will involve. A researcher keeps records of where every fact came from, which matters later when lawyers and the broadcaster's compliance team review the programme.
Responsibilities
- Find and approach contributors, experts and case studies
- Check facts and keep a source for every claim in the programme
- Source archive footage, photographs and music, and note who owns them
- Prepare briefs and questions for the presenter or producer
- Help plan shoots and look for suitable locations
- Collect release forms and consent from contributors
- In development, research ideas and write short treatments for pitches
How the role touches the budget
Lightly, but in ways that add up. Archive footage and photographs cost money, and the price depends on how much is used and where the programme is shown. A researcher who logs each clip and its owner early saves the rights and clearances manager a lot of work and avoids surprises at the end. Researchers may also handle small payments to contributors and their own travel expenses, which go through the production manager.
How people become researchers
Many start as a runner or production assistant and show curiosity and persistence. A background in journalism, history or a specialist subject helps for factual programmes. From researcher the usual next step is assistant producer, then producer.
In film
Feature films and drama series also use researchers, usually on a freelance basis, to check period details or the facts behind a true story. There the work feeds the screenwriter and the art department rather than a presenter.