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Meet Alex, a floor manager working in a busy children's television studio. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.

What is your job?

I work as a floor manager in a television studio. A floor manager connects the gallery to the studio floor, they are the mouthpiece for the director of the programme.

A director relies on the floor manager to drive things forward in studio by communicating with the crew and presenters. From a script read-through at the start of the day to the last take and wrap, a floor manager is essential in facilitating a smooth day of recording.

What skills do you use?

Communication, organisation and multi-tasking are key to being a successful floor manager.

The role revolves around the ability to communicate with directors, producers and studio crew. Whether it’s passing on directions to talent, choreography to camera operators or suggestions of schedule changes to production, it is so important that you are a good communicator. Strong communication leads to trust and confidence.

Being organised and able to multi-task allows you to know what is happening at any given moment whilst also being able to look ahead and be prepared for any upcoming set changes, prop usage, guest appearances or other such circumstances.

What did you study at school?

For my A Levels, I studied French, English and Drama. I then went on to university and gained a BA Hons Degree in Drama & Theatre Studies and Psychology. I always wanted to be a performer and involved with theatre and television.

As a floor manager I am absolutely using skills that I learned from my A Levels and university degree.

What's your career highlight?

I’m lucky to have had quite a few career highlights. I had the absolute privilege of working on the 2022 Women’s European Football Championships. It was so exciting knowing that I was playing a part of such a huge occasion. The atmosphere and the joy throughout the tournament were genuinely invigorating. Working on it really was a pleasure, the ultimate in job satisfaction!!

Top tips

• Be ahead of time, give yourself a head start

• Be prepared. This will allow you to properly fulfil your role and duties on any particular job

• Be positive. Positivity on set, even during pressured situations helps create an atmosphere which gets the very best out of both presenters and crew.

• For more information about the different roles in tv you can check out the and on the ScreenSkills

• You can also head to the DCMS-supported website which has careers information and opportunities from creative organisations

• Check out the National Careers Service website for more information about .