Published on 07 August 2025 in Career

Counsels: Paid Placement Opportunity for a Scotland-based director from the BBC and Balloon Scotland

The BBC and Balloon Scotland are offering a paid placement opportunity for a Directors UK member who is permanently based in Scotland. The successful applicant will gain invaluable production experience on Counsels, a new 8x60 BBC drama series produced by Balloon Scotland. 

Created and written by Scottish writers Bryan Elsley and Gillian McCormack, Counsels follows five young criminal solicitors and best friends who find themselves facing against each other in the courts of Glasgow. These ambitious lawyers must navigate a legal battlefield where their friendships begin to fracture, love affairs crumble, and the fight for justice threatens to tear them all apart. 


About the Placement 

The successful director will begin this placement during the prep stage of Block 2/2 of the show. The placement will offer access across all stages of the production process, from prep and shooting (taking place in Glasgow) to spending time in the edit during post production (taking place in London). 

This will be a great opportunity to get to know the cast, crew and HoDs, as well as attend key meetings. There may be the opportunity to take part in, and feed into any second unit additional photography that may be required, but this is not guaranteed.  

Dates and Details 

The placement will begin Monday 15 September and end in mid-February 2026. Please ensure availability over this period if applying.

The production aims to carry out interviews during the week commencing Monday 1 September.  

This is a paid opportunity, with details yet to be finalised.  

Reasonable support for travel and accommodation expenses will be available to applicants applying with a Scottish residential base further than 50 miles from our main production base in Glasgow. Support will also be offered for attending post in London. 

Who should apply? 

This opportunity would most benefit a director who has had some experience directing scripted drama, and is ready to move into directing High-End TV (HETV), with a view to developing knowledge and confidence in leading productions of this scale. The ideal candidate might have directed episodes of a returning series, funded short films or a low budget feature.  

The production’s aim is to create opportunities for and support directors in Scotland. Therefore, they are looking for directors who have a permanent Scottish residence and are committed to working in the region. Please make a note of any additional needs or access requirements on your application so the production can facilitate these via their access coordinator. 

How to Apply 

Please send an up-to-date copy of your CV, your showreel, and a covering statement supporting your application to [email protected] with the subject line, “Counsels Placement”. Eligible applications will be sent in full to the production for their consideration. 

In your application, please explain what appeals to you about working on Counsels and why you are suited to this opportunity at this stage of your career. 

Only members who are permanently based Scotland should apply for this placement. 

The deadline for applications is Tuesday 26 August at 12pm (midday).

Please note, eligible applications will be sent to the production for their consideration shortly after this deadline. 

Before applying, check out our Top Tips for Building an Impactful CV resource: Top Tips for Building an Impactful CV 

Access and Inclusion 

Applications are welcome in whichever format is most accessible to you, whether that’s written in the body of an email, or a Word document, via a video in BSL or English, or as an audio file. 

Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any access requirements. 

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