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Go directly to rte.ie in any browser to reach the official RTÉ homepage. That single address is the entry point to RTÉ's Irish and international news, its live TV and radio streams, and the broadcaster's other services. No account or app is required to browse the site; you only need a working internet connection and a browser.

Reaching the homepage

• Type rte.ie into the address bar and press Enter. The site resolves to RTÉ's main homepage.
• If you search instead, look for the result labeled RTÉ Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster and confirm the domain reads rte.ie before clicking.
• Bookmark the page once you're there so you skip search results on future visits.

What the homepage gives you

The homepage is a hub rather than a single article. From it you can:

• Read breaking news — top Irish and world headlines are surfaced on the front page, with up-to-the-minute reports on breaking Irish stories and international news.
• Watch and listen — RTÉ's video and audio streams for Irish news stories are reachable from the site, so live and on-demand TV and radio content sit alongside the written coverage.
• Move into sections — navigation leads to areas such as News, Sport, Entertainment, and Player, letting you go straight to the coverage you want instead of scrolling the front page.

Confirming you're on the official site

Because news brands attract lookalike pages, check two things before trusting a page:

1. The domain is exactly rte.ie — not a variation with extra words, hyphens, or a different ending.
2. The page identifies itself as RTÉ, Ireland's national television and radio broadcaster.

If either check fails, go back and enter rte.ie directly rather than following the link.

Common snags

• Search ads and aggregators can appear above the real result. The domain check is what separates them.
• Live streams may sit behind the Player section rather than the front page, so if you don't see a stream immediately, navigate to Player.
• Regional redirects or consent prompts can appear on first visit; these don't change the underlying address, which should still read rte.ie.

Once you're on rte.ie, everything else — headlines, live streams, and section navigation — is one click away.

A film producer is the person who gets a movie made: they develop or acquire the material, assemble the financing and key team, oversee the schedule and budget through production, and drive the finished film toward distribution. The role suits people who are organized, persistent, and comfortable with both creative judgment and business decisions. On independent projects, producing is often a hands-on, multi-skilled job rather than a single narrow function.

Core Responsibilities Across the Lifecycle

Development

The producer finds or originates material (a script, a book option, a true story), works with writers to shape it, and builds the package that makes the project fundable: script, budget range, shooting plan, and attached talent or director.

Financing

Producers raise or assemble money — from investors, grants, pre-sales, or their own resources — and manage it against a budget. This includes creating the budget itself and tracking cash flow so the production can actually pay for what it plans to shoot.

Production

During shooting, the producer is accountable for the schedule, the budget, hiring and logistics, and solving problems as they arise. On smaller films this can mean everything from contracts to locations to keeping the crew fed.

Post-Production and Distribution

The producer oversees completion (editing, sound, music, delivery requirements) and then works to get the film seen — festivals, sales agents, distributors, or self-distribution.

How the Producer Differs from Other Roles

A useful shorthand: the director answers "what should this film be?" and the producer answers "how do we actually make that happen, on time and on budget?" The two roles overlap heavily in practice, especially on independent films.

How Producers Get Involved in Independent Projects

• Originating a project — developing your own script or idea and building it from the ground up.
• Joining an existing team — coming on to a project that has material or a director but needs someone to handle financing, budgeting, and logistics.
• Producing your own work — many filmmakers, including actors and directors, produce their own projects to keep creative control and create their own opportunities.

Mark Kochanowicz, an actor, filmmaker, and owner of Liberty Bell Films, describes his visual-arts work as ongoing "whether it is as an actor, producer, director, cinematographer, writer or editor" — an example of how independent filmmakers often move between producing and other roles on the same project.

Skills and Experience That Help

• Budgeting and scheduling — the practical core of the job; you need to know what things cost and how long they take.
• Fundraising and deal-making — comfort asking for money and negotiating terms.
• Production knowledge — understanding how departments work, ideally from time on set. Kochanowicz notes that working as a stand-in on dozens of films and shows let him study "the best actors while on set" and learn "film production from some of the best directors, cinematographers and tradespeople in the world" — a reminder that on-set exposure is a real training ground.
• Persistence and problem-solving — productions rarely go to plan; the producer absorbs the surprises.
• Track record — completed projects, festival screenings, and awards build credibility. Kochanowicz's films have screened at over 25 festivals, he was twice a Greater Philadelphia Film Office grand-prize finalist for its Set-In-Philadelphia screenwriting award, and he won Best Director at the 2015 Winter Film Awards for his debut feature "Assumption of Risk."

Practical Starting Point

If you want to work as a producer, the most direct path is to produce something small and finish it: a short film with a real budget and schedule, delivered to a festival or online platform. That completed project becomes the evidence you use to attract collaborators, financing, and the next, larger project.

An automotive writer produces factual, editorially independent coverage of cars and the car industry: news, road tests, features, interviews, technical explainers and books. The job is not the same as writing car adverts, brand copy or sponsored posts. The core of the craft is finding things out, checking them, and explaining them clearly to a reader who wants to understand vehicles rather than be sold one.

Where automotive writing appears

Motoring journalism is a broad field, and the format shapes the work more than the subject does.

• News: launches, industry results, regulation, recalls, motorsport. Short, fast, deadline-driven, often built from press releases plus a phone call or two.
• Road tests and first drives: structured assessments of a specific car, usually against rivals and often against the manufacturer's claims.
• Features: longer pieces with a theme — why a particular engine layout died out, how a design trend spread, what a factory visit reveals about production methods.
• Interviews: conversations with engineers, designers, executives, racers or collectors, written up as profile or Q&A.
• Technical explainers: how a differential, a heat pump or a homologation rule actually works, aimed at a general but curious reader.
• Books: histories of marques or models, biographies, reference works. These demand sustained research over months rather than days.
• Reviews of products around cars: tyres, tools, dash cams, books, games.

A single writer may do several of these in one week, which is why the job rewards versatility more than a single specialism.

What separates journalism from PR and enthusiast blogging

This distinction matters, because it is the thing readers and editors actually pay for.

Journalists often rely on manufacturer access — press fleets, launch events, embargoed information — while remaining free to criticise. That tension is normal and is managed through editorial standards rather than avoided. If a piece is sponsored, advertorial or affiliate-driven, a reputable outlet labels it.

The core skills, and how they are built

Research and verification

You need to be able to read a press release and spot what it does not say. Compare claimed figures with independently measured ones. Check a specification against a previous model year. Keep notes and sources so a claim can be defended later.

Interviewing

Most useful information comes from people, not documents. Good questions are specific and open: not "is the new car good?" but "which compromise in the platform was hardest to sign off, and why?" Learn to listen for the answer you did not expect, and to ask a follow-up rather than moving to the next prepared question.

Driving and observation

Road testing is a skill in itself: consistent routes, comparable conditions, attention to ride, refinement, visibility, control layout and real-world fuel or energy use. You do not need to be a racing driver, but you do need to notice and describe differences precisely.

Technical explanation

The hardest part of the job is making complex engineering intelligible without distorting it. Practise by explaining a system to someone with no engineering background, then checking your explanation against a technical source.

Writing to length and deadline

A 250-word news story and a 3,000-word feature are different crafts. Learn to cut without losing the argument, and to file on time. Missed deadlines end commissions faster than imperfect prose.

Specialist knowledge

Industry knowledge is built by sustained reading: trade press, annual reports, regulation consultations, technical papers, museum and archive collections, and conversations with people who work in the sector. It is maintained, not acquired once.

Realistic starting points

There is no single entry route, and no route guarantees paid work. What follows are practical steps that develop the two things editors look for: demonstrable writing ability and demonstrable subject knowledge.

1. Write regularly and publish somewhere. A personal site, a student publication, a club newsletter or a local outlet all count. Consistency matters more than prestige at this stage.
2. Pick a narrow beat and go deep. Electric commercial vehicles, pre-war coachbuilding, motorsport regulations, used-car market data — depth is easier to demonstrate than general enthusiasm.
3. Build a small portfolio of three to five varied clips. Ideally one news item, one review or test, and one feature or interview.
4. Pitch to outlets that publish work like yours. Read the publication first, match its tone and length, and pitch a specific idea with an angle rather than offering to "write about cars".
5. Consider structured study. Journalism courses teach interviewing, media law, ethics and editing; automotive or engineering study builds subject depth. Neither replaces a portfolio.
6. Take adjacent work deliberately. Technical writing, sub-editing, research, motoring club communications and event reporting all build transferable skills, provided you keep your own independent writing going.

Practical and ethical notes

• Disclose conflicts. Free travel, loan cars, hospitality and gifts should be declared according to your outlet's policy. Undisclosed benefits undermine the work.
• Do not present PR copy as journalism. If a manufacturer supplies text or images, treat them as source material and verify.
• Expect irregular income. Freelance motoring writing is typically commission-based and cyclical, with launches and plate changes shaping the calendar. Rates and terms vary widely and should be agreed in writing before work begins.
• Keep records. Notes, recordings (with consent), source contacts and drafts protect you if a claim is challenged.
• Correct errors promptly and visibly. It is a mark of professionalism, not weakness.

A short example of how a piece comes together

Hypothetical illustration: a writer is asked for 1,200 words on a new family SUV. They read the press pack and note the claimed efficiency figure. They check the previous generation's figure and the official test standard used. On the launch drive they record real-world consumption on a set route. They interview the programme's chassis engineer about a ride compromise. They compare the car with two rivals using published data and their own notes. The resulting piece reports the claim, the measured result, the engineer's reasoning and the comparison — and says plainly where the car falls short. That structure, not the subject matter, is the job.

The short answer

An automotive writer turns information about cars into accurate, readable, independent copy. The work is research, interviewing, testing, explaining and writing to deadline, across news, features, reviews and books. It differs from PR and blogging chiefly in loyalty to the reader and willingness to verify and criticise. Entry is through a portfolio and a beat, not a single qualification, and the standards that sustain it are editorial, not promotional.

A comedian at a school assembly uses humor, storytelling, music, and audience interaction to teach students social-emotional skills—not just to make them laugh. Instead of a stand-up routine built around punchlines for adults, this performer works as an entertainer-educator: jokes and songs are the delivery method, and the real goal is helping students recognize emotions, build empathy, resolve conflicts, and treat one another well. If you're an educator or event planner evaluating this kind of program, the sections below explain what actually happens on stage, how it's structured, and what to check before booking.

The Core Role: Entertainer and Teacher at Once

A school-assembly comedian occupies a hybrid role. The performance usually blends:

• Comedy and physical humor to hold attention across a wide age range
• Interactive songs that students sing, clap, or respond to
• Storytelling with characters and situations students recognize from their own lives
• Direct teaching moments where a skill is named and practiced

The humor isn't decoration. It's what makes the underlying lesson stick. A joke about losing your temper lands because students have felt that frustration; the performer then connects the laugh to a concrete strategy for handling it.

What "social-emotional skills" means in practice

Programs in this style typically touch on topics such as:

• Recognizing and naming feelings
• Self-regulation and calming strategies
• Empathy and perspective-taking
• Friendship, inclusion, and kindness
• Handling conflict, teasing, or mistakes
• Perseverance and a growth mindset

These map onto the widely used social-emotional learning (SEL) framework covering self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. A performer may not use that vocabulary on stage, but the content usually aligns with it.

How a Performance Is Structured

While every performer differs, a typical assembly follows a recognizable arc:

1. High-energy opening – Music or a comedic bit grabs attention immediately and establishes the tone.
2. Introduction of a theme – The performer names the skill or idea for the day, often through a story.
3. Interactive segments – Songs with call-and-response, volunteers from the audience, or repeated participation moments.
4. Skill-building moments – Short, concrete lessons: a phrase to remember, a breathing technique, a way to apologize.
5. Reinforcement and close – A final song or story ties the theme together and sends students back to class with something to recall.

Sessions commonly run 30 to 50 minutes, depending on age group, and many performers offer multiple back-to-back shows so a large school can be split into smaller, age-appropriate groups.

Audience age ranges and group sizes

• Early elementary (K–2): Shorter sessions, heavy music and movement, simple language, lots of repetition.
• Upper elementary (grades 3–5): More storytelling and humor, slightly more complex social scenarios.
• Middle school: Material adjusted for older students—still funny, but the themes and examples mature with the audience.

Group sizes vary widely. Some performers work comfortably with a single grade level in a gym or cafeteria; others can handle a full-school assembly of several hundred students. Smaller groups generally allow more interaction, so it's worth asking how the performer prefers to split the audience.

How This Differs from Standard Stand-Up Comedy

The key distinction: a stand-up set is judged by how hard people laugh. A school assembly is judged by whether students remember and use what they learned—laughter is the vehicle, not the destination.

What to Consider Before Booking

If you're deciding whether this format fits your students, work through these questions:

• Does the content match your SEL goals? Ask for a summary of themes and how they connect to your curriculum or counseling program.
• Is the material age-appropriate for your grades? Confirm the performer can tailor the show to your specific audience.
• How many students per session? Ask whether splitting into smaller groups is recommended and how many shows that requires.
• What space and equipment are needed? Gym or auditorium, sound system, microphone, and setup time are common requirements.
• How interactive is it? Participation is central to this format—ask how volunteers and audience responses are handled.
• What follow-up is provided? Some performers offer discussion guides or activity ideas so teachers can extend the lesson afterward.

A quick checklist for event planners

• Confirm date, number of sessions, and start times
• Verify space, seating, and audio needs
• Share grade levels and approximate group sizes
• Ask about any pre- or post-show materials
• Clarify fees, travel, and cancellation terms directly with the performer

Pricing, availability, and specific program offerings vary by performer and change over time, so confirm those details directly rather than relying on general assumptions.

The Bottom Line

A comedian at a school assembly is a performer with a teaching purpose. Through humor, interactive songs, and stories, they make social-emotional lessons engaging and memorable for students across elementary and middle school ages. The format works best when the school and performer agree on goals, audience size, and age-appropriateness in advance. If your aim is to reinforce kindness, empathy, or self-regulation in a way students actually enjoy, this hybrid of comedy and education is built for exactly that.