How to get a Career in TV

This was the title of a talk I attended yesterday at the BBC Blackstaff House. It was a 3 hour talk that was given by a series of panels consisting of different talent from TV and radio.

The talk was extremely beneficial and a massive eye opener about how difficult it will be to get a job in this industry but also made me believe that I belong in this industry. 

The key message was about believing in your work and being a good person to work with, I feel these two things go hand in hand. I am very passionate about my work in this industry and it was great to be in an environment where other people are as well.

Confidence is a massive problem for people in this industry and it was a bit of a boost for me to more confident, if I don't believe in my project then no one else will. Very insightful.

There was a representative there from Cinemagic which was arguably the most interesting part of the whole thing for me. I knew of Cinemagic but wasn't really sure about what they did. They offer labs in various filmmaking crafts like directing, acting and screenwriting. Itsjust a massive organization that cares very deeply about upcoming filmmakers and trying to help them and have some great patrons like Liam Neeson, Jullian Fellowes and Suranne Jones.

I've already enquired about the screenwriting and directing labs to see if I can get on them as I think it'll be a great experience and very beneficial. 

I also got to know some of the members of RTS and got some emails which was helpful, anything from showing your face several times will you get you noticed. 

Overall it was a great talk, lasted 3 hours, and I feel it was extremely benficial. It made me think a lot about how much I want to work in this industry and about believing in myself and being confident about the work I can produce.

Made in China

The past several weeks have been quite busy in regards to class and other things.

The most important development was me and several classmates shot another short sketch called Made in China.

  This sketch was shot in one day and we filmed it at Ryan Quinn's house who also starred in it. It's another one of Andy's ideas and it was an awful lot of fun to shoot, I did the camera work alongside Matt who did some as well. It was great using his shoulder rig for shooting, far easier and more professional than using the camera handheld.

Before it was made, it felt like it was going to be another very short sketch like Take Me Out Belfast but it wasn't. It was actually a lot more work than any shoot I've been on before and it was a tremendous experience. Ryan did a fantastic job of the 'hair envy crazy guy' and Andy's editing and sound effects were top class.

Even by looking at it, I feel very proud. It's the most professional looking film we've made I think and it lasted far longer than I thought it would. It's marked a transition I think for me and I hope to make a lot more shorts outside of class in the future.

New blog - Production

I decided to create another blog to document the production of my first student film, 'Redemption.' You can see it here: http://shortfilmpro.blogspot.co.uk/