After the success of our Production Accounting event last year, we're excited to bring back our Career Spotlight Panels series, specifically designed to help educators bridge the gap between industry and education. These free panel discussions highlight key roles in the UK screen industries facing skills shortages, providing invaluable insights for teachers looking to enrich their curriculum and guide students into in-demand careers.

Setting is crucial to screen storytelling, and this session will shine a spotlight on the vital role of Location Manager. With nearly a third of UK productions last year struggling to find Location Managers (according to ScreenSkills’ annual report), don’t miss this opportunity to find our more about jobs in this crucial department for film & television production.

Our panellists will include Oliver Laurenson-Gore (Locations Manager and Founder of Location Routes; credits include HBO’s The Franchise and Paramount+’s The Burning Girls) Location Scout Tate Pollington (credits include Snow White, Slow Horses and 3 Body Problem) and Sabrina Logan (Media Studies Teacher at Bede’s Senior School; credits include Fargo Season 3 and Legion Season 1). They will discuss:

• The structure and responsibilities of the Locations department in film & television

• key skills aspiring Location Managers should develop, and how to help students acquire them

• How Location Management could be integrated into teaching to improve student productions and career prospects

The panel will take place online. Places are free, but reservations are essential.

This event is aimed at media/film educators and careers advisors, but may also be of interest to new entrants to the screen industries interested in careers in location management.

Cover Image Credit: Billy Freeman via Unsplash

We’re delighted to announce our first event in Leeds, on Thursday 27 February, from 3.30 - 7pm.

The event will include a tour of Prime Studios, one of the largest independent film & TV studios in the North of England: credits include BBC One's ABC Murders and Channel 4's First Dates, as well as music videos for artists such as Nicki Minaj. The tour will include the on-site MetFilm School campus. This will be followed by an industry insights workshop and Q&A with Ben Murrell (Duck Soup Films) and Fanny Kerekes (4Skills), for which participants will have an opportunity to submit teaching materials for discussion with fellow educators and industry experts, and discuss career opportunities for young people in the screen sector. The event will finish with networking drinks.

Event Schedule:

• 3 - 3.15pm - Arrivals, Registration & Welcome

• 3.15 - 4.45pm - Tour of Prime Studios & MetFilm School

• 4.45 - 6.15pm - Industry Insights Workshop and Q&A

• 6.15 - 7pm - Networking Drinks at Archive Leeds

Places for this event are free and open to film/media educators.

Contributors:

Ben Murell first came to work at Duck Soup Films via the C4 4Skills Production Training Scheme selected from hundreds of applicants.  He subsequently moved on to work as a production assistant on DANCE SCHOOL before landing his role as a development coordinator where he is responsible for supporting the company founders, the head of development and the executive producers in their process of developing an outstanding and diverse film and television slate. Prior to his career in the screen industry, Ben worked in education as a secondary school teacher specialising in English and Media. Whilst studying for his degree in Film and Television, Ben participated in the BFI Film Academy, worked on several independently financed short and feature length films and spent time working for the Media Archive for Central England (MACE).

With a strong background in television production and project management, Fanny Kerekes currently serves as a Project Manager for 4Skills at Channel 4, where she oversees the delivery of key training and outreach initiatives across the UK. In this role, she helps bring Channel 4’s mission of social mobility and diversity to life by delivering impactful training schemes that open doors for emerging talent and foster their growth. Before joining Channel 4, Fanny gained invaluable experience in production management, working on high-profile TV shows like Steph’s Packed Lunch, Story of the Songs, and A New Life in the Sun.

An interactive workshop for film & media educators on delivering impactful feedback on student screenplays, delivered in partnership with E17 Films, and hosted by The Forest Cinema, Walthamstow.

The workshop will be delivered by freelance writer and script consultant Theresa Boden. Theresa supports award winning writers & directors and production companies in various formats – shorts, TV and Features. Her work as a tutor/mentor includes Screen Arts Institute & BFI Future Film Academy; Glasgow Film/Short Circuits and MA Screenwriting programmes at LCC, Birkbeck University, Met Film School; and Script Development Workshops for Euroscript and BECTU. She has worked with BFI Future Film participants since 2015 as a script consultant, workshop leader and panel moderator at the BFI’s Film Academy Labs and Festivals.

This session will focus on the essential skill of providing constructive feedback on student screenplays, helping educators sharpen their critique techniques and guide students toward stronger, more refined scripts.

Spaces are FREE but limited, and reservation is required.

Photo credit: Debby Hudson via Unsplash.

A hands-on workshop following the trajectory of a project from script to screen through key production paperwork (script breakdowns, call sheets, risk assessments, etc). We will look at how industry best practice can feed into supporting students with planning and shooting.

The workshop will be led by Poppy Coggins (Head of Production Management at London Screen Academy, TV credits include Channel 5’s Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, ITV’s The All New Monty, and BBC One’s Pointless) and Clarissa Newman (Head of Production at MetFilm School, film credits includes Quantum of Solace, Johnny English and The Hours). This will be followed by a Q&A, where we will also be joined by award-winning Production Manager, Career Coach and Trainer Georgina Bobb, who has over 15 years' experience in long-form TV, online video and short form content production. The event will finish with networking drinks.

This event is free and open to all film/media teachers, and will take place at OKN1 on New City College’s Hackney Campus.

The event will coincide with the launch of a production paperwork pack, which will be freely available to network members to download and use in the classroom to support student projects.

Based in Harlesden, Garden Studios is the only large-scale film & TV studio in Central London, with credits including My Lady Jane, Queen Charlotte and Big Brother. They are also at the forefront of sustainable film production, and received certified B Corp status in 2023 - only the second sound stage campus in the world to achieve this accreditation.

We’re delighted to be able to offer an exclusive tour of Garden Studios to Network members on Thursday 30 January. The tour will begin with a demo of Garden Studios’ state-of-the-art Virtual Production facilities, followed by the rest of the studio campus.

The tour will run from 3.30 - 5pm, and be followed by networking drinks. Places are free and open to film/media educators, but are limited: please RSVP below.

We're delighted to launch a new series of virtual panel discussions around careers in the screen industries. These are aimed at educators and career advisors to provide the most up to date information on skills shortages/lesser-known careers to use in teaching & guide students. 

Our first panel discussion will take place online on Thursday 12 December, from 4.30 to 5.30pm, and focus on production accounting. According to research, production accounting has been a consistent area of skills shortage for the last few years, with nearly 40% of HETV productions struggling to recruit production accountants last year (ScreenSkills 2024, 14). 

We are bringing together a panel of industry professionals and educators headed by Financial Controller Jon Duncan, whose credits include TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, BRIDGET JONES' BABY, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION and this month's biggest release, WICKED. Our panellists will discuss the responsibilities and skills required of production accountants, routes and trajectories in the accounts department, and ways this can be embedded in the curriculum.

Places are free but need to be booked in advance - the link will be circulated to ticket holders nearer the time.