BFI Craft Skills Residential

My attendance at the BFI Cornwall Film Academy provided me with assistance when applying for a residential course up at the National Film and Television School (NFTS), also funded by the BFI. My application was successful in getting me a place there as a producer, and only 66 out of 400 people were able to achieve a position on the course, due to the fact it was highly competitive. I was the only person from the Cornwall/Devon region, which made travelling up to Beaconsfield an extraordinarily nerve wracking experience. We had a pre-residential weekend in March where we got to know each other and were introduced to our scripts- mine was called Look at What the Cat Dragged In. For an intense 12 days over Easter (hence why I was unavailable for the third shooting day of my coursework project) I was given the opportunity to work closely with leading industry professionals who gave me a unique insight into the filmmaking business and guided me along the way. I also received a numerous amount of master classes from people such as Asif Kapadia, Rachel Robey, Nik Powell, Rienkje Attoh, Destiny Ekaragha, Ben Roberts, Marimba Kabalika, Pawl Fulker and lots more, all of which were extremely interesting and insightful into successful people's journeys into the film world. We practised green light meetings and marketing presentations as well which is felt was very beneficial, particularly as I wish to go down the producing route in film.
It was an incredible experience working with so many people my age who shared the same passion for filmmaking and were extremely talented in their specialisms, who were also able to teach me so much about the entire process of filmmaking. I'm still in contact with them all and although they live a great distance from myself, they're useful contacts to have for housing in London etc. This programme also gave me the chance to network with alumni from previous years at the NFTS and other people working in the industry. It also helped solidify my decision to aim towards being a film producer in the future, as I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of my job.
My role as a producer taught me a great deal more about the pre-production process and although I learnt all these new skills after my project was near enough completion, it will definitely come in use for further projects like A Level coursework I will begin later this year. I learnt about the importance of planning and scheduling and more about the role in general, and the residential helped solidify the decision that I wish to be a producer in the future. I thoroughly loved every aspect of my job and I also got the opportunity to work as a 3rd assistant director on set, another job role I now know I consider enjoyable.