For the last six years I’ve had the pleasure of being a mentor for the BFI academy scheme, which aims to introduce 16 to 19 year olds to the film industry. One really exciting thing is that over that time span, I’ve been able to see some of my input bear fruit in the career paths of the scheme’s graduates. Pictured here (second from left, middle row) is Michael Fearon, who I mentored in 2015. We had a long chat about the departments that make up a film production and identified the sound department as one he could aim for. Following on from the 2015 scheme, Michael helped out with some of my shoots, we kept in touch and I wrote the occasional reference for him. Then all went quiet… until this popped up in his social media, a team photo of the 1917 sound crew. He’d only gone and got himself a job on one of the biggest movies of recent times and one packed with innovation in both picture and sound. Nice!
This year I will be doing more ‘one to ones’ for the academy over the October half term and also leading a workshop on directing actors, with Tim Parker who stars in Number 3 and Claire Lebowitz. The scheme takes place over half term, 26 – 30th of October.
More info on the academy –
https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-film-academy-opportunities-young-creatives