In partnership with Screenskills, we launched our Creative Mentoring programme to offer young creatives in the early stages of their careers in the Film and TV industry the chance to learn more about the roles they want to work in and to be supported by insight and advice from established industry professionals.
Starting in 2021, this cohort of young people from across the South West have been meeting 1-1 with their mentors and take the next steps in the development of their film and TV careers. From documentary TV to short films and from casting to directing, this group have a range of interests and talents and we’re delighted to be able to share their profiles below.
Amy Smith
Amy is born and bred in Bristol and at the very kickstarting stages of her filmmaking career. She has a diverse passion from directing documentaries, casting, and editing to working as a runner. She attended the BFI BOVTS Academy which was her first eye-opener into the industry. She is currently a Third year filmmaking student at UWE Bristol creating short films and documentaries. She has worked as a runner on BFI-funded films such as The Piss Witch and recently Lode by Theo Watkins. She is currently gaining mentoring from Black Bark Films via the Screenskills Mentoring scheme. Alongside her film career, you can catch Amy pulling pints and serving pizzas at Campus Pool skatepark!
Anastasia Bruce-Jones
Anastasia is an award-winning writer and director, with over 6 years’ experience in theatre and film. They have worked in the West End, Almeida theatre and Edinburgh Fringe. Their productions have received exclusively 4 and 5* reviews, and won both OnComm and OffComm awards. In 2021 they wrote and directed their first short ‘All Girls’, which is currently entering the festival circuit. In February, they won a commission from the BFI Film Academy and Exeter Phoenix to make ‘Microwave’, a queer dystopian love story (shooting August ’22).
Clarenz Gutierrez Badlis
Clarenz Gutierrez Badlis is a freelance filmmaker with an interest in writing and directing. Being born in the Philippines, and raised in England, has meant that he has grown up listening to intriguing stories about two different cultures, which he utilises within his work. Moving forward, he wants his work to portray stories from unfamiliar voices in a surreal and poetic way, to appreciate the beauty of tradition and culture within diverse stories.
Codie Lu Scott
After a 4-year career of climbing the corporate ladder in finance, Codie left her position as a business associate to pursue her dream to tell stories.
She’s worked as Assistant Producer with independent documentary producer, Hank Starrs (Canal Cat films), on television documentaries such as Reel Britannia and Hollywood Bulldogs: The Rise and Fall of the Great British Stuntman. Codie is currently acting as a casting researcher for 5Star’s Skin A&E (Boom-TV) after completing an internship at Channel 4’s The Dog House (Five Mile Films). Whilst she’s developing and producing her own slate of narrative work, Codie was accepted into the National Film and Television School where she will begin to transition her career from unscripted to scripted film and television. Her goal is to create a body of narrative work that champions untold/unseen stories and create social commentary projects to move the needle in a positive direction.
Elise Brindley
Elise Brindley is a producer and writer based in Bristol. Her work explores uncomfortable themes using beautiful mediums and her recent work includes the short dance film Iris, a music video for the French blues group Ralph of London and she is currently working on horror short Microwave, which received BFI Academy funding. Outside of film, she also works with Bristol’s Eat Up collective, organising live music that showcases DIY queer and female artists. She loves Clive Barker, riot grrrl and her many, many cats.
Elle Meadows
Elle Meadows is an LGBT writer, director and actress based in Gloucestershire. Elle works primarily within the sci-fi and fantasy genre with a focus on women’s stories and LGBT characters. Elle began her journey in film training with the BFI Film Academy in Bristol. She was subsequently selected to direct her debut short film ‘AA503’ with the NFTS/BFI Craft Residential which debuted at the BFI Southbank. Her recent work includes award-winning short sci-fi ‘Blip’ (2021), fantasy short ‘The Clockmaker’s Child’ (2022) and LGBT apocalypse short ‘Only Good Things’ (2022) which are all currently doing the festival circuit. She recently graduated from the University of Gloucestershire with a First Class Honours degree in Film Production and wrote her dissertation on the representation of lesbian sex in film.
Grace Ball
Grace is a freelance writer, living just north of Bristol. Graduating from UWE in 2021 with a first class degree in Creative and Professional Writing, Grace has recently undertaken a traineeship at Aardman Animations in the field of narrative design for games. As a writer Grace can turn her hand to all genres, but her passion is script, a talent that has been further developed as part of the BFI Film Academy (South West) Screenwriters Group and the Creative Mentoring Programme. Grace has also been freelancing as a Resident Content Creator for Watershed’s Rife Magazine. When she’s not writing you’ll find Grace at the cinema, gaming or immersed in a box set!
Grace Morgan
Grace is a disabled writer, director, producer and actress based in the South West, creating and developing films with important and relevant messages and representing the disabled community. Her most recent film ‘On My Level’ (which will be entering into the festival circuit soon) centres around mental health and bullying. Her in-development projects include Have a Good Day (a story of a young autistic girl facing isolation and loneliness at school) and Deafinite Crush (a deaf college student struggles to feel included amongst her hearing friends until she meets Darcy.) Acting credits Include Orla in ‘Orla’ (Dir. Victoria Harwood Kapadia) and Ginny in ‘Outmates’ (Dir. Elise Warner and Jessica Lee). She is proudly represented for acting by Sarah Leigh at Inclusive Talent agency.
Oona Chanfi
Oona is an actor, filmmaker and photographer. She has recently created a series of short films called Roots which explores identity and multiculturalism as a young person of colour in Bristol. Representation is something Oona is extremely passionate about and through her work wants to focus on people sharing their own personal stories and experiences through conversations.
Rohan Gotobed
Rohan (he/him) is a director and writer from Dorset. Having trained at Birkbeck and the Unicorn Theatre, he is now the Artistic Director of Dorsetborn, with whom he is creating new plays and supporting emerging artists across the South West. He is interested in making dialectic films that ask questions of the world and present exciting opportunities to other creatives. He is currently developing his first short film. As an actor, he played Young Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and has also worked with Asa Butterfield, Simon Pegg, and Taika Waititi.
