We loved hosting our first in-person event of the year in April at Watershed, Bristol, with our Inside Film day. It was great to meet so many talented young filmmakers from around the South West and hear all about your plans and projects. We know a lot of you are doing things that are just as exciting but couldn’t make it down on the day and we didn’t want you to miss out! So if you want to get a low-down on all the opportunities and advice that our brilliant guests were sharing on the day, read on to check it all out and listen back to the sessions!
We kicked the day off with a bang with a workshop from Bristol-based Ryan Francis who won the UK award in the DepicT 2020 competition. He started off by talking about what it’s like telling a story in 90 seconds and he gave us an example of how it’s done by screening his film B.I.A.B (Black In a Box).
If you can’t tell a story in 90 seconds, you won’t be able to do it in 90 minutes … start with a 90 second film, then a 5 minute film, then a 15 minute film
Ryan Francis
Ryan didn’t only talk about 90-second filmmaking though, he also took questions from our audience, sharing his experiences in all aspects of working in the film & TV industry with a really refreshing honesty. Having faced more than his fair share of frustration in the industry, he didn’t pull any punches but also shared the ways he’d found to still make the work he wanted to make despite those barriers. A key point that Ryan made was finding a story that you really needed to tell which would keep you driven. If you don’t get much support from studios or producers to start with, it’s really important that you believe in your project and know that it’s necessary so you can keep pushing it and working on it, even if its on your own.
Ryan’s session was followed up by a screening of short films made by filmmakers from the South West. From animation to documentaries and from self-funded projects to BBC commissions and everything in-between, it was really inspiring to see all the creativity that emerging filmmakers are showing in the South West, showing just what you can do even when you’re still starting out in your career as a filmmaker. The films that screened were:
- Bitch (dir. Lowri Roberts)
- Dinah (dir. Pierre Niyongira)
- Windows (dir. Katy Welsh)
- Homebound (dir. Lucy Werrett)
- They Remain (dir. Barnaby Duffy)
- Pickney (dir. Michael Jenkins, not currently available to view online)
- Backbone (dir. Xenia Glen)
- The Piss Witch (dir. Jason Barker, not currently available to view online)
After the screening, we were lucky enough to be joined by Lucy Werrett and Pierre Niyongira who gave more insight into their films and how they came to make them, as well as taking a few more questions from the audience. Pierre had made his film through the BBC New Creatives scheme which is run here in the South West together with Calling the Shots while Lucy made and funded hers independently, working with friends and past collaborators to make it happen.
Making films isn’t the only way you can make a career for yourself in the industry though and our next session was focussed on the other side of the process: programming. We were joined by filmmaker and programmer Varun Raman who spoke with Watershed producer Maddy Probst. He talked about how he first got started as a pre-selector for Watershed’s DepicT competition before moving onto programming at major festivals including London Short Film Festival.
Programming isn’t always well publicised as a career option so hearing Varun’s insights into this area of the industry was really valuable, and even if you’re a filmmaker, knowing what programmers look for when selecting films for festivals is always useful to know!
If you fancy following in Varun’s footsteps and becoming a pre-selector for this year’s DepicT competition, you can apply now! If you’re more of a filmmaker than a programmer, DepicT is also currently open for submissions for 90-second shorts. Head to depict.org to submit for free.
Up next was an event looking at the first step in making any film or TV project, writing, with screenwriter Zia Holloway chairing a panel featuring writers from backgrounds including short films, TV, theatre and documentaries.
Together, they ran through every step of the writing process, sharing their perspectives and approaches to finding ideas, research, getting the first draft done, editing and pitching the final script. If you’ve been staring at a blank Word document trying to push past writers’ block, listen to their thoughts here:
Our final event of the day was our keynote event, where we were joined by Hannah Williams, Lowri Roberts and Maisie Williams, the host of the Frank Film Club podcast. With Hannah being a casting director, Lowri directing and producing and Maisie, of course, acting, the team could have a huge range of experience from the industry and they shared all of it with our host, Oona Chanfi.
From what they look for when committing to a project, to what it’s like working in the industry outside London, Oona spoke to Lowri, Maisie and Hannah about all kinds of issues and you can hear their thoughts on all of them here:
After all these events, we could see how many ideas the had sparked among the audience and we ended the day with a chance to make those ideas a reality by meeting collaborators and networking. We can’t recreate that online here but here’s a sense of how it went on the day!
