I always had a love for storytelling, but it was in college that I found out my method was through video, and I explored that throughout my studies. I eventually landed a job at BBC News where I spent just over three years before making the move to film.
Working at BBC Yorkshire I worked on daily news stories as editor and camera operator, the job kept me in touch with what was happening in Yorkshire and developed my skills in a “run and gun” environment. Along with working on weekly shows Politics North and The Super League show. I also worked on my first feature film in Yorkshire, Clio Barnard’s film Ali and Ava which was shot in Bradford last year.
A highlight would be the projects that I produced for BBC News to highlight racist experiences locals had faced. The videos were played on the world news and national channel as well as doing well well on social media. I remember reading the discussions in the comment sections and feeling as though I had made a change.
I found making the switch from news to film to be difficult as it took me a long time to find an ‘In’ to the film industry, following that I’ve had to adapt from a run and gun style of working to the more controlled film/drama method
Yorkshire is my home, its amazing place to live with beautiful scenery and great people. The talent pool here is great and only growing with the more support we are seeing in the region, and to top it off we have some of the most beautiful locations in the country.
I’m currently just starting out in my department and I would say networking is so very important, we work long hours and the day is better when you get along and well together.
Things are improving up north, I always felt to get to work in film I had to live in London but we have some great talent up here and we are seeing more and more work come up here, I’m hoping to see rise in indies in the area with Channel 4’s move.