From 2002 to 2005 I did a brief stint in the film and television industry! This was the initial pathway I took before becoming a photographer…
My education was media / video production/ photography focused, but my original career sights were set on working in film production!
During my degree I was given a month to attend/organise work experience placements (there was no list, or help, so I definitely wasn’t spoon fed here lol). After a lot of asking around, various letters sent and research… I finally arranged work experience in Manchester at a Design Agency that specialised in moving images and also i a secured a day on a music video production in Bow, London.
The Manchester week went well; however it was fairly quiet… but it was London music video I learnt to hit the ground running! No hand holding, I was put to work before I’d even put my bag down lol! It was a full on 14 hour day and I literally caught the last tube back to my Grandparents house at 11pm (Nanny even paged me to say she was worried as I’d been out so long, yes we were pre mobile phones at this stage :-)! Also during the shoot, I crossed a small bridge (when entering Bow studios), this bridge the following year became the infamous Big Brother bridge!
The day after I finished my degree (in video production and photography) I secured myself and four friends a week’s work experience on Carol Vorderman’s Better Homes! The show was filming an episode in Cheltenham and the five of us had a really great hands on week working in the industry!
After some great initial momentum, I then struggled to find any work in the film/TV industry, we were at a time where most work was found in printed magazines and social media didn’t exist. After six long months hunting around I found a position as a Production Assistant on a B movie called Fallen Angels, this was a horror movie being shot in London and Bushy.
I went back to London to live with my Aunt and Grandmother for pre-production, I can safely say I found myself in total chaos! There were around 10 of us in the production office in Bayswater, we had two phone lines between us and this included the fax machine use, there was also no mobile phone service, so communication was a real juggle.
I quickly found myself settling into the 12 hour days and excelled in fact so i found myself being promoted twice and I ultimately became the Assistant Production Co-ordinator (note the actual Co-ordinator left mid shoot, so technically I probably was the Co-ordinator too lol).
Once pre production was complete we moved into production, which was located at Bushy Campus, Bushy (this was an old American University campus randomly). Frustratingly I missed the first day of production due to food poisoning, this was unpleasant and received little compassion…i was starting to learn I was in a pretty cut throat industry.
I moved to Bushy on the second day, being an old uni campus there was accommodation on site, sadly there weren’t enough rooms, so myself and my friend Gena (we were the two youngest crew members) slept on the office floor. It was freezing and I didn’t have any bedding so my parents drove up the next day with a pillow and sleeping bag, which was very kind (after three days Gena and I finally had a room).
Working on a horror movie starring Micheal Ironside, Jeff Fahey and Kai Wiesinger did have its perks, sometimes the actors would treat us to parties! On a side note the cast and crew on this film were a good bunch and we had such a giggle at times!
One day the production was short of supporting artists, so myself and Gena got roped into wearing school uniform and had to run past lots of man made flames, which was good fun!
The long hours and only one day off a week eventually took their toll, it was exhausting and I lost a stone in weight due to all the running around. A few months passed and the production moved into edit, nearly all the crew/ cast then finished working on the film (including myself). I can safely say that was probably the weirdest five months of my life lol, however it was a good test of my resilience and I think a good foundation of the skills I’d need later on as a photographer.
The second movie I worked on was called The Magic Kingdom, this was a South African kids movie, I’d also progressed my career to becoming a Second Assistant Director (which aged 23 was a really high up role).
The film had a strong cast including – Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children), Patsy Kensit (Lethal Weapon 2) and Anthony Head (The Nescafe man). I was in charge of the lead cast and all the supporting artists, my role was to ensure they all made it to base camp, then into wardrobe, make up and then ultimately onto set on time. I created the daily call sheets and would liaise with the First Assistant Director throughout the day to ensure the logistics flowed well. This was a really intense role, especially on the days when we had lots of supporting artists. I coped well overall, but did find some crew members unkind and it was an industry that didn’t allow for any kind of personal life. A crew member asked for a day off for their sister’s wedding and was told no. We had a scheduled day off half way through the shoot and literally fell asleep in the pub with friends due to the sheer exhaustion.
There were some really joyful moments however, I loved my time with Jenny Agutter, she was the consummate professional and also very generous. After the shoot she drew me a picture of the witch she was playing and bought me a bottle of bubbly! Whilst I think of fun memories…I also enjoyed a random evening I spent with Patsy Kensit watching Big Brother in her trailer! The production went on for a few months (on Birdlip Hill in Gloucestershire handily) and really pushed my resilience even further and increased my skill set hugely!
The third film I worked on (which turned out to be my last one) was a movie called These Foolish Things, a comedy/ romance film recorded at Cheltenham Film Studios. My role was The Production Runner (this is considered a junior position, but it was probably one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had because the other departments didn’t have Runners so *everyone* thought they could give me jobs to do!
Once again, I faced some cruelty and also some bullying on this shoot, (there’s something about the industry that seems to bring out the worst in people). I did have a few allies however including the Welsh Production Manager Artie, he was lovely and he taught me the very important saying “assumption, is the Mother of all screw ups” and he’s so right!
The cast for this movie was incredible – Lauren Bacall (Hollywood 1940s A lister and was married to Humphrey Bogart), Anjelica Huston (The Adam’s Family), Terrance Stamp (Priscilla Queen of the Desert), Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually) and many others.
I had many random tasks on this movie, one of which was to buy Lauren Bacall’s dog a cashmere shawl! I went to meet her at Queens Hotel in Cheltenham, that was amazing to meet a true Hollywood great! One job that did tickle me was when Terrance Stamp asked me to buy an Australian *stamp* for a letter :-)! The film was a good experience and incredible to interact with these high profile actors.
In-between these movies I worked on the odd TV show, including a day on Wife Swap, that was brilliant! I was due to work on my fourth movie at Pinewood Studios, but… the plug was pulled on that very last night minute! This was frustrating as I’d turned down a trip to Africa to work on the production. Around the same time a young friend passed away unexpectedly. So all of the above, plus the lack of kindness I’d experienced within the industry made me have a re think. I discussed at length with family and close friends what I could do career wise and we collectively decided I could become a Professional Photographer, I had a natural aptitude for it and already had some qualifications in it. The foundations I had learnt in my time in the film/TV industry were an incredible foundation to becoming a photographer. Ultimately I felt like a small cog in a big chain and I didn’t feel like my creatively ever made it to screen, so it was time to “retire” and start my next career!
I didn’t own a proper camera or decent laptop, but I didn’t let that stop me! The rest, is history!