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interview
school’s in
Experienced producer Nik Powell has swapped Soho for Beaconsfield. He tells Quentin Falk about his new challenge as Director of the National Film & TV School
“We have to
make sure
the TV in
our title is
properly
embedded as
a culture
here.
Frankly, it hasn’t been.”
You have to scour the latest prospectus of the National Film & Television School to find any mention of Nik Powell as Director following his surprise appointment last September.
Finally, on page 33 of the ele- gant, information-packed 40- page document, there it is. Noted third in a list after refer- ences to distinguished teachers like filmmaker Stephen Frears and cinematographer Brian Tufano comes... “and Nik Powell, our director, and a producer himself.”
Although a tad surprised after being alerted to such a low-pro- file, Powell seems generally happy with that kind of anonymi- ty. Not for him the traditional Foreword with the usual hype. He’d much prefer the school to speak for itself. Or, in the case of this particular prospectus, for some of the NFTS’s more distin- guished graduates to speak up for the school.
So on the cover in large, bold lettering, director of photography Roger Deakins, award-winning Coen Bros collaborator, is quoted thus: “Without the NFTS, I cannot see how I would have entered the film industry.”
Overleaf, and perhaps not entirely un-coincidentally consid- ering his career-making start as a director on Scandal in partnership with Powell, Michael Caton-Jones proclaims: “I would not be mak- ing films in Hollywood without it. The NFTS is absolutely vital.”
Elsewhere, punctuating a suit- ably glossy summary of just what’s on offer at Beaconsfield, there are testimonials by the likes of director Bernard Rose and writer Shawn Slovo as well as impressive checklists of past achievement and other famous alumni in both film and television.
Powell, 53, looking suitably professorial with unruly hair and spectacles dangling from string, is just the fourth director of the NFTS - following Colin Young, Henning Camre and Stephen Bayly - since
8
Photos main: Nik Powell, Director of the NFTS; MA students studying the three main post-production disciplines - Composing, Editing and Sound Post-Production
the school first opened for busi- ness in 1971.
He’s been at the sharp end of the industry since first starting, with partner Stephen Woolley, more than 20 years ago in distri- bution and then production first at Palace Pictures and then Scala Productions.
To date, Powell has racked up some 45 films – among them, The Crying Game, Backbeat and Little Voice - with no fewer than four due out this year, including Charles Dance’s 30s-set directori- al debut, Ladies In Lavender, co- starring Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
Which makes the decision to turn his back on production and enter full-time education, as it were, even more intriguing – especially when you consider that Powell actively sought the post in leafy Bucks well away from Wardour Street where he was one of the more street-wise practitioners.
He describes the move as “almost opportunistic. I have been producing or executive pro- ducing for however long it is now, saw that Stephen [Bayly] had left and that the job was going to be available and thought it was something I’d really like to do. I’ve