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EI ATBRITAIN
n a functional seminar room at the started it in the mid-nineties), is a sur- emergency.” The successful six will even- National Film & Television School vivor in her own right having worked for tually produce a number of films during (NFTS), seven wannabe producers lis- years as a popular and prolific continuity the actual course including their main, 10- ten – and take notes – as they hear girl before turning producer in the early minute, diploma film which may be the all about Negotiation. Conducting the eighties. cornerstone of an eventual showreel.
class is Simon Relph who nearly 40 years earlier had, ironically, started his own film industry career on the very same loca- tion, Beaconsfield Studios - as the lowly third assistant director on a dim-and-dis- tant TV series called The Ghost Squad.
Relph, long graduated to the altogeth- er loftier role of producer himself on more than 15 films, from Return Of The Soldier and Reds to The Land Girls and (in devel- opment) Birdsong, thumbs through a book pithily titled The Art Of The Deal and other rather flimsier set texts. But what the students really want to hear is Relph’s own personal take on the issues at hand – how he deals with writers, agents and directors. He doesn’t disappoint.
All ears and occasional penetrating questions are a motley septet comprising this particular day’s forum on the NFTS’s Producing course.
“When I decided to become a producer, there were a number of one-stop financing places. To be dealing with three financiers like we did with, say, Secret Places in 1984 was considered big stuff then. The feeling of security was quite different. Now it is very very difficult with so many financiers, endless sales people, loads more paper- work and something like the Lottery adding a false sense of security.”
CLASSOF2000
“The producer is someone
who gives the public what they want - and then hopes they want it.” Anon
Skinner, along with senior tutor Jennie Howarth, an NFTS graduate herself who went to produce films such as On the Black Hill, have an awesome, and very active, Producing Advisory Panel at their fingertips, some twenty-four in all from A for Chris Auty to W for Stephen Woolley.
From the Third Year, there’s Teun (pronounced Tone) Hilte, a young Dutchman, winner of an in-house scholar- ship and currently in preliminary negotia- tions for the rights to a Philip Larkin novel. Second Years are represented by former journalist Marie Farquharson, Rajinder Kocher, onetime printing execu- tive Chris Elsey and Phil Gates, who has worked as a film location manager. Making up the group are Adrian Sturgess and Jo Tracy, a pair already variously
employed in the industry but now dipping into the course on odd modules to boost their own still-limited experience. They are all extremely positive about a course which, says Rajinder, “will, I believe, make me a stronger producer... and person.”
But can you actually teach someone How To Be A Producer? Course head Ann Skinner clearly thinks so but emphasises that’s it not just all about a cold recitation of useful information under headings like Broadcast Management, the TV Commissioning Process, Pitching
and, of course, Relph’s speciality, Negotiation. “We are,” she says
quietly but firmly, “teaching peo-
ple how to survive.”
Skinner, who took over run- ning the course 18 months ago from Sandy Lieberson (who
The NFTS course, which has now offi- cially contracted from three to two years, has six full-time places available annually. “When people apply,” says Skinner, “they have to put in ideas with their applica- tion. We then interview them first on the quality of those ideas.
“They are finally weeded down to twelve who then take part in a week’s workshop. It’s a very rigorous five days where they must pitch their ideas to the
group and show how they can improve on them during the week. They’re formed into groups which are then sent out to make a video to be edited in the camera. A tutor goes out with each group to see how they work a team and especially how they respond to each other in an
Perhaps the most telling testimonial of all comes from award-winning graduate Soul Gatti-Pascual who recently enthused: “The new curriculum has transformed the producing course. On a practical level it has fully equipped me with the vital skills for a career as an independent producer. The course has become a great training ground as it encourages collaboration and creative producing as well as training us to deal with tight budgets.”
And to prove there is reel life beyond school, Soul and her director partner Tom Shankland, another NFTS alumnus, have along with writer Jane Harris completed a short for FilmFour not to mention two fea- ture films currently in development. Other recent – happily now busy - gradu- ates include Michele Camarda, Ildiko Kemeny and Lee Thomas.
Last word to Ann Skinner: “In the end, they have to do it for themselves. It’s to do with survival, tenacity, energy, passion and how badly they want to do it when they realise just what it all involves.” ■ Quent in Falk
www.nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk
Photos opposite page top left: Chairman of Pinewood Studios Michael Grade and below: Managing Director Steve Jaggs centre: Jesus raises Tamar from the dead in The Miracle Maker; right: S4C Executive Producer Christopher Grace
This page left: NFTS Producing Course Head Ann Skinner; centre: Simon Relph conducting a Producing class right: NFTS students using the Beaconsfield studio facilities
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