Broker Case Study - Finishing Post
The Company
Finishing Post takes pride in the fact that clients can arrive with a set of rushes and leave with the finished DVD. The company can oversee every stage of this process under one roof. Since it was founded in 1998, it has gained five full-time employees and a network of freelancers - and, with the buyout of neighbouring Giltbrook Studios, a full TV studio and sound stage.
The East Midlands television industry has slowed since its heyday, but new and interactive media has begun to grow, particularly around Nottingham. The industry is mainly composed of small companies or sole traders producing a diverse range of interactive media products. Finishing Post offers a flexible and integrated post-production service to this industry, and serves mainly corporate clients from Sheffield in the North to Northampton in the south. The company has recently extended its geographical reach, with the opening of a London office.
The Meeting
Finishing Post's Managing Director, Mark Harwood, met Train To Gain broker Heather Bingley and Amy Thomas, Skillset's Regional Manager.
With only five full-time employees and a hunger to grow, recruitment of new entrants was on Mark's mind. The East Midlands audiovisual landscape has changed considerably in the last 10-15 years, with a rise in new media businesses; but finding skilled employees is difficult and Mark has had difficulty finding information on how to partner with FE or HE providers. He was disappointed that the Graduate Scheme run by EM Media had come to an end - having supported it by taking someone on placement, he would definitely have taken on another new entrant through this route.
Mark was also keen to find a mentor for himself, someone from outside the industry. "He wanted a fresh perspective, free of any worries about industry politics," Amy explains. Both Amy and Heather had suggestions for mentoring programmes.
Mark says: "Heather didn't have any training courses that were useful, but I felt she understood my needs well, as she was very direct about this. And Amy knew of several bursaries and schemes that were very interesting."
But the broader knowledge of business support options that a Train to Gain broker brings was also helpful. As Amy says, "There's a perception sometimes in the industry that general-type of support is never going to be relevant, but Mark was very open-minded about getting support from across the board."
The Outcome
Mark was upbeat about the meeting: "It's always helpful to have information about training opportunities. But when you're a small company it can be hard to find time to look for them," he said. "I was hoping for someone to save me that time, and that's what I got."
The Level 2 courses available through Train To Gain were not at an appropriate level, but the combination of Skillset industry expertise with the broker's more general knowledge meant that Mark was pleased with the information he received. "There were a couple of schemes that were obviously of interest," he said.
Amy passed on some information covering Skillset funding, while Heather forwarded details of the Mentoring Escalator programme, along with contact information for Nottingham Business Venture, which also offers a mentoring programme.
"All the information I've been sent was incredibly helpful and useful," Mark says. "Unfortunately I haven't been able to follow up on any of it yet - I've just been too busy!"