Broker Case Study - Wellington Films
The Company
Wellington Films was established in 2000 by Rachel Roby and Al Clark, both graduates from the University of Nottingham. Their big break came in 2006 with the success of 'London to Brighton', a tense gangland thriller with an edge of social realism, which scooped half a dozen festival awards, received a BAFTA nomination and was described by the Guardian as the 'best British film of the year'.
Wellington are the latest success story from a region which has established a strong reputation for low budget and digital filmmaking. The East Midlands has produced home grown talent (Shane Meadows' 'Dead Man's Shoes'; Chris Cooke's 'One for the Road') as well as attracting large scale productions, including 'The Da Vinci Code', to shoot in the region.
New film makers have to start with less glamorous projects, though, and over the years Rachel and Al have paid the bills with corporate work, producing short films for clients such as Nottingham Community Housing Association. Along the way, they also kept up strong links with their old university, going back to give lectures on careers in the film industry.
Today, success brings new challenges for Wellington, as the company deals with increased interest in its work, while still operating with many of the constraints familiar to micro-businesses across the audio visual industry.
The Meeting
Wellington are based in the Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham, an independent cinema which provides workspaces for film and digital media businesses. Since the company's office is "about the size of a cupboard", the meeting happened downstairs in the café bar area. The visit had been arranged by Amy Thomas from Skillset, who was joined by her colleague Jo Welch and Train to Gain broker Jo Maltby.
Amy believes the informal atmosphere helped make the meeting work. "There were three of us and there was only Al from Wellington, so it could have been quite intimidating for him," she says. Instead, what happened was an open conversation about Wellington's situation, its needs and the opportunities available. She feels there can be a benefit simply from getting face to face with a broker. "With the organisations delivering Train to Gain, there can be a perception from companies in our sector that these are going to be old men in grey suits."
Where Wellington's needs were concerned, they had already been in contact with EM Media to seek mentoring. EM were able to fix them up with Andrew Patrick, a former head of the BFC. Another issue that came up was the possibility of taking on a trainee who could get involved in script-reading, finance and general administration. Al wondered if it would be possible to offer an apprenticeship on a part-time basis.
The Outcome
Al was happy with how the meeting went. "It was useful," he says. "The broker wasn't able to provide me with any immediate information on training, but I felt I had a chance to explain my needs, which perhaps weren't understood before, and that they would be investigated."
Since the visit, the Train to Gain broker has investigated the possibility of a part-time apprenticeship and put Al and Rachel in touch with Prostart, a company which has previously had success in finding appropriate candidates for apprenticeships in specialist fields. They are continuing to pursue this.
Meanwhile, Amy and Jo from Skillset have been working with Wellington to help support their more specialist needs - including applying for a Skillset Screen Bursary and training to prepare them for dealing with the European and American markets.