Parliamentary Reception celebrates Skillset's work in the film sector
On 16 June 2008 Skillset hosted a Parliamentary Reception for its report 'A Bigger Future: 4 Years On'. This was to promote awareness among MPs, government and civil servants of the successes of Skillset's work in the film industry.
The reception showcased some of the projects and people who have benefited from Skillset's funding over the past four years and this included:
The 35mm Project:
This unique initiative is run by the Skillset Screen Academy at London College of Communication (LCC) and Ealing Institute of Media (EIM). The scheme brings students from writing and directing arena, with those from craft and technical areas (for example - carpentry, plastering, hair and make up) to work together.
The students submit scripts and the winning scripts are turned into films and shot with the sets and costumes designed and made from scratch. Many students from the Project have walked into jobs at Pinewood as a result of the scheme.
Visit the 35mm Project Web Pages for more information.
Faintheart:
Faintheart, the MySpace MyMovieMashup project, is the first user-generated content film project in the world i.e. the internet community made choices over the story, cast and crew. The script and the director were selected by MySpace members, and many of the extras cast via online auditions.
Skillset sponsored the project to reach new audiences. Many of the crew had benefited from Skillset funded training in the past.
- Rachel Connors, a Producer of the film, had been a Trailblazer at Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) in 2007.
- Director Vito Rocco had completed a Skillset-funded training course delivered by Slingshot to help filmmakers make the transition from shorts to features.
- Tommy Blunkell, a Wardrobe Assistant, had completed training given by Angels, the Costumiers, who gave a talk on their training to the Wardrobe department.
All our work in film stems from A Bigger Future, the national training and education strategy for the UK film industry, first launched in 2004. To learn more about A Bigger Future, please go to:
