ScreenSkills

YouTube’s Pedro Pina delivered the James MacTaggart Memorial lecture at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival - Supported by Screen Scotland, a flagship address widely considered the most influential and agenda-setting speech in the British broadcasting industry. YouTube’s presence marked a defining moment for the industry, framing a bold message: British media is poised on the edge of a Third Golden Age fueled by homegrown talent, deeper collaboration and an audience-first mindset. Pointing to successful partnerships with the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, Pedro highlighted how global digital platforms help British storytelling reach worldwide audiences. Backing this vision with action, YouTube deepened its commitment to the UK TV industry with a new £3 million investment over the next three years-partnering with organizations like National Film & Television School and ScreenSkills to nurture the next generation of digital-first talent. The stage is set, the audience is ready and the opportunity to craft television’s next great chapter starts now. "This next chapter of British television will not be a tragedy. It will be an epic." Link to the full speech below ⬇️

🎬 At 40, Reece Cargan made a big career change, starting his journey in film as a runner in Glasgow. Since then, the #FilmSkillsFund has supported him throughout his career, including through co-funded initiatives such as Inside Pictures and British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) Springboard. He has gone on to become a producer and founder of his own company, Bombito Productions. This year, his short documentary No Place Like Home had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Now, Reece is giving back to the Film Skills Fund that supported him at the start of his journey, helping to create opportunities for others looking to build careers in the industry. His story is a reminder that it’s never too late to take a new direction and that the skills and experience you’ve gained along the way can be the foundation for a new career in film. 🎬 Learn more about how the Film Skills Fund supports the UK film industry: ScreenSkills.com/film

This month, we're looking at the range of screen activity and ScreenSkills support across Scotland. As part of this, we caught up with Vici King, Animation Series Producer at Magic Light Pictures and member of ScreenSkills Animation Skills Council. With her company recently launching Stirling Animation Studio, we got her thoughts on the animation landscape in the nation and discovered how the latest training opportunities are shaping the local workforce. https://lnkd.in/e7WCeNa9 #Animation #UKAnimation #CreativeIndustries #ScotlandAnimation

🌟 For over a decade, the #HETVSkillsFund has supported the growth of a skilled and diverse workforce across the UK. One initiative, developed by the Scotland HETV Working Group, is helping to address a skills shortage within Scotland’s camera department, while supporting camera professionals to develop their skills and progress their careers. Working with the GBCT: The Guild of British Camera Technicians and The Tiffen Company Steadicam, the initiative supported nine Scotland-based camera professionals to take part in an industry-recognised #SilverSteadicam workshop in Glasgow. The training gave participants the essential skills and foundations to begin developing as #Steadicam operators, while bursaries of up to £3,000 provided further opportunities to support their progression through additional training or the purchase of kit. Locally based trainer Chris Maxwell ACO, GBCT, explains the importance of this support: “The move up to Steadicam operator is extremely hard. One has to learn the skills, purchase a rig and establish themselves as a Steadicam operator within the industry. It takes a long time. None of this would have been possible without the funding that the participants have been granted from the ScreenSkills HETV Skills Fund.” Luke Coulter ACO, camera operator and ScreenSkills beneficiary, talks about the impact of the bursary: “I’ve worked as a camera operator for six years now. Steadicam is the next step for me as an operator. ScreenSkills has helped me hugely to complete a Silver Steadicam course in Glasgow, a Gold course in Oxford, along with a bursary which enabled me to buy a Tiffen Ultra vest. Absolutely none of this would have been possible for me without the amazing help and support which ScreenSkills have provided.” And the support continues. Kate Efomi, our Scotland Training Manager, explains how the support will help participants continue to progress: “For a third year of support, we hope to work with Tiffen to bring the Gold Steadicam course to Scotland so these beneficiaries can continue to progress and eventually work as fully-fledged Steadicam operators here.” A huge thank you to everyone at the GBCT, Tiffen and all the course tutors who helped make this initiative possible! This initiative was supported by the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund with contributions from UK high-end TV productions 🔗 Learn more about HETV Skills Funded training opportunities across the UK: ScreenSkills.com/HETV

ScreenSkills and the BBC have today co-published a new report highlighting the opportunities and challenges currently facing the UK’s rapidly evolving #DigitalContentCreator (DCC) sector. The study, Creator Skills: Progression, Provision and Priorities, conducted by global Creative Industries consultancy Olsberg•SPI, engaged with DCCs and UK screen industry representatives across the UK Nations and Regions to understand how creator skills compare to film and television sector skills. The research centres around creator engagement, with the report's findings grounded in the experiences and realities of DCCs. The report shows growing convergence between the film and television sector and the creator community, with a need to support cross-sector transition for DCCs into film and television work and film and television professionals into digital-first production. The study also explores how the #film and #television industry, alongside creator-sector bodies and government, can convene to support the UK creator sector to enable them to progress, scale and build sustainable creative content businesses for the future. The new report highlights the following key findings: 🗣️ Many creators develop their skills through informal, practice-based learning and peer mentoring rather than formal training. 🌍 Digital platforms provide a lower geographical barrier to creator career entry across the UK Nations and Regions in comparison to television and film, but access to film and television entry networks can still be skewed towards London and bigger cities. 🛠️ Creators require a range of creative, business, technical and transversal skills to succeed. While technical production skills, such as video recording and editing, are fundamental, platform literacy, storytelling, two-way communication with audiences and resilience are critical skills setting successful creators apart. 🎬 The DCC and film and television sectors share many core creative and technical skills, although many of these are applied differently in practice. 💼 Legal, IP, financial and employment-management skills become more important as creators scale, particularly when they enter commercial partnerships, hire teams and seek to protect their original formats. 🛡️ Online safety, harassment, isolation and wellbeing pressures are major challenges in sustaining creator careers, especially when audience growth occurs rapidly without appropriate support structures. Learn more about the report: https://lnkd.in/eGXX4RNh

Glasgow-based Producer/Director Evie Greenstreet took part in ScreenSkills’ #UnscriptedTVSkillsFund supported programme, Become a self-shooting PD, delivered by DV Talent to help experienced crew progress into Producer/Director roles. After returning from working in Australia to unscripted production in Scotland, Evie used the programme to sharpen her skills, rebuild her confidence and strengthen her network within the UK unscripted industry. “The course helped build my confidence as a Producer/Director, giving me a strong foundation to move into producing and directing full time.” As part of the programme, Evie undertook edit producing and additional #Avid training, which she was able to put into practice during her placement with Rogan on a new Channel 4 observational documentary series. She has since secured a year-long contract with The Garden on 24 Hours in Police Custody - an exciting next step in her career. The Unscripted TV Skills Fund works with industry to provide training and development opportunities that help experienced crew build skills, confidence and networks, and progress their careers in unscripted television. Find out more about training opportunities in unscripted TV at ScreenSkills.com/training. #Scotland #UnscriptedTV #ProducerDirector #TVProduction #FactualTV

I'm proud to manage the Make a Move programme for the HETV team at ScreenSkills (linkedin tells me it's my 4 year anniversary this month). I'm even prouder of the fantastic crew we support to progress and those productions that really get behind implementing a structure of support around people taking on new challenges. This is the stuff that makes the job worth doing. Granite Harbour very definitely got behind the fabulous Kelly Sloan and other crew. Thank you LA Productions and Penny Davies. Learn more about Make a Move below.

Delighted to be joining ScreenSkills as Chief Executive this November. Brilliant organisation, vital mission - I can’t wait to get started and build on the team’s great work. 👇

Through our #TraineeFinder programme, Scotland-based trainee Karys had the opportunity to work in the costume department on The Dark S1 - gaining hands-on experience in high-end television and building her skills on production. Her work made a strong impression on costume supervisor, Hayley McCready, who highlighted her enthusiasm, work ethic and willingness to take on new challenges. 🗣️ “Our experience with Karys, our Trainee Finder trainee, has been fantastic. She is an excellent addition to our team and I hope we have inspired her to continue on her path into the industry. She is hard working, conscientious, respectful and very good at retaining information. Without a doubt, the best trainee we have ever had." Since then, Karys has continued to build her experience through further placements supported by the #HETVSkillsFund, including working on Shetland. Trainee Finder supports and places new talent in paid placement opportunities across film, children’s TV and HETV productions shooting across the UK that contribute to our Skills Funds. Find out more about training opportunities for a career in film and TV at ScreenSkills.com/training Learn more about Trainee Finder: https://lnkd.in/eq2nqjdt #HETV #TVcareers #CostumeDepartment