Start here
You have never been on a set. This page is written for you.
Nobody is born knowing what a clapper loader does. Everybody on a unit learned it from somebody else, usually in their first week. A production is a temporary company: it hires people into departments, shoots, dissolves, and the same people re-form somewhere else. That is why it hires on who has worked with whom.
What you do not need
None of this.
- A degree. Nobody on a unit has ever asked to see one.
- Your own camera, or any kit at all.
- Contacts. Contacts are the thing you are trying to get, not the thing you need first.
- A showreel or a portfolio. We do not ask for one.
- Previous experience on a set. That is what the course is.
Do these
In this order, starting today.
01
Learn the words
Read the Careers A–Z and the glossary. Free, no account, no email address. Understanding what is being said on a radio is most of your first week.
02
Register your interest
One form. It puts you on the list for every course, so you hear when something opens.
03
Come to something short first
An open day or a screening tells you whether you like the work.
Operator filming a fire effect at an outdoor event
Also here
The rest of it.
Already working?
This page is for the way in. There is a separate one for people past the first credit.
Where
Not only London, and not only the North.
We have run units in London, Buckinghamshire, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Farnham, North Wales, Lancashire and Edinburgh. Courses run from Pinewood, in London and at 3 Mills, and in Liverpool, and a production simulation can be set up anywhere in the country. Where you live decides which site is realistic.
