If someone came up to me in my final year of university and told me that I’d be working in the Film and TV industry just two weeks after I graduate, I genuinely would have thought they were just messing with me!!
But that is exactly what happened. Let me explain how…
Pursuing a career in the creative industries always felt like a far-off dream. Something fun to yap about. As news headlines highlight job shortages, freezes in funding, AI takeovers, and corporate monopolies, creative careers have never seemed less possible. I chased ‘safe’ career paths for most of my teenage years because I didn’t know better, and those alternative opportunities were not readily available to me. We hate under-representation over here.
Lacking in proper guidance or knowledge about navigating this industry (schools listen up please), I followed the crowd and went to uni, studying English Literature and History in Edinburgh. Going there completelyyyy changed my life.
There are creative people at every street corner in Edinburgh and countless university societies itching for students to join. I plunged myself into the theatre and filmmaking societies. Yes it was embarrassing at first and yes there were a lot of rejections. Through these societies I got the chance to perform in, and assistant produce, a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is the world’s biggest performing arts festival. It was a wild time.
However, this was all a just hobby to me. I was still applying to corporate opportunities because I was worried about financial security (freeeee us from capitalism).
After applying to – and swiftly getting rejected by – some law internships at the beginning of my third year, my mindset changed. I barely flinched at these rejections, but I would feel borderline melancholic at the thought of not being able to work in film. Dramatic I know, but it’s true. In one of my frenzied journal entries, I literally wrote down my decision to take this seriously. And that really was a huge turning point…
The mental decision that this is what I was going to do.
After that I spent a few months researching – following industry news outlets, finding arts councils, arts charities, funding bodies, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube and TikTok videos about how to get started in the industry. These rabbit-holes pointed me in the direction of trainee positions as a first step into the industry. I tried applying to all the trainee schemes I could find online, but most of them had the caveat that you couldn’t be a student. Cue an even more frustrated Noor.
So, after much time wasted banging my head against a wall and crying to my friends about the fact that I was already too behind (at 20???) to start a career in film/TV, I wrote out a realistic list of things I could do in two years. I wanted to prepare myself for freedom from student shackles. Making my own films, networking, doing work experience, reading scripts, watching everything, and shadowing were featured on this behemoth list.
Cut to a year and a half later, I had founded a women-led production company with a friend of mine; we produced 10 short films – one of which premiered at a BAFTA-qualifying film festival. I’m still not over that, actually. I landed a place on ITV’s work experience programme, secured my first job as a production assistant for an NFTS short film (I literally got this job through an Instagram story advert), and I volunteered at Glasgow Film Festival. I also received the amazing Creative Access Career Development Bursary. As a writer with no formal training, it’s enabled me to join an NFTS lab which has been transformative.
Fuelling my procrastination, I signed up for a free 2-day production training course run by NFTS, Screenskills, and BECTU Vision two weeks before my dissertation was due. Co-incidentally my future boss was hiring production trainees for a new ITV show specifically from this course. I was recommended for an interview by my lovely tutor. Whilst luck was definitely on my side, all the work I’d done at university prepared me – my CV couldn’t have been more ready. I was approached, did the interview, and then got the job!
Six months later and I’ve had the most amazing experience working for ITV and Poison Pen on a new HETV scripted drama.
I hope my journey so far is somewhat inspiring and encourages other young people, especially those from under-represented backgrounds, to see themselves in this industry.
Good luck legends,
Noor x
