UK Centre of Screen Excellence comes to Elstree Screen Arts
BIG NEWS
Yes, after a couple of years in the making, we can finally announce that ESA have joined forces with ScreenSkills, the BFI, the NFTS and Elstree Studios to bring a UK centre of Screen Excellence to Elstree Screen Arts Academy.
The Press Release
UK Centre of Screen Excellence launches in Elstree & Borehamwood
The UK’s second Centre of Screen Excellence will be launched in Elstree & Borehamwood, marking another major milestone in the drive to offer relevant opportunities and training to young people who are looking for careers in film and high-end TV.
The industry-led skills body ScreenSkills, Elstree Screen Arts Academy, Elstree Film Studios and the National Film and Television School have joined forces to create the Centre of Screen Excellence: Elstree at ESA, the specialist screen arts training academy built on the former site of MGM British Studios. This new Centre of Screen Excellence will offer creative and technical traineeships for 18 and 19 year-olds in areas of skills need.
The initiative is supported by ScreenSkills with National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI (British Film Institute) as part of the BFI’s Future Film Skills strategy which highlighted the need for 10,000 new recruits into the industry by 2022. Centres of Screen Excellence are designed to bring together local and national partners to build capacity in production hubs with a more inclusive, highly skilled workforce.
Elstree and Borehamwood is an excellent place to develop the initiative which launched with the Centre of Screen Excellence: Yorkshire last year. It is home to a number of large studio spaces and production companies including Elstree Film Studios, Universal Production Services, BBC Elstree, BBC Studioworks and Sky Studios Elstree, opening in 2022. Elstree Screen Arts Academy will work with partners across the region to provide work placements and mentoring in support of the Centre of Screen Excellence traineeship.
The Centre of Screen Excellence at Elstree Screen Arts Academy will deliver and build on courses in costume, grip, hair and make-up, lighting and production assistant which were developed with industry practitioners for the pilot Centre of Screen Excellence in Yorkshire. Elstree Screen Arts is further developing its own courses to meet local demand including in art direction (2021) and sound (from 2022).
Up to 60 places will be available from this September in these six key skills shortage areas and candidates who successfully complete the course will receive a Centre of Screen Excellence UK Craft Skills Certificate.
The courses will provide applied training from Elstree Screen Arts Academy. Trainees will receive specialist technical tuition from partner professionals within the film and TV industry and on-set production placements at world-class studios. Students will also attend two ‘bootcamps’ with the National Film and Television School designed to make them work-ready by preparing them for the specific requirements of working in productions and for freelance life (including tax, invoicing and networking).
The Centre of Screen Excellence: Elstree is committed to providing increased access and opportunities to young people currently under-represented within the creative sector.
Quotes from those involved:
Chris Mitchell, Principal at Elstree Screen Arts Academy, said:
“We are so proud to be designated as a UK Centre of Screen Excellence, delivering traineeships at ESA in these in-demand jobs for the screen industry. It’s exactly what we are all about; providing motivated and talented young people from all walks of life with the specialist technical and creative training to break into the film and TV industries. We look forward to some alumni Baftas in the coming years.”
Seetha Kumar, CEO ScreenSkills, said:
“The collaboration between all those involved in this new centre is a fantastic example of how working together can create opportunities for young people from a wide variety of backgrounds and support the screen industries with a skilled pipeline of talent. Building an inclusive workforce is embedded in what we do and giving people the right tools to do a job well is an important first step.”
Ben Roberts, Chief Executive of the BFI, said:
“This is an exciting step in our strategy to help train a wider workforce for the UK’s rapidly growing film and TV industry, using the first Centre of Excellence in Yorkshire as a blueprint for further centres around the UK. This new centre in Elstree will help the local area to capitalise on the industry’s increasing demand for skills.”
Roger Morris, Chair and Founder of the ESA and MD of Elstree Studios said:
"I'm delighted to be able to join with ESA and ScreenSkills and the NFTS to provide vocational education and training for the creative industries and to provide young people with industry placements to ensure that they get the hands on training to be employable across our industry. It is a testament to the team’s hard work at ESA over the last 8 years that they are now an integral part of this great initiative by Screen Skills and the NFTS for our rapidly expanding Film and TV industry.”
Gareth Ellis-Unwin, Head of Film and Animation, ScreenSkills and Academy and Bafta Award-winning producer, said:
“We are delighted that the Centre of Screen Excellence: Elstree will build on the model developed and launched last year in Yorkshire so that young people and their parents and guardians can be confident in the training being offered and film and television benefit from a properly skilled local workforce. I shot both The King’s Speech and my film Exam at Elstree and am delighted to be continuing the connection by supporting local talent to get into an industry I love.”
About ScreenSkills
ScreenSkills is the industry-led skills body for the screen industries - film, television (including children's, unscripted and high-end), VFX, animation and games. We are supporting economic recovery and future innovation and growth across the whole of the UK by investing in the skilled and inclusive workforce who are critical to the global success of the screen sector.
We are funded by industry contributions to our Skills Funds, with National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of its Future Film Skills strategy to help people get into the industry and progress within it, and by Arts Council England.
About Elstree Screen Arts Academy
ESA is the creative school for the culture industry, offering learners aged 14 to 19 a new kind of specialist and applied education and creative training. The academy’s specialism in the crafts, trades and technical disciplines that underpin the Film, TV and Theatre industries. As a UK Centre for Screen Excellence, ESA achieves nationally leading results in Production Crafts, Creative Media Production and technical disciplines like Lighting, Sound and Art Direction. We work with industry partners like Elstree Studios, SKY, BBC and NBC Universal to increase access to the creative industries for dedicated, talented young people, whatever their story.
About NFTS
Recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema BAFTA, the NFTS is one of the world's leading film, games and television schools. NFTS alumni have gone on to win 10 Oscars and 137 BAFTAs with alumni including Oscar winning cinematographer, Roger Deakins; BAFTA winning director, David Yates, (known for directing the Harry Potter films); Oscar winning animator Nick Park (creator of Wallace & Gromit), Oscar winning composer Dario Marianelli & BAFTA winning director, Lynne Ramsay.
About the BFI
The BFI is a cultural charity, and the UK’s lead organisation for film, television and the moving image. Our mission is to:
Support creativity and actively seek out the next generation of UK storytellers
Grow and care for the BFI National Archive, the world’s largest film and television archive
Offer the widest range of UK and international moving image culture through our programmes and festivals - delivered online and in venue
Use our knowledge to educate and deepen public appreciation and understanding
Work with Government and industry to ensure the continued growth of the UK’s screen industries
Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter. The BFI is the distributor of National Lottery funds for film. The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Tim Richards.