This content was submitted by Angela Law, Founder Director for Every Sense Ltd; a specialist business consultancy helping people and companies in the screen-based creative industries to grow, prosper and achieve their potential.
My particular areas of interest and expertise include value proposition, differentiation, marketing, sales development, and how creative companies can grow and improve performance through the effective training and development of their people.
As part of an extensive business education, I attended the Strategic Management Course at Hult Ashridge Business School. I have been an elected board member of EVCOM and have provided mentor advice and support to undergraduate students in the screen-based industries. I am also a regular speaker and chair at industry conferences.
Have you benefited from any ScreenSkills support so far?
I have attended various “Train the Trainer” programmes that ScreenSkills have delivered through Claire Collins Consultancy, and have recently completed the formally accredited and recognised Level 3 Award in Education and Training which is endorsed by ScreenSkills and has been specially contextualised for the screen industries. This qualification is recognised across the sector as an indication of excellent training pedagogy as well as industry experience.
I found this course to be exceptionally well-organised and supportive which tackled key topics - some of which may get less attention in the day to day busy-ness of developing and delivering commercial courses to screen professionals.
What effect has this support had on your career so far?
Since attending the Level 3 Award in Education and Training course I have developed a much better focus on learning outcomes, better awareness and practical application of inclusive approaches. Just the other week I received excellent feedback to a course because I encouraged more reflection. This was entirely because of the Level 3 which has encouraged and supported reflective practice throughout enabling understanding of reflective practice and has encouraged reflection on implementing more reflective practice!
What is the proudest moment of your career so far?
Winning awards is always nice; and I’ve won plenty of those, but it was always so much more satisfying when I saw my teams win those. Luckily, I’m still having proud moments but nowadays they come from seeing either individuals or whole companies really having a sense of progress and achievement and learning and doing the things that they didn’t think were possible. And it’s a privilege thinking I can play a part in helping them get there.
If you could give advice to someone interested in pursuing a career in the screen industries, what would you say?
With regards to the Level 3 Award in Education and Training you will need commitment to complete this course, but it is worthwhile for the invaluable ideas and the way it makes you reflect on your own training practice and make improvements. The trainers are immensely supportive and super role models.
The advice I would give to anyone interested in perusing a career in the screen industries is ‘do your research!’ There is so much information out there, that it’s possible to find out about just about every aspect of the screen industries and relevant courses (including further education and degree courses) with some diligent Googling. The other thing I’d say, is to overcome all your fears and be proactive if you love a particular production company’s work then find out who the leaders are and approach them. It doesn’t take much, to check them out on LinkedIn. My Top Tips would be: employ flattery, tell them how much you enjoy their work and secondly ask for their ‘insight’, few people can resist this! And seriously, most people in the creative industries are passionate about what they do, passionate about new talent and passionate about sharing opportunities. The final thing I would say is, do what you say you want to do i.e. if you want to be a writer, then what are you writing? If you want to be a director, then what are you directing? If you’re passionate about hair and make-up, how are you applying those skills to give yourself experience? The more you can demonstrate your enthusiasm and your ability to make things happen for yourself, the easier it will be to get in front of the right people.