Georgina has a background in drama and theatre arts having performed as a young adult at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Edinburgh Fringe.
But getting a job in film and TV seemed “like a pipedream”, until she discovered the Centre of Screen Excellence: Yorkshire (CoSE:Y) Production Assistant Craft Course on the ScreenSkills website which led to a string of credits that means her career is now well under way.
“I live in the Yorkshire Dales, which is oozing with creativity and talent, but it was proving tough to break into the industry. I had sent out numerous applications and faced a lot of rejection a couple of years back. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to gain experience, but couldn’t get any opportunities without the experience,” Georgina says.
Her confidence was being dented, but determined not to give up, she clicked on the ScreenSkills website and started doing some of the free e-learning training including coronavirus basic awareness and tackling harassment and bullying in the workplace.
Then she saw the production assistant course, delivered by the National Film and Television School (NFTS) for CoSE:Y which is a partnership between ScreenSkills, Screen Yorkshire and education institutions, funded by the BFI with National Lottery funds as part of the BFI Future Film Skills strategy. Georgina thought it sounded perfect, as it trains entry level people in the rigours of production and crucially gives you access to the industry through professionals giving their insights and actual production experience.
“I applied and was surprised and grateful to get on, with a bursary too, which was vital,” says Georgina. “This was March to June last year, so we had to do most of the course online via Zoom, but it was clear from the start it was going to be hands-on.
“The course leader, Rachel Robey (senior producer at Wellington Films), gave us a case study to work on, based on a script her film company had produced, and explained the entire production process – how to break a script down, schedule the production, budget, and source the locations. We were literally on Google Maps trying to find the best places to shoot and how much they’d cost. Suddenly we were understanding the rigours of getting something from paper to film.”
To aid them on their journey, leading industry professionals were brought in from different departments (including assistant directors, producers, production managers and script supervisors) to explain their roles and how the cogs in the machine work - everything to get a show or film on the road.
The end product was a completed case study and Georgina having gained more confidence and insights to succeed.
This was further boosted by her doing the ScreenSkills Mentoring Programme at the same time. Georgina was paired with Louise Jury, part of the senior management team at ScreenSkills, who helped her to set goals and look for opportunities.
One of these cropped up in Birmingham. She noticed that Sky was filming The Colour Room in the city. Whereas before she would have been hesitant to reach out, she found the production manager’s details from IMDB and emailed her saying she was doing the CoSE:Y course with the NFTS and was looking for experience.
“A member of the production team emailed me back and offered me a day of moving equipment around,” says Georgina. “It was great. I got to speak to the location guys, including one of the location managers, Martin Simms, who then lined me up with contacts on the BBC series Doctors.”
Suddenly she had an in. Plus, the course proved to be the course that keeps on giving, as she managed to land work on the Studiocanal film The Railway Children Return through a colleague from the course.
“We filmed for about two or three weeks in the Yorkshire Dales – Haworth – really close to my home, so it worked out perfectly,” Georgina says. “I was looking after the crowd under the assistant directing department, so making sure they were where they needed to be on time.”
The job actually ended up being more than she’d originally expected because Covid meant people were falling ill all the time, so she stepped up as main floor runner, working with the lead cast members, including Sheridan Smith, Jenny Agutter and Tom Courtenay.
“They even asked if anyone had any acting experience to read some lines to the cast members, so I stepped forward to do it, and they were reacting to me, which was hilarious,” laughs Georgina. “I was also the point of communication between the director of photography and assistant director, so had to learn the lingo fast.”
Georgina clearly impressed as the second AD on The Railway Children Return, Chris Marshall, asked if she was free to work on the BBC/HBO series Gentleman Jack as a floor runner, and as a stand-in for lead actress Suranne Jones.
“It was quite weird but brilliant because my role as floor runner was looking after the talent, but then when I’m on set I was doubling for the talent, so the lighting and prop guys could set everything up for when Suranne returned to set,” says Georgina. “I actually learned a lot about things like lighting from the gaffers and sparks, including their unusual lingo, as they said things like, ‘Let’s get some chutney on this!’,”
Georgina was now in hot demand. So much so that she was having to decide whether to turn work down. She turned to her mentor at ScreenSkills throughout for guidance on making these important decisions. “It’s funny looking back at my notes with Louise because my first ones say things like, ‘How do I get into the industry?’ and my final ones recently say, ‘How do I turn down opportunities’?” she says.
After Railway Children and Gentleman Jack came the ITV drama The Confessions of Frannie Langton, where she was a floor runner and base runner, working with the cast, but also liaising between the costume and make-up teams, managing people’s expectations on set.
“My NFTS course skills again kicked in having been given insights from the professionals on how everyone in the different departments function, what they expect, and the value of their roles,” says Georgina.
These skills were again utilised in her most recent work on the Amazon show Citadel as a crowd PA. “I had to oversee crowds of up to 400 for these huge sets with special effects, fires, action vehicles moving, drones overhead and more. Dressing people into the scenes with these potential hazards and cueing them in was really hard work and required me to have my wits about me, but it was great. A real learning experience and fascinating working with the different teams.”
She’s now looking for her next project, knowing she has a good collection of contacts, all the knowledge and support she needs from CoSE:Y and ScreenSkills and the confidence to push on in the industry.
The Centre of Screen Excellence: Yorkshire is a partnership with ScreenSkills, Screen Yorkshire and education institutions and is part of the BFI’s Future Film Skills strategy which is being delivered with National Lottery funds.