“ScreenSkills has completely changed my life,” says CBeebies presenter Gyasi Sheppy, who, having achieved his dream of becoming a TV presenter, is now aiming to be the first Northern Irish man to compete on Strictly Come Dancing.
“Performing is something I’ve wanted to do since primary school. I was THAT kid in the choir and in everything. Coming from a disadvantaged background with a single mum with four kids it was never a possibility to pay for lots of training so I had to go down the free classes and summer schemes route but it was doing something I loved."
After leaving school he worked for The Walt Disney Company aboard Disney Cruise Line and at Disneyland Paris and taught children at theatre National Stage NI and Belfast School of Performing Arts. But it was the impending arrival of his 30th birthday that prompted Gyasi to pursue his ambition of becoming a TV presenter: “I thought if I don’t try it now I never will.”
So he left his hometown of Lisburn in Northern Ireland during the pandemic and moved to London, supporting himself by working as a medical secretary in Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital in Surrey.
He also put together a more professional showreel than was uploaded to YouTube and social media channels. It led to a senior BBC producer contacting him via Facebook.
“I started trembling; I ran round in circles screaming!” says Gyasi. He was asked to audition and was sent a song to sing but then did not hear anything.
A fortnight later a film student friend sent him a link to a ScreenSkills-supported presenting course, Shine on Screen / Get Seen – Get Connected, funded by the TV Skills Fund. Gyasi says he is embarrassed to say that he almost did not do the two-day webinar as it came a fortnight after his BBC audition.
“But I’m so happy I did,” he says, as not only did he learn more about the industry and how it works, he realised how much of a networking opportunity the courses can be too; almost immediately after the webinar had finished one of the producers on it recommended him to an agent.
“The ScreenSkills course finished on a Wednesday night at 5pm and by 6pm I had a call from a London agent,” explains Gyasi. “I thought I can actually be a TV presenter!”.
That agent was Becca Barr who manages Alison Hammond and it led to him securing an Irish agent too.
Gyasi then remembered one of the things on the ScreenSkills course that he had learnt, which was to contact people and let them know about his successes.
“I emailed CBeebies as I’d not heard from them for a month so I assumed I’d not got the job and said thanks for the opportunity and asked if they had anything else they thought I might be suitable for please could they email my agent.”
“Twenty minutes later I got a call to say sorry that no-one had got back to me and was I available for a screen test at MediaCity?”
After the screen test and a Zoom with an executive producer he landed his current presenting job on CBeebies, becoming the first openly LGBT children’s presenter in the channel’s history: “My career has been predominantly working with young people, which I think helped get the job. So within two or three weeks my life had changed in front of my eyes.”
His new goal is to be “the first male from Northern Ireland to be on Strictly Come Dancing” and his advice to anyone of thinking of applying for a ScreenSkills course is, “just got for it. It is a great opportunity and it helped me so much.”