Natalie Anderson has had two placements through the ScreenSkills High-end TV Trainee Finder programme and both were positive experiences, “Everyone was really helpful and helped me with any questions I had,” she says. She worked on the second series of the Sky Max cyberwar thriller Cobra, and more recently on the BBC police drama The Responder (starring Martin Freeman), which is set in her native Liverpool.
Property master Alistair Brauders brought Natalie on board for The Responder after she had worked for him previously. He was also the person who told her about ScreenSkills’ High-end TV Trainee Finder programme. “I work hard and show initiative,” says Natalie, “and I think he saw that and wanted to help build on my skills.
“In addition, I don't think there are that many women who do props and he was giving me the opportunities to show I could do it.”
Natalie grew up in Liverpool and attended the Liverpool Media Academy (LMA), where she took a degree in film and TV production, graduating in 2019.
She is now based in the city and is delighted that so many High-end TV productions such as The Responder - which had several Trainee Finder trainees on the production - are being filmed in Liverpool and the North West. “Maybe I'm just hearing about it more but it does feel that there's a lot going on in the North,” she says. “It's always good when your city gets more attention.”
LMA helped Natalie get her first job, as a production trainee on the Netflix drama series The Irregulars, and it was on set that she realised which direction her career would take.
“I walked into the props room and thought, 'this looks interesting', and I asked if I could work in there for a while and try it. I ended up staying there for the rest of the job.”
The attraction for Natalie is, she says: “It's quite practical and hands-on and you dress all types of sets, so it's not the same thing all the time.
“I get quite bored with routine so it's ideal for me in that there's no typical day, it's always different. On The Responder, say, we [the props department] would turn up and have a plan in place, and that may involve a set we have to dress, and a set we have to strike.
“And there would be props coming in and you would have to check everything's OK, and for stuff that has to go back you would have to check it wasn't damaged.”
Natalie says she doesn't have a detailed plan yet of how her career will unfurl, “I try to take it as it happens because you never know what job is going to come your way, and you never assume that you're in a job until you're there.” But she does have ambitions.
“I've branched into doing stores - as a store person documenting things coming in and going out - and I think I might like to continue doing that. But I'll just have to see where that takes me.”
She is a fan of what ScreenSkills does, saying: “ScreenSkills gives people an opportunity who otherwise wouldn't have had one to come into the industry, and then step up and prove themselves.
“It's also important in helping productions train up people, in making it easier for them to take on individuals through the Trainee Finder programme.
“I had no film or TV background before and didn't know anybody who worked in the industry. If it wasn't for ScreenSkills and my uni giving me the opportunities they have, I wouldn't have achieved what I have. I'd still be trying to get in.”
And although she has worked solidly since graduating and thankfully hasn't had any hiccups in her career, Natalie says ScreenSkills has her back.
“I feel if there was anything important I needed help with, they'd be there for me. You feel very supported by ScreenSkills and I'm really thankful they've helped me and gave me an opportunity.”