Having worked in a range of jobs - from bank JP Morgan to chair of Conservative Friends of Poland - Teresa Potocka brought a wealth of experience when she made the move into the television industry.
However, she has found it a challenge launching Sensethefuture Pictures and getting production projects off the ground, hence turning to ScreenSkills for a mentor.
“This is not my background and so far working in this industry has been quite challenging," she says, especially "as a female sole founder you're pushed to your limits... you don’t get support just like that. You’ve got to go out there and find it. You find that a lot of time you’re isolated, so you do need to go out and find mentors.”
With a background in finance, Teresa moved towards the industry after being approached for some help by Breakthru Films - the 3D animation film company that made the Oscar-winning Peter & The Wolf. She had come across them during work on strengthening ties between the UK and Poland.
“They asked for my help and that was my segue into the industry,” Teresa said.
She made the move into media by setting up a marketing and communications company in 2007, focusing on building brands and digital products. Three years ago, she rebranded her own company as Sensethefuture Pictures, to focus more on TV programme development.
“We started with short-form and then focused on long-form TV, by way of going to the US with Pact on their export accelerator from 2018 onwards. We also focused on streaming and tech and how audience engagement happens and how that translates into views in broadcast television.”
She networked tirelessly and attended every trade event possible, becoming a founding member of the Broadcasting Content Beyond Borders in the Republic of Korea and joining the Digital Production Partnership Advisory Group in May 2020.
Teresa has also taken part in the UK Trade Missions to Realscreen in the US for the last three years and NATPE, plus UK Trade Missions to MIPTV and MIPCOM, the Trade Mission to India organised by the Indian government to The Entertainment Technology Show and the TV Leaders’ Summit in Paris.
Plus the company got a listing on BBC Pitch and was long-listed for Channel 5 diversity funding.
But she realised, “in this industry you need credits and my senior management experience was not taken into account.” She came across ScreenSkills and tried to apply for a series producer course, but could not get on because she did not have enough production experience.
It was then that she decided she needed help to “develop my skills” so she applied to ScreenSkills for a company mentor.
“They have a very thorough matchmaking process which is brilliant; I was very pleased with the result,” says Teresa. She was matched with Jason Mitchell, creative director of the London-based independent production company The Connected Set.
All their meetings were held over Zoom and Teresa says Jason helped her realise that “maybe my development skills weren’t up to scratch”. She also discovered she had, “been running the company and not developing the treatments relevant to the different commissioners”. In addition, Jason showed her how to “be a better company owner in the industry.”
He gave her some very practical advice, especially when they explored, “not just how to make a show, but also the commercial aspect of putting a series together. Plus the global market [and] how much creative time and energy you need to put in and how develop into series. It was all really useful.”
Teresa’s advice to those considering applying for a ScreenSkills mentor is to, “think through what it is that will take you to the next level.
“What is it that might be preventing you from progressing to where you see yourself next year or two? What do you want to be doing in the future and how do you want to scale up? Mentoring enables you to achieve that and is very powerful.”