The film and television industry can be a tough place to work, especially if you make your way up without the kind of support that ScreenSkills offers. Ursula Haworth, who is stepping up to line producer from first AD on Sky’s Brassic thanks to ScreenSkills’ HETV Make a Move programme, says: “If I had my time again, I would start my film and TV career with ScreenSkills. ScreenSkills is an organisation dedicated to training people and is there as a safety net to catch them if there is something not quite working or if there is a problem. It’s amazing that you can ring someone at ScreenSkills whenever you need support. Sometimes these conversations help you put your feet back on the ground.”
Ursula left school at 16 with one O-level and went to work in factories. She says: “I worked in shoe factories and curtain factories as a sewing machinist. You name it, I’ve made it – tents, rucksacks, wedding dresses – all sorts.”
Ursula is from a tiny Lancashire town, called Bacup, which coincidently is where Brassic is filmed. Reflecting on the journey she has been on to get from working in a factory to being line producer on Brassic, Ursula says: “Sometimes I think back to where I’ve come from and where I am now, I can’t take it all in at once, so I take it day by day.”
Ursula knew that unless she did something she would have to continue working in factories for the rest of her life. She decided to go to night school and did a course in computer literacy and shorthand. Following that, she did a degree in media and communications.
“I then managed to get some work experience with a local writer, Paul Abbott (Clocking Off; Shameless), on one of his productions. Six months later, Pat Lees who was the line producer on the production I did work experience on, remembered me and called me up and said would I go to an interview in London. I got my first job offer from that as a runner and a driver for World Productions on a show called Attachments. I was 31 – the oldest runner in town. After production running for a couple of years, I did a floor runners job. After doing that for a while, I was then promoted to third AD and that blew my mind. I then did a small stint as a second AD and following that was a first AD for 10-11 years.”
“Last year I was first AD on Brassic. During Covid, I was doing the schedule from my bedroom, and they brought someone else in to do the floor. That enabled me to build a good relationship with the producer and when they needed a line producer this year, she asked me if I would come onto the Make a Move programme with ScreenSkills to step up from first AD to line producer. So here I am. It’s mind blowing and a very big job.”
When asked about the importance of a programme like Make a Move, Ursula replied: “It’s massively important that ScreenSkills has developed and introduced a programme like Make a Move. Every move I’ve done in this industry before this, I’ve done without anyone to help. You’re only as good as your last job, so if you’re a newbie you have to be as good as someone who has been doing it forever. Only the strong survive. Stepping up to line producer is a big move to do without help and being on Make a Move gives me that support. The producer here is brilliant. I can go to her with anything. To have someone I can go to constantly and who can help me get through each day is amazing. I know so much more now than when I started Make a Move three months ago. When you have no one to go to, it’s like being pushed off a cliff and that’s why I always turned down the opportunity to move to line producer previously. When I got asked this time by someone I trust and I knew ScreenSkills would be there for extra support, I jumped at the chance. It’s just incredible support. I can function as a human being while learning a new job in a pressured environment. I just wouldn’t have done it without Make a Move.”
She adds: “If people like me aren’t given the opportunity to develop their careers through programmes like this, the industry will die. You can’t keep relying on the same people. Even the Queen has a replacement! You need to bring new people through, and I know that ScreenSkills also has programmes that bring new people like me in, which I think is brilliant. So many people out there don’t know it’s an option as a job. You need to bring people through and train them properly. If you don’t do something correctly in this industry, it only takes one thing to go wrong and the whole house tumbles down so ScreenSkills being there and ensuring training is done properly from one level to the next gives you a strong structure for the industry and it ensures your mental health is protected at the same time.”
When asked what it’s like working on Brassic, Ursula said: “Working on Brassic for me feels like a big circle as it’s shot where I grew up – how mad is that? I grew up in Bacup and if you had been there, you’d understand how crazy that is – it’s tiny and no one’s ever heard of it. All the things I experienced as a child are there like when I had my ballroom or karate lessons on a Saturday morning above the library. They are still doing those classes and they still have the posters in the window. I now live in Haslingden 10 miles away and Brassic shoots there too. I literally live in Brassic location land. It feels a little bit like coming home but in a different way. If I thought about it all, where I’ve come from and where I am now, I think I’d expire from disbelief. I never dreamed I would be working here. Brassic is my full circle I suppose!”
For more information about Make a Move, please visit: https://www.screenskills.com/industry-partners/high-end-tv-skills-fund/high-end-tv-programmes-for-crew-and-talent/