ScreenSkills’ commitment to supporting the UK screen workforce through training, opportunities and guidance is designed to reach and develop careers of all experience levels. This is only made possible through the support of our training provider partners and the contributions of productions to the skills funds and the BFI, who award us National Lottery funds.
As the 2021/22 financial year comes to an end, we’re taking a look at some of the courses, programmes, events and training opportunities that ScreenSkills hosted to support the screen workforce across the industry.
Summary
From 1 April 2021 to 30 March 2022 46,164 people took part in one of the 875 ScreenSkills activities, with many taking in more than one and resulting in a total of 70,260 activity interactions.
Over 15% of those classed themselves as Black, Asian or minority ethnic, 49% were female and 71% lived outside London.
There were 39,699 new ScreenSkills accounts created. 42% were by those new to the screen industry, 23% were in the early stages of their career while 28% classed themselves as experienced and a further 8% as expert.
E-learning
As the world adjusted to new ways of working – and living – with Covid measures, ScreenSkills’ series of online training and e-learning modules invited industry professionals to develop their skills from the comfort of their homes.
With productions able to continue with (newly introduced) safety precautions brought in, our basic coronavirus training for productions module enabled professionals to get fully trained and set-ready to join crews across the UK. Launched during the original 2020 lockdown, in the year 21-22 a total of 38,999 people completed the training module, receiving their certificate of completion.
ScreenSkills launched a new suite of modules committed to support real change in the industry. Each of the training modules aim to improve the working environment for screen professionals and have collectively been completed by 12,968 people.
Another suite of modules aimed to support prospective new entrants to the industry with guides that offered the best advice on how to break into the screen industries. Getting into the screen industries provided an introduction to working in the screen industries alongside focused modules on how to identify the right role, how to find work, how to apply for work and how to perform well in an interview.
The modules saw 3,455 people use the guides with modules on how to identify the right role and how to find work in the screen industry proving the most popular options.
Read more about current eLearning opportunities.
Events
Throughout the year, ScreenSkills hosted events that offered industry expertise and advice on ways to both join and progress in a career across the screen sectors.
Moving between virtual and in-person events allowed those from across the UK to take part and discover new opportunities. The 235 events ranged from introductions for new entrants to sector specific guidance for those looking to develop new skills in their field and saw 5,306 people attend.
Highlights included an introduction to the hair and make-up transfer programme that encouraged those with experience of working with Black hair or make-up for people of colour to consider a new career in the screen industries. The event saw 722 people book to attend.
A dedicated season of events saw ScreenSkills focus on the emerging world of virtual production with a series of workshops, webinars and studio open day visits. Making Virtual Production Real saw 702 people book to attend across seven events. The series launched with A Beginner’s Guide webinar hosted by Matt Rank, Manager of Virtual Production at Netflix, and is available to view on the website.
ScreenSkills joined forces with games industry partners to form Careers in the Games Industry, events held both virtually and in-person to highlight career pathways in the games sector. Across the four events, 355 people booked their place on the guest list.
Read more about careers in the games industry and watch a masterclass from an event.
Open Doors events allow ScreenSkills to travel across the nations and regions of the UK to introduce new initiatives and offer industry guidance. With events taking place in Norfolk, Wales, Northern Ireland, the South West, Scotland and the North East among others, the 2021-22 year Open Doors events saw 1,318 attendees book tickets.
Demystifying unscripted TV invited those interested in the sector to learn more about unscripted TV and how to get a role within in. The series of events took place across the UK, with 295 taking part.
Find out about events currently open to book.
Training
Training helps make and shape careers in the screen industry. Those looking to take their first steps in their career journey can turn to ScreenSkills for new opportunities that can give them the knowledge they need to take those first steps.
Professionals of all experience levels can use ScreenSkills training to sharpen their skills, develop new ones or discover ways to progress in their careers.
In the past 12 months, 3,475 people took part in one of 525 ScreenSkills’ training programme to do just that.
Get the Knowledge, a training series supported by the Children’s TV Skills Fund, covered the essentials of working with – and creating content for – children, with 350 people signing up to take part in one to the training sessions.
Among other initiatives, popular courses included training in animation with an introduction to 3D rigging, supporting neurodiverse trainees, unconscious bias training, accounts industry transfer programme and business affairs and copyright training.
Find out more about current training opportunities
Bursaries
Throughout the year ScreenSkills bursaries have offered cash grants to those looking to remove financial obstacles from their career progression. These can be used for training, travel, driving lessons, computer packages and software, equipment purchases or other expenses involved with developing a career in the screen industry.
From the beginning of April 2021 through to the end of March 2022, 729 people have benefitted from receiving a ScreenSkills bursary to support their journey in film, HETV, animation, children’s TV, VFX and unscripted TV.
Read how a ScreenSkills bursary helped develop careers:
Find out more about ScreenSkills bursaries.
Programmes
ScreenSkills programmes encompass every stage of a career in the screen industries. The past year took in 94 ScreenSkills programmes, reaching 1,789 individuals. Some of the highlights include:
- A new apprenticeship programme offered new entrants the opportunity to take their first steps in the industry with placements at production partners including Prime Video, Sky, Banijay UK and Lime Pictures. It drew 557
- Trainee Finder, a paid placement programme for new entrants, saw 336 successful applicants accepted and now ready for placement to work in a range of roles across film, children’s and high-end TV.
- Introduced in 2021, the Film Forward programme is a career progression initiative to address under-representation in film. There were 101 applicants for the 14 places available. Read how the programme helped the careers of Chad Orororo and Harfun Li.
- Mentoring programmes, offered by ScreenSkills and industry partners as part of the ScreenSkills Mentoring Network, offer one-to-one careers guidance tailored to the individual to help them progress in their screen career. In the 21/22 year, over 1,024 mentees were matched with a mentor across the network, pairing experienced professionals with those at an earlier stage in their career. More details of the industry partners involved can be found on our website.
- Make a Move is designed to recognise talent within children’s and high-end TV and provide them with the opportunity to step up to a more senior role. This year saw 180 people nominated for the programme by industry colleagues across a range of production, post-production, craft and tech roles. Hear from Avneet Chauhan and Lewis Field on their experiences of the programme.
Find out more about ScreenSkills programmes.