These include keynote sessions from award-winning creative producer of the BBC’s The Responder, Barrington Paul Robinson and All3Media’s Head of Sustainable Production, Aaron Matthews. ScreenSkills’ Chief Executive, Seetha Kumar, will open the Congress which is hosted once again by TV Presenter, Ria Hebden.
Alongside our keynote speakers, we also have experts from Sky, Netflix, Final Pixel, Milk Visual Effects, Sunset +Vine, Triple C, BAME in Games, Kiss Games Publishing, Yeti TV, Rockerdale Studios, Pulse Films, Rebellion North, Grads in Games, Sara Putt Associates, and, universities and colleges from across the UK.
The theme for this year’s Congress, which brings educators and screen industry experts together, is Empowering UK screen’s next generation: what students and industry really need.
Across the day, in the form of online filmed recordings of all of the sessions with a live Q&A at 16:00, educators will hear the latest insights from industry experts. They will explain how to support their students in developing the professional skills, experiences and behaviours that are most sought after by industry employers.
Industry feedback that ScreenSkills receives is that these skills are sometimes seen as missing in graduates. The key therefore, is ensuring graduates from colleges and universities have the technical AND professional skills the industry now needs.
Sessions will include:
- Case study - Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
- Embedding technology and innovation
- Professional skills for students
- Improving inclusion, representation and access
- Broadening students' thinking and opportunities
Tim Weiss, Director of Vocational Skills, ScreenSkills, said: “Educators and industry collaborating, sharing knowledge and working together as true partners is at the heart of our successful screen industry.
“Ensuring students are as best prepared as they can be to begin their careers has never been so important. We need to ensure they personally succeed and also that the industry continues to have new talent who are ready to make an impact straight away. Educators play an absolutely crucial role in this through developing the professional skills, experiences and behaviours that industry needs from graduates when they enter their first roles.
“Today’s Congress not only reflects this central aim, it also ensures educators hear from a broad and diverse range of voices from across the screen industry. They will hear both practical insights and information which will not only benefit their students, it will also support their own personal professional development too.”
The speakers today include:
- Barrington Paul Robinson, Creative Producer, Redbag Pictures (award-winning producer whose credits include BBC’s The Responder, Sky’s forthcoming A Town Called Malice)
- Sian Price, Creative Director, Yeti TV (Sian has been the showrunner on a range of series including Coast and Time Team)
- He Sun, VFX Supervisor, Milk Visual Effects (Oscar winning visual effects TV and film agency)
- Natalie Amber, Access and Focus Group Lead, Triple C (Bafta award-winning community interest company promoting the role of disabled people in the arts and media)
- Kish Hirani, Chief Technology Officer, Kiss Publishing and Chair, BAME in Games (BiG)
- Jodi Nelson-Tabor, Business Development & Training Manager, Final Pixel (global creative studio)
- Adam Bourke-Waite, Studio Design Lead, Rebellion North (world-leading games developer with key titles including Sniper Elite and Evil Genius)
- Bianca Gavin, Head of Production for Scripted, Pulse Films (award-winning studio working across scripted, non-fiction, commercials and music videos)
- Ruth Hayman, Chief Operating Officer, Sunset + Vine (national sports production company)
- Aaron Matthews, Head of Sustainable Production, All3Media (world leading independent production and distribution group)
- Jasmin Morris, Head of Business Affairs, Original Film, Sky Cinema
- Stu Richards, Chief Executive and comedy writer/director, Rockerdale Studios (comedy TV production company producing programmes such as BBC3's Jerk, Comedy Central's Bobby & Harriet Get Married, and Channel 4's Mission: Accessible)
- Monika Chowdhary Kuczynski, VFX Production Freelancer (Monika has worked on leading productions including Avenue 5, The Lion Kingand Solo: A Star Wars Story)
- Chika Anisiobi, Production Finance Manager, Netflix (Chika oversees documentary series, unscripted and comedy productions)