Merseyside Students to Start Screen Career to get Unique Opportunity

More than 100 students from across Merseyside are set to take their first steps toward a career in film and television with the chance to learn from some of the leading figures in those industries.

On Thursday (May 7), 120 young people aged 16 to 24 from 15 schools, colleges and support programmes across the region have been invited to BOXPARK for the Skills Summit.

The Skills Summit is part of the Creative Cities Convention (CCC), the UK’s leading conference event for producers and distributors in the fields of film, television, and digital media outside London. This year the convention is being held in Liverpool on May 6 and 7 at Camp and Furnace

The Skills Summit new entrants day is designed it provide a career roadmap to students considering the screen industries for a job but are unsure about how to enter such a competitive field.  

Among those sharing their experience and insight will be Kit Morey, VP Commissioning Editor at Channel 5 and Paramount+, who’ll be giving the opening address, followed by masterclasses from leading industry figures such as: Training and Development Consultant, Leading on Prime Video Pathway, Donna Taberer; LA Productions founder, Colin McKeown MBE; the BBC Academy; Liverpool Football Club; Amazon MGM Studios and many more.

Alongside the masterclasses, the students will take part in hands-on practical training in Vertical Drama, AI for Creatives, and Development and Pitching, skills that are genuinely in demand.

Head of the Skills Summit, Sarah Wood, said: “The screen industries need the talent that’s going to be sitting in those seats, now. Not in five years. The Skills Summit exists to make sure talent knows it is wanted, knows where the opportunities are, and leaves the day with something practical and specific to do next. The best investment this industry can make is in the people who are just about to arrive.”

The two-day Skills Summit targets both freelancers, emerging creatives and those looking to start a career in the screen industries with a programme of practical sessions and workshops led by leading names.

The Skills Summit is supported by Amazon PrimeVideo Pathway, Lime Pictures and ScreenSkills.

This year’s CCC features a roster of high-profile speakers with Craig Cash today confirmed to round out the event. His is one of the most distinctive comedy voices in British television, heling shape British comedy for more than two decades. From The Mrs Merton Show, Early Doors, Rovers, The Café and Sunshine to, most famously, The Royle Family, created with the late, great Caroline Aherne, his work includes some of the funniest, warmest and most loved shows ever to appear on British TV.

Together, those shows have won 26 major awards, including BAFTAs, British Comedy Awards and RTS Awards, and helped set the tone — and the pace — for countless comedies that followed. Craig is also an accomplished director across much of that work, and of course, he brings the much-loved dulcet Northern tones to Channel 4’s smash hit Gogglebox.

Cash joins other prolific names such as Sir Phil Redmond; legendary writer Jimmy McGovern; Quay Street Productions Chief Exec, Nicola Shindler; writer of The Responder and The Cage, Tony Schumacher and Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick Productions, among others.

Founded in 2018 by media executive Ruth Pitt and John McVay (PACT), the CCC is led by Executive Director Lisa Campbell, continuing in the role ahead of her newly announced position as BAFTA’s Executive Director of Programmes; Advisory Chair, Ruth Pitt; Director of Operations, Susie Townson; Executive Producer Sol Papadopoulos; Head of Partnerships, Nina Harrison-Bell and Head of Skills Summit Sarah Wood. It is backed by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Paramount and PACT.

Previous host cities include Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow (online during lockdown), Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol and Bradford.