This week the 55th bfi London Film Festival kicked off this with an opening night performance from Jude Law in his new film 360. If you’re a film fan the festival runs until 27 October in venues around the capital.
There are hundreds of opportunities for careers in the world of film, some of are obvious but some you’ve probably not have even thought of yet. You might be aspiring to be the next Kevin Spacey but as Snatch and Primeval actor, Jason Felmyng, explains, acting is not always the easy option. “I would never, ever say to a young actor or someone who wanted to be an actor, ‘Don’t follow your dreams’ – you have to. But you need a good safety net because it’s a very low percentage that manage to make a career out of it or make it and even those who make a career out of it, some of those careers are very frugal. You have to want to do it for the job and then the money and the glamour are a by-product of that job, you know. Not the reason for wanting to do it.”
For every actor on a film set, there are lots of supporting roles around them. From stunt co-ordinators like Abbi Collins to make-up designers like Linda Mortan. Bromwyn Franklin has a job that you might not have known about. She’s a Production Buyer, responsible for sources props and dresses the sets. “I’m always the person in the supermarket with the weirdest trolley! It’s always fun, you know where to buy milk but if you’ve got to find a 1960s microscope then that’s a bit more of a challenge!”
All movies need a director and camera crew and freelancer, Dishad Husein, has managed to combine both skills. “When I was at school I had no idea about jobs in the media. I did a degree in science, but spent a lot of my time in the student film and television society. This experience helped me get into film school, where I learned the skills I now use everyday.”
Once a film has been made it moves over to the distribution and cinema industry. Rob Morton is a film buyer for Vue cinemas and his job is to decide which movies end up in your local cinema. “This was a job I’d been after for a long time. I couldn’t quite believe it when they said you’re the one that we need but it was brilliant, I was so happy about it.” And not forgetting, most of the films viewed in the cinemas during the London Film Festival will need a projectionist!
