Class of 2014

Richard de Pencier

I work in financial / digital PR in Piccadilly now, which may seem far away from Film & TV, however a lot of pitches that we do are aided by the fact I have experience in production. It’s mainly shorts, but I’m still using Final Cut on a fairly regular basis, so owe a lot to the MA for that amongst loads of other things. Overall, I’m loving it and it’s very social, which  is right up my street!

Sarah Joyce

After finishing the MA FTV course, I joined BBC Wales as their Diversity Co-ordinator.  Whilst that is a bit of a confusing title, my Line Manager and I were basically responsible for looking across BBC Wales’ output and making sure we were reflecting the breadth of our audience as best as we possibly could.  It was a fantastic and varied role which gave me the chance to do everything from edit producing to events management and community engagement.  Whilst in Wales, I also spent time as a runner on BBC Cardiff Singer of the World which gave me great insight into large scale events/productions!

In summer 2015 I returned to the Guardian Edinburgh Television Festival to work as a runner on The Network scheme for entry level media talent.  I attended the scheme in 2013 and it was the perfect start to my career so I wanted to help 2015’s delegates have an equally brilliant experience!

I am currently at BBC Birmingham in the Partnerships department, working on everything from our first public Open Day (which approximately 800 people attended!) to the BBC Music Awards, School Report 2016 and our monthly Coding Club.

The best career advice I have ever received is this: there’s no such thing as the right career move, there’s just the right career move for you.

Victoria Hathaway

After completing my MA in 2014, I began working for a private employer in Loughborough. I was asked to film and edit short films for my employer, mostly focused on her day to day life with her young daughter. The role also called for taking and editing photos, as well as some basic personal assistant tasks. It was a great way to use everything I’d been learning during my MA, and improve my skills. I left this job in December 2015 and applied for a PhD at the University of Warwick, and got some great feedback as well as a supervisor. Unfortunately, I was not able to secure funding for a 2016 start, so am now waiting to apply again for the 2017 intake. While I wait, I have secured a job offer to teach English in China, so am looking forward to gaining some new skills whilst travelling and having a bit of an adventure!

Bogomil Kalinov

Bo Kalinov is one of the co-founders of KaBoAl Pictures, an audiovisual production company, and in the few years since it was created the company has already worked on 4 feature films, all of them international co-productions. Bo has also been involved in an online film campaign and various other projects – find out more in his guest blog, From Bulgaria to Birmingham and Back Again.

Sarah Learmonth 

Sarah Learmonth went straight into a job with one of the companies where she undertook part of her MA placement, Isis Media (now rebranded as Zebra Digital), starting just before she submitted her dissertation. In Working for an Indie she shares some of her highlights from the last two years, along with some useful tips for current students!