Exploring the aspirations of young people to work in the British film industry through comparative focus groups in London secondary schools

Rebecca Mcsheaffrey

doi:10.14324/fej.03.2.05

Abstract

This article explores the findings of research conducted with two focus groups of English high school students in 2018 that centred on the aspirations of young people to work in the British film industry. First identifying the conceptions of ‘aspiration’ articulated within British public and policy discourses associated with the film industry, this article goes on to explore some of the different factors shaping participants’ knowledge and expectations of what a film industry career looks like. Using direct quotations from participants alongside contextual analysis, I explore how factors related to family, financial resources, ambition and school provision shape the knowledge and perceptions of film industry careers among British young people.

Highlights

In 2017, at the point where the research for this article began, the British film industry was entering a period of slowing down after five years of rapid economic expansion (Youngs, 2020)
Between 2017 and 2018, 395 new film production companies were founded, in addition to the 15,200 already existing (BFI, 2019: 3) and in 2017 the UK film industry contributed £6 billion to gross domestic product (GDP) with a turnover of £14.8 billion (BFI, 2019: 3). At this juncture the British film industry could be seen to be grappling with questions as to how it would maintain this level of expansion given considerable skills shortages across the sector in production, post-production, visual effects (VFX), business and certain specialized craft and technical roles (ScreenSkills, 2017)
It must be acknowledged that the participants in my research were able and confident to participate, and as such were not representative of the full classroom. This seems appropriate for the data given my aim of exploring the perspectives of young people who were beginning to form their aspirations to work in the film industry and were passionate about doing so

Summary

Introduction

In 2017, at the point where the research for this article began, the British film industry was entering a period of slowing down after five years of rapid economic expansion (Youngs, 2020). His emphasis was there is no ‘correct’ route into the film industry but that aspiring film workers must stay conscious of developing their practical skills no matter what path they take This seemed to resonate strongly with Douglas High School participants who, after Ross’s presentation, discussed a greater need to ensure they had activities other than their degree to demonstrate their ability to work in the field as they did not partake in any extra-curricular activities: That’s why I think maybe apprenticeships may be more useful than University cause it sort of gets you in the job, sort of go on from there instead of finishing University and not getting anything, with this you have a job I guess. Participants expressed no perceptions or predictions of facing gender inequality within the film industry itself, which seemed reflective of their ingrained belief of the industry as a meritocratic space that would not take account of such things (Eikhof et al, 2018: 847)

Conclusion

Findings

Notes on the contributor