Bristol summer school for TV stars of tomorrow
Bristol is a big player in the television sector – with the BBC's Natural History Unit, shows such as Casualty and Being Human filmed here and ITV West at the end of Bath Road.
Now a researcher from Noel Edmond's Deal Or No Deal, which is filmed at Endemol's Paintworks studios, has set up the Biz Academy of Film, Television and Theatre.
Helen Fennimore, who created the concept, said: "I wanted to create a series of training seminars that would not only liven up children's summer holidays, but also give them a real grounding in the basics of working in the TV, film and theatre industries.
"Youngsters are so much more media-savvy these days. They're so used to being filmed, that they're often completely natural in front of the TV cameras in a way that older people rarely are.
"Hopefully they can use that confidence in front of the camera or behind it to develop the techniques they would need master in the real world of TV, film and theatre production."
Helen, 27, hopes the project might eventually lead to the foundation of a full-time film, TV and theatre academy here.
"I'd ultimately love to develop an academy where youngsters can develop all the skills they need to build a career in the industry," she said.
"I started out on a two-year musical theatre course at the Tobacco Factory, and that gave me a really good start, but unfortunately the course was later moved out of the city to Shepton Mallett."
Helen's landed a job fronting a Channel 5 children's TV series called Look when she was 20. For five years she has also taught on ITV's Bristol-based introduction to television workshops.
She has also worked on Endemol's Deal or No Deal team for three series.
"The ITV courses are brilliant for young people who want to get a taste of working in the industry, but I was keen to go a step further and do things in a bit more detail, so I've hired the events space at the Paintworks for the summer school," she said.
"If it proves to be a success, I'm planning to create a more permanent academy at the Paintworks development."
The summer school courses are aimed at eight to 15-year-olds.
"The first summer school course will give the students the chance to learn their way around the equipment – using the video camera to make a film and edit it.
"The youngsters will be able to choose whether they want to learn the technical side, or whether they prefer to step forward into the limelight to appear in the finished film," she says.
"Once we've filmed the piece, we'll then edit it down into a real film that they will be able to take home to keep.
"The second course, later in the month, will give youngsters the chance to hone their musical theatre skills."
The short film-making course runs from Tuesday, to Saturday, 10am to 4pm daily. The musical theatre course runs from Sunday, August 23 to Thursday, August 27, 10am to 4pm daily.
Tickets are £150 per week. For more information, call 07757 115691, visit the website at www.paintworksevents or email info@thebizacademy .co.uk.
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