Harry Potter, Bond and Bridget Jones producers co-found sixth form academy aimed at making industry more diverse and accessible.
Applications have opened today for a new sixth-form academy for 16- to 19-year-olds that has been founded by some of the British film industry’s most successful figures, including the producers of the Bond and Harry Potter films.
The London Screen Academy (LSA), a free school based in the London borough of Islington but open to applicants from across the English capital, will open in September 2019 and envisage providing a two-year course preparing students for a career in the film and TV industry. Its principal designate Nick Watkiss stressed, at the LSA’s prospective launch at the Everyman Screen on the Green on Wednesday, that it is not a school for the performing arts (such as the Brit school, in Croydon) but rather will concentrate on teaching all the behind-the-camera roles, ranging from costume design and production management to distribution and marketing.
Speaking at the launch, LSA co-founder David Heyman, producer of all eight Harry Potter films as well as Gravity and Paddington, said: “It is a legitimate problem that the screen industries don’t in any way reflect modern Britain. The number of sets we have been on that lack social, ethnic and economic diversity – it’s very clear.”
Heyman said the school can also help to end the “haphazard” nature of entry into the industry. “Many young people don’t believe it’s a possibility that they can work in film and TV,” he said. “They may not understand that being involved in film and TV is not just in front of the camera or as director. The screen industries are among the fastest growing sectors in the country, the amount of jobs are substantial. It makes so much sense to educate students and make them set-ready by the time they graduate.”
The school’s launch comes at a time of heightened confidence in the screen industries. An in-depth report published by the British Film Institute on Tuesday suggested the money spent on production in the UK in 2016 reached a record level of £3.16bn across all sectors, including film, high-end TV and video games. Fuelled in a large part by tax relief, production investment in the UK has grown by 63% over the four years to 2016.
The LSA’s first intake will be of 300 students, expanding eventually to a capacity of 800-1000, and applicants will face an assessment interview. On graduating, students will receive a UAL diploma, equivalent to three A-levels. The school will be based at Ladbroke House in Islington, a former factory that was the subject of controversy when the Department for Education spent £33.5m in 2016 to purchase the building from property developers.
The original plans for an all-ages secondary school were greeted with considerable local opposition as it would have meant nearby schools would face increased competition for scant resources; however, it was approved after the focus was switched to specialist teaching for 16-year-olds and older.
Eric Fellner, co-chair of Working Title and producer of a string of hits including Les Misérables, Love Actually and the Bridget Jones films, said the change in direction was to the project’s advantage. “Once we started to understand the world of education, we realised it was better to start at 16, as the likelihood of students knowing that this is a world they want to work in and bringing something positive to the table was much greater.”
Another of the school’s co-founders, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, has been one of campaigners against harassment and bullying in the British entertainment industry, and Fellner says that the school will equip students to deal with any instances they may encounter once they have moved on to work. “All the studios we work with have rigorous anti-bullying and anti-harassment guidelines, with emergency helplines, and legal codes to deal with it. We will equip the students with all that knowledge and ability to protect themselves.”
LSA’s other co-founders are Broccoli’s fellow Bond producer Michael G Wilson, Tim Bevan, Fellner’s co-chair at Working Title, and The Last King of Scotland producer Lisa Bryer.
Fellner added: “We are lucky and we have the resources to help. This is not a vanity project: it is designed to try and build a new world in the film industry. We want it to become a part of the film industry, and then we can hand it over. If we get the model right, it can then be replicated across the UK– in Liverpool, in Birmingham, in Edinburgh – and in any creative industry.”