I am honoured to be a member of the National Youth Film Academy, an organisation dedicated to nurturing and promoting emerging filmmakers and actors. With an industry defined by collaboration, the number of doors I see opening through such a network is really exciting to me.

The BFI’s independent skills audit found a shortage of soft skills in actors and filmmakers. To help us stand out in a competitive environment, NYFA gives us opportunities to strengthen our:

• transferrable skills (problem solving, research, analysis, communication, and teamwork)
• business acumen (marketing, negotiation, legal, and finance)
• management and leadership capability

I am enrolled on their SetReady Career Programme, which includes practical skill workshops developing “real world” experience and teaching the fundamentals of how to break into the industry. Through this programme, I am working to hone my craft and market my composition and sound design with a distinctive style.

By October 2023, our study will have culminated in collaboration projects on professional short films. Working alongside professional directors, producers, and actors, we will see our films go all the way from pre-production and crowdfunding to a screening in ODEON cinema.

National Youth Film Awards 2022

Seeing friends at the National Youth Film Awards was a highlight of 2022.

We celebrated each other’s successes and slurped slushies at the back of the cinema. Special shout-outs to my mates Dan Khan and Charles Solly, to the award-winning Baggage team, and to Matt Chandler and the crew of Leave the Body for winning Best Film.

Finally, a hearty congratulations to David Bradley for his NYFA Lifetime Achievement Award. So many of his colleagues had sent personal messages and it was abundantly clear what a friendly, genuine man he is. He hasn't chased celebrity, but found fame by being kind and being himself. I hope all of us find success in David's honest, humble way. That to me is his greatest achievement of all.