25/02/2003 - Film Board and Skillset announce major training scheme to prepare British film industry for future challenges

On 24 February the British Film Council and training organisation, Skillset, announced the launch of the biggest-ever training programme to ensure that the UK film industry has the skills needed to produce the cutting-edge features of the future.
The training programme is based an in-depth report of UK film skills commissioned by the FC and Skillet called Developing UK Film Talent. The wealth of information and results from the research paper will be used by the newly formed Film Skills Action Group to prepare a training strategy for the whole UK film industry within the next six months. The Action Group, chaired by the FC and Skillset’s deputy chairman Stewart Till, includes 17 members representing production companies (Working Title, Applecross), film industry unions and associations (PACT, BECTU, Cine Guilds of Great Britain, MPA), the Odeon cinema circuit, post-production company Cinesite, as well as the FC and Skillset staff.
“We are an industry whose primary asset is its people,” said Stewart Till. “Not only must we attract the brightest and the best of the new generation, but we must hold on to them. And the only long-term way to do that and maintain our competitive edge is to develop the very highest level of creative and technical skills which will allow individuals and the UK film industry as a whole to prosper and grow”.
Read the full “Developing UK Film Talent” report on the Skillset site.
The Action Group will publish its own report in late summer 2003.

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