It seems almost unbelievable to me, that’s it’s been around 15 years since I graduated from Lincoln. 15 years was once an impossibly long time frame, and being 35 … well let’s face it, who wants to think about being in their mid-thirties when they’ve just graduated?!  Well I can honestly say, now I’m here, I’m loving it.  I’m currently a freelance producer / director, based in Bristol, doing the job of my dreams.

I just about scraped a 2:1 degree, BA (Hons) in Media Production.  We were the first graduates to do the course and have University of Lincoln on our certificates. I knew it would be tough to break into the industry, and I think I sent my CV to almost any company I could find.  In those early months I did my fair share of work experience and runner jobs, just to get any experience under my belt.  But for me, I desperately wanted to go into wildlife filmmaking, and to do that was going to be even harder.  Several conversations had left me under no illusions that the only people who were successful in this field, were those with a scientific degree, not media…   I was getting frustrated and despondent by the whole system, so when a friend called to say he was going to trek to Everest Base Camp, I jumped at the chance to join him, and spent the next few months travelling across Central Asia and Russia.  I’d recommend time out travelling alone or with friends to anyone, it certainly gave me the time to really evaluate what I wanted.  Strangely it also taught me to trust my instincts, and that’s something I still completely rely on in my job today, particularly in stressful filming situations. Continue reading →