Talent Unit gives youth a chance at Tyneside Cinema
Film not an impossible dream
Tyneside Cinema turns 90 next year but with the launch of its Talent Unit comes evidence that it’s fully committed to the future and youth.
The new initiative, funded by the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation, is designed to equip young people in the North East for careers in film and its many related disciplines.
Danny Baker, producer of the Tyneside Cinema Talent Unit, said 300 people had applied for the year-long course and the job of whittling that number down to 30 had proved impossible.
Consequently the first cohort numbers 33.
Those in attendance at the first gathering got a warm welcome from all, including Nic Greenan, who styles herself custodian of the cinema rather than chief executive and whose idea this was.
The Tyneside, she told them, was a wonderful asset for the North East with a rich history over nine decades but this was history in the making.
“It’s such a wonderful piece of its history that you guys are the first cohort of the Talent Unit,” she said.
“I see you as part of the archive of the building for the next 90 years and I’m super excited to have you here.”
Actor Stephen Tompkinson, North East star of screen and stage, was also present, adding words of encouragement and, speaking privately beforehand, remembering his first steps into the industry.
Asked what was available to a teenager in Lytham St Annes when he was growing up, in a supportive family that nevertheless had no entertainment industry connections, he replied: “Nothing.
“I think the YMCA might have had a drama group but the only hope from school was to get into higher education and see where that could lead you.
“All the drama schools seemed to be in London. I think if there had been a hub where you could meet kindred spirits it could have opened up all sorts of doors and not made everything seem so London-centric.”
He did go to London, to the (now Royal) Central School of Speech and Drama and felt “very much like a fish out of water” for the first couple of years. “I was the only northerner and one of the youngest so it took me a while to find my feet.”
He wasn’t quite the only northerner. Christopher Eccleston, who is the patron of the Tyneside Cinema Talent Unit, was in the year above him at Central.
And for Stephen it was a case of talent will out. Winning the coveted BBC Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award earned him an Equity card and a contract with the BBC Radio Repertory Company for which he was cast in a staggering 54 plays in seven months.
With a grounding like that – albeit with no lines to learn – the doors opened for him.
And the best advice he could give these young people some 40 years on?
“Share with each other and talk to each other. Be inspired by and inspirational to each other.
“When it was my time to go into this career I felt a little bit isolated. If I’d had a group like this it would have been remarkable. If you get stuck, you can ask for help.”
On day one, the chosen 33 were mostly strangers to each other. After a year of Talent Unit sessions, that’s not going to be the case for these bright sparks.
“Congratulations on getting this far,” Danny Baker told them.
“Hopefully, touch wood, we’ll get you some work in the industry, so trust us and we’ll trust you over the next few months.”
And he reminded them: “This is a work environment.”
I spoke to three recruits and none seemed daunted. Excited, more like, about what the next few months will bring.
Lucy Smith, 22, from Gateshead, studied English, media and communications at university in Liverpool and graduated last year. She currently works part-time at Northern Stage and sees her future in the creative industries.
Having attended an early Talent Unit presentation, she decided it had something to offer her.
“It seemed like a good way to meet people who are on a similar path,” she said. “It’s all about connections in the industry, isn’t it?”
Perhaps Stephen Tompkinson had already had a word in her ear.
Having already tasted professional work with North Shields-based outfit Crew Gal, which finds work experience for aspiring creatives, Lucy said she had enjoyed working with props.
“But I would love to explore the writing side of things, script writing.”
Calum McNair, an 18-year-old from Gateshead, applied to the Talent Unit after a session at his college which he actually missed, which would seem to speak volumes about his potential and powers of persuasion.
“Everyone says it’s a million to one chance to get to the really top level in the film industry but I believe that if you do something you love, you shouldn’t stop doing it,” he said.
He offered the example of his dad, professionally a chemist but in his spare time a keen videographer and photographer.
“That’s how I learned about cameras, by helping him out. I don’t want to end up doing something I don’t want to do so I’m just going to keep pushing get into this industry.”
If his plans work out, Calum will be fulfilling his Talent Unit obligations while also embarking on a degree course in film production at Northumbria University.
Valerie Enriquez, who is 24 and from Longbenton, felt she might finally be getting on track.
“I used to study maths and philosophy in Lincoln but I didn’t finish my degree,” she explained.
“My parents really wanted me to be in the STEM sector (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and I was OK at it. But if I had the choice to go back to university I would probably study film.
“I’m someone who’s very centred on aesthetics so something to do with wardrobe or cinematography would be really cool. I’ve always been interested in creative stuff.”
For all of them, the fun (and probably hard work) starts now with this free programme of industry insight, practical development, mentoring, creative opportunities and professional networking.
The Talent Unit has been developed in the knowledge that there are obstacles to entering the screen industries, whether financial, social or practical.
Danny Baker, an award-winning film and ad director, said: “The North East has never lacked talent – it has just lacked enough opportunities. That’s why this programme matters.”
It’s another sign, perhaps, that things are changing for the better for young people in the North East aspiring to work in the creative industries.
It will definitely add to the increasingly bustling atmosphere at one of our best loved cultural buildings which, under Nic Greenan’s energetic leadership, is belying every one of its 90 years.