London’s University of Westminster, supported by the BFI (British Film Institute) and the Regent Street Cinema, is creating a master’s programme called Business Of Film, to launch students into careers in film and television distribution, management and business. The course is timely for the industry, with the urgency to grow the UK’s film and television workforce underlined by last year’s BFI Skills Review and recognised as a priority in the BFI’s new 10-year Screen Culture 2033 and National Lottery strategies.
As an industry, the UK screen sector is a large and fast-growing employer that draws on a huge range of skills and disciplines to produce and distribute a vital form of entertainment. The need for a skilled workforce that understands the business end of the industry is vital. As Harriet Finney, BFI Deputy CEO and Director of Corporate and Industry Affairs, says, “There’s never been a better time to work in film, and an understanding of the relationship between the commercial and the creative will form the bedrock of the skills and knowledge required to forge a successful career in the UK and international screen industries.”
Through the new MA, the BFI and University of Westminster teams will provide students with access to speakers, networking events and placement opportunities. Students will also work with the Regent Street Cinema to gain experience in film promotion projects. The University of Westminster is known for its long-established and world-leading film courses and this new postgraduate course in the Business of Film will boost the business, legal, negotiation and networking skill set of film professionals starting out, or having a few years’ experience under their belt. It will also attract those who have studied subjects such as business, finance or law, and would like to apply their knowledge to the film industry.
Worldwide recognition
Westminster has been teaching the next generation of filmmakers and photographers since 1852 and the first School of Photography was established in 1883 in its Regent Street campus, which is home to the Regent Street Cinema.
“The University of Westminster is recognised worldwide for its creative practice courses, especially with film,” explains Professor Gregory Sporton, the university’s Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange. “We work in partnership with industry, and the BFI collaboration will allow students to experience their training with a foot in the real world.”
Organisations within the sector looking to upskill or enhance the professional development of staff will benefit too. Sporton adds: “For those on this course, there’s the opportunity to be involved in networking events and professional development activities, as well as for placements, here in London and abroad. This will be a huge advantage to our students upon graduating.”
This timely industry-academia partnership is also supported by the Regent Street Cinema, one of the first cinemas in the world and known as ‘the birthplace of cinema’, dating back to the Lumière brothers’ innovations in projecting moving image in 1896.
Students on the MA course will have hands-on experience working with the cinema’s production team on their marketing, distribution, and exhibition of films.
“Film is not the easiest sector to decipher,” says Billy Watson, Executive Commercial Director at Regent Street Cinema, “but this course will help students do exactly that.”
Taught at the university’s prestigious Regent Street campus (next to the Regent Street Cinema), students will benefit from the course’s close proximity to commercial film and media organisations. As Watson adds, “Studying in London is unique. We have here a tremendous hotbed of culture, and that’s the culture that when you’re looking for a career in business, in anything that’s creative, you need to be immersed in.”
Applications for the Business of Film MA are now open, with full and part-time pathways available for September 2023 and January 2024 starts.
For more information on the course and to apply head to www.westminster.ac.uk/business-of-film-ma
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