Sally’s praise for film centre
FOR THE media students on their first day of class, it was the best ever game of show and tell. Their teacher had brought along his Oscar.
The country’s first Centre of Screen Excellence – created to address the shortage of film and TV professionals at a time of unprecedented activity – opened in Leeds to a veritable red carpet of behind-the-scenes headliners.
Calderdale screenwriter Sally Wainwright was there for a pep talk as well as Academy Award winning producer Gareth Ellis-Unwin.
The Last Tango in Halifax creator said the film industry would “benefit hugely” from the new Centre of Screen Excellence in Leeds.
“It will open up many opportunities for local talent,” she said.
The BFI said the choice of Leeds as the first centre of excellence was a milestone in its drive to develop a thriving screen industry outside London. The city will shortly be the new home of Channel 4, and of the Leeds Studios, a complex of four sound stages which will open in the summer on the outskirts of the city centre.
Ben Roberts, the BFI’s chief executive, said: “For people in Yorkshire, this centre offers a very real career pathway into much needed jobs, and also creates a blueprint for further centres around the UK.”
The new courses will be delivered by the National Film and Television School, in partnership with local colleges. Sally Joynson, chief executive at the film agency Screen Yorkshire, said it was “a prime example of partners working together”.
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