Creative England Brings Cross-Sector Crew Nights To Brighton

Creative England is bringing its much-in-demand crew nights to the Brighton Centre next month, as it rolls out its nationwide programme of networking evenings for professionals in film, TV and digital media.
The events are being hosted by Creative England’s Locations & Production Services team and will be rolled out across the country by the end of the year.
The Brighton event will be sponsored by Brighton Film School, who offer courses taught by industry professionals across filmmaking, screenwriting, acting for camera and art direction; short courses through to HNC and pre-masters level and summer schools, evening and part time courses.
Creative England’s team will be at the Brighton Centre on Wednesday, June 6 from 6pm-9pm.
It will be the sixth such networking evening, which have so far attracted around one thousand media professionals in Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Nottingham. Sheffield will be next in line in July, with further events planned across the country for the rest of the year.
The networking sessions are open to production staff, crew and production companies from both drama and documentary backgrounds. They are among the only joined-up industry events linking professionals from the worlds of film with those in TV and the digital media, thereby offering a wide range of new and diverse opportunities for cross-media collaboration.
Feedback from the events so far has been very positive, with animation and production services company, Kilogramme, just one of the companies to report a useful connection made from attending the session in Leeds.
Kilogramme’s Claire Grey, said: "We met Bill [Beaumont from a company called Distant futures] and Stu [Houchin, another animator]. I’ve been checking out their site this morning and have talked about working together in the future if we can fill any skill gaps in their company and vice versa.” 

Mel Paton brought her company, Origami Films, down to Stroud from London last year. She attended the crew night in Bristol. “Even though I’ve been down in Stroud since last May, I kept using London studios and crew as they’re the ones II know! I think it's a brilliant idea to get everyone together all under one roof. In three enjoyable hours I got to meet DOP's, presenters, Camera Hire facilities and I can almost name all of the five the studios by the end of the evening all of which I knew nothing about before I arrived!”
The events are part of Creative England’s remit of ensuring continuity of the vibrant film and moving image culture outside London. The organisation, which started life in October last year, is responsible for supporting the regional film and television industries outside London and their convergence with the digital media sector.
Kaye Elliott, Creative England’s Head of Location and Production Services, said: “The popularity of these events lies in all the different ways they can help people get on and develop their careers. Not only do they offer cross-sector opportunities, they’re also useful for anyone who wants to get noticed and get work. Everyone from a production company that’s crewing up to a freelancer who’s looking to find out what’s going on in the industry can come along and network. And of course, they’re also a chance for people to come and find out more about Creative England and the opportunities we’ve got available.”
To sign up to the Brighton crew night, go to:
 Crew, Production & Facilities Get-together