Case Studies

Mike Smith

Creating a freelance network of journalists

From both the training as a Union Learning Adviser and also delivering training across the unions with CULT Cymru it became immediately clear to me that what everyone wanted was some way of networking, communicating and possibly even sharing skills and work opportunities.

The NUJ is a very organised union with lots of experience of training and a well organised membership department. However, when I started trying to contact our own freelance members across Wales I discovered lots had left the industry, others had moved away from Wales while some, well, I just couldn’t get any reply from.

So I have now created my own email list of all NUJ freelances in Wales and supplied this to our head office to see how this tallies with their own records. I am now using this network to inform freelances not only of CULT Cymru and NUJ Training availability in Wales but also to just try to keep people in touch.

Not only do freelances suffer from isolation from the workplace they also suffer from isolation from other journalists, so this network will also hopefully be social as well as professional.

Already I have been able to put work leads in the direction of fellow NUJ freelances – and also other unions – and also contacted other people who have taken CULT Cymru training and agreed to be in an e-network of opportunities I have come across that may interest them.

Eventually I want to work with my ULA colleagues across the five unions to create an e-network of all freelances in the creative industries in Wales and the basis of this, I hope, will be the ever increasing number of freelances coming up with ideas about what training or events we would like next.

Oh, and thanks to CULT Cymru I have just completed my first intensive, residential Welsh course with a Skillset Cymru bursary...wanna know how to get one...email me!

mike@cultcymru.org

Christina Polydorou

Getting to be a cut above

At the end of July I was lucky enough to participate in 'The Actors' Cut' which was held at Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

This was a fantastic course aimed at putting actors on the big screen in high definition. No matter how good the course may be I have found that drama schools and universities just can't offer the experience of being on a film set and acting to camera while there is a full crew around. For a start it would be just be too expensive.

That’s why training provided by CULT Cymru and organised by our own unions, utilising the skills and experience our members possess is so important for our future – and our industry.'The Actors' Cut' - so called as it offers the actor the opportunity to have a scene re-shot - provides a place where a professional crew are provided both to talk about their roles and also to allow the actor to try out their job.

On the week I attended, I was one of 80 and there is a different director each day. Everyone gets a scene to learn a few days before they are filmed and playback is on a cinema size screen.This course provided both an opportunity to get to know how to behave and perform on a film set and to meet other actors which is always vital. I would recommend this course to anyone who has no film or set experience.

Othniel Smith

My first task, as a Union Learning Advisor for the WGGB was to create a workable electronic mailing list of Guild members working in Wales. I achieved this with the assistance of the Guild office in London, and other members of the Welsh Committee.

Writers tend to work in isolation, and it is often difficult for them to feel as though they are part of a community; furthermore, it is my experience that employment and career development opportunities from which they might benefit are often insufficiently publicised. In the first instance, therefore, I feel that my role as U.L.A. involves providing Guild members in Wales with the information they require to in order that they can maximise their effectiveness as freelancers.

Thus, my role thus far has largely involved attempting to build awareness of CULT Cymru via e-mail. I also see it as my responsibility to act as a contact point via which members can communicate their training needs to CULT Cymru.

My ULA training has helped instil in me the confidence to be able to field training-oriented queries from members, whether this involves simply referring them to more authoritative sources of information, or discussing their options with them on a one-to-one basis.