Screen Alliance North Archives - Liverpool Film Office

INTO THE LEAD: 2 BIRDS AND A PLAN

For our final look at the participants of Into The Lead, Screen Alliance North’s leadership programme for independent production companies across the North of England, we hear from Kate Robinson, founder of Liverpool-based production company 2Birds and a Camera.

Liverpool Film Office launches Liverpool City Region Film and TV Development Fund in response to COVID-19

CALLING ALL CREW, PRODUCTION LEADS AND FACILITIES – HAVE YOUR SAY!

Calling all North West screen industry crew, facilities and production leads!

Along with our Screen Alliance North partners (Screen Manchester, North East Screen and Screen Yorkshire), we form the largest BFI Skills Cluster in the country. Our remit is to work across the north of England to tackle skills shortages and improve access to quality training provision for diverse talent and communities.

As we head into our next phase of Screen Alliance North, we want to ensure we’re meeting the needs of the sector and wider industry by gathering real‑time data to map crew and facilities to upcoming productions, identify skills gaps and shortages, and enable our four partners to work strategically across the north to build a stronger, happier and more inclusive workforce for a sustainable future as a leading global centre for screen production.

In order to achieve this, we’re asking for 10 mins of your time to fill in a survey about the use of our databases.

As a thank you for taking part, all those who complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win an overnight stay for 2 at a Dakota hotel (in Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle).

Fill in your appropriate survey below before 20th March.

For LCR based Crew on the LFO database ➡️ https://forms.gle/2PYa5s2JtPBnUUvR6

For Senior Execs and Production Companies based in Liverpool City Region ➡️ https://forms.gle/ei61RGSihtZsHwV69

For LCR based Facilities on the LFO database ➡️ https://forms.gle/mTfdKuPFc6T3yuTY8

INTO THE LEAD: BOOM POW!

We continue our look at Into The Lead, a new Screen Alliance North programme supporting and upskilling leaders of independent production companies across the North of England, with writer and producer Johanne McAndrew, founder of Boom Pow Productions.

INTO THE LEAD: FROM LIVERPOOL TO THE WORLD

Continuing our series profiling participants of Into The Lead, Screen Alliance North’s leadership programme for independent production companies across the North of England, we hear from Sol Papadopoulos, co-director and founder of Liverpool-based Hurricane Films.

INTO THE LEAD: COME INTO THE FOLD

Continuing our series spotlighting participants of Into The Lead, Screen Alliance North’s leadership programme for independent production companies across the North of England, we hear from Michelle Stein, co-founder of North West-based production company The Fold.

INTO THE LEAD: FROM DENTISTRY TO INDUSTRY

INTO THE LEAD:

VAISHALLI PAATIL

Vaishalli Paatil is the founder of Wirral-based production company Photo Stories and one of the producers taking part in Into The Lead, a new Screen Alliance North programme supporting independent screen leaders in the North of England. We recently sat down to discuss her journey into the film and TV industry and her experiences of producing in the Liverpool City Region.

Photo Stories was founded in 2019, while Vaishalli was already working across a range of production roles and quietly building her own projects alongside freelance work. “I started as an assistant director initially, then stepped up as a production head and then an associate producer” she says. “I’m really passionate about storytelling and I wanted to grow in this business and do something independently.” Starting out with small documentaries, video production and editing work, those early projects eventually grew into Photo Stories, now based in Bromborough.

Her route into film and television was far from straightforward however. After moving to the UK from India in 2007, Vaishalli made the decision to step away from a ten-year career in dentistry. “I didn’t want to re-qualify for the exam to practise dentistry here,” she explains. “I’ve always been a creative person. I like telling stories.” A media production course became her way in, alongside part-time work with an arts organisation, where making dance videos at weekends sparked a deeper interest in filmmaking and editing.

Wanting a proper understanding of how productions work from the inside out, Vaishalli began training herself across different disciplines. “I wanted to learn all aspects of filmmaking,” she says. That led her to self-teach the skills needed to be a director, cinematographer and Apple-certified FCP editor, all while professionally progressing through the industry. Now, her focus is firmly on establishing herself as a producer.

Since moving back to the region from London 2 years ago, a project that stands out to Vaishalli is a voluntary documentary she made for Royden Park, an organisation that provides training for autistic people on the Wirral. It’s work she describes as “really close to my heart.” Spring boarding from that, Vaishalli is now developing new projects locally, operating more widely in our region she describes as “visually rich”, with strong regional incentives and accessible locations helping her put plans in place to bring a film production to the LCR later this year, filming across Liverpool and Bolton.

Joining Into The Lead felt like a natural next step for Vaishalli. Much of her work so far has been with Indian productions filming in the UK, but she’s keen to widen that circle. “I want to diversify,” she says, “to collaborate with other production houses and see how other cultures work.” She’s also looking to build her knowledge around emerging technologies, particularly AI, and how that might shape future projects.

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