i swear to u ive met the director
…is a quote from a YouTube message posted on the trailer page of my upcoming movie THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO. It continues “and he went to the same school as me and in the same class and the same seat”
Today I was invited back to my old primary school as a part of their “Aspirations Week” - a week of events connected to youngsters pursuing their dream careers in the future. Personally, I think it’s a great idea which is why I took part. What is great about what the primary school is doing is that they’re showing kids that university isn’t everything. Apparently (and I did my research) only 39.9% of people in the UK go to university after sixth form college. That’s less than half!(I know you know what 50% is, but I wanted to stress it!) So what? Do we just right off everybody else and ignore them because they didn’t go?
Obviously we want people to follow their dreams. There are professions which demand for degrees and their are other that don’t - mine especially. I didn’t go to university despite the pressures from being a “good student who should” so I’ll go and get a “real job” and this “childhood fantasy” of becoming a film director will fade with age. It didn’t, it only grew with every short film I made. I knew that I would try my hardest to achieve this dream job and I not stop until I had. It worked! In your face careers guidance woman from high school! :)
So this is exactly what I told the three classes of children I met today. They sat watching my every movement with wide-eyes while I spoke of the delights of being a film director and my rollercoster ride to this point. It was great because some 13 years ago I was sat in that exact classroom as a pupil at the school. This amazed some of the students - the idea that they could follow their own dreams and hopefully be back in 13 years to tell another lot of students about it. Amazing stuff.
If I’ve managed to inspire as least one of the children I’ve spoken to today then my afternoon was well and truly worth it. I would have loved it if someone came into my school when I was younger and told me I could do anything I wanted. That I should follow my dreams. Okay, it probably wouldn’t have changed my career outcome but it would have been nice to know that I wasn’t alone.
“How much do you get paid?” was one of the first questions after my 15-minute talk to the class. The teacher shot the pupil down mid-air with such a “rude question” - I didn’t mind it. This 10 year old is obviously going to grow up to be a producer! Although I didn’t tell him a figure, I said “a lot”. He seemed suitably impressed. “What’s the worst part about making a film?” ”Have you met any famous people?” “What’s the difference between a producer and a director?” “How do they do that effect where they are two of the same people in the shot?” “Have you met any other famous people?” and many other questions were asked. They were a switched-on bunch of kids. Especially when I received a 10 minute grilling of questions concerning things in movies they wanted to know how were done! Great fun!
Back on my laptop tonight I see there’s a new message on the YouTube page for the TBT trailer. It’s from one of the students I met today. “i swear to u ive met the director and he went to the same school as me and in the same class and the same seat” He’d tracked down the trailer I showed everybody today in the class. It made me smile that he’d take the time to boast about meeting me?! Good luck to them all.
- Philm
