What should I do next?

[harryh733]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm on the hunt for some expert advice and ideas on what I should do next?

 

I will start by quickly going through what I have done these last few years.

 

I first realized my passion for lighting when I was about 15 and got the chance to stand at the desk on a prodigy gig and since then I have made it my mission to follow my dream of working in the big lighting world.

I started lighting all the school shows and learning as much as I could by myself, after my GCSE's the school offered me a level 3 BTEC in technical theatre which I jumped at the chance of doing.

It was all going great until my teacher left 6 months into the course and I was suddenly left to teach myself, after another 6 months of trying to figure out the course on my own I was luckily offered an apprenticeship by our local theatre (Sheringham Little) after follow spotting for the panto season.

 

The apprenticeship was a life saver and I suddenly started learning again but the college still had no teacher for me.

 

I finished my years apprenticeship last month and when that ended I decided to tell the college that enough was enough and that I couldn't keep going nearly 2 years later without a teacher, to which they said they would now never be able to get anyway as they had no money (very helpful)

 

The theatre said they would keep me on working freelance and I have been doing that since last month.

 

Now that my apprenticeship has ended Im desperate to keep learning more and more but without any higher education qualifications I cant get into uni, if only the college had said at the beginning that they probably wouldn't get a replacement teacher then I would have moved colleges and done something else!

 

Anyway.. I plan on going on some training courses with Avo and MA in the next few months and getting the basic training courses done so I can start to learn how the bigger and newer desks work as the little theatre aren't very up to date with the latest technology

 

I basically want to move onto something bigger so I can learn more but I'm not sure what the best way is to go about it.

I was planning on writing to somewhere like the Theatre Royal in Norwich to see if I could do some sort of apprenticeship there and also try and do some voluntary bits for places like the arts center.

 

My other idea was to write to a big lighting company such as Negearth of whitelight to see if they could offer some sort of training.

 

I just feel a bit stuck but Im still as keen as ever to keep learning and working towards my dream of working on big gigs :D

 

If anybody has any advice or ideas that would be fantastic!

 

Thanks.

 

Harry

[Ynot]

Well, you're probably doing the right thing already by writing to local venues and hire companies etc, but the one thing I'd say is that you must realise that the road to the 'big gigs' is likely to be a long and hard one. Regardless of what experience you've had so far, it's a far cry from being able to spec, design and operate the sort of event you're dreaming of. Not that it's a bad idea to dream - just keep your feet on the ground whilst you work towards it.

 

The chances are that the majority of jobs you'll get at the moment will only be 'grunt' type jobs - case pushing and lantern hanging at best, teaboy at worst. BUT what you need to do is take whatever work you can get and be good at whatever that is. And try to make and keep the contacts that come your way, both at peer level as well as 'boss' level. You never know whether the guy by your side might recommend you to a different employer, or if an LD likes your attitude one show and invites you to work another with him.

 

And by far the WORST thing you can do is to walk into any job pretending to know more than you do. Be keen, be hard working and be friendly, but don't be a know-it-all.

 

[oli]

Now that my apprenticeship has ended Im desperate to keep learning more and more but without any higher education qualifications I cant get into uni, if only the college had said at the beginning that they probably wouldn't get a replacement teacher then I would have moved colleges and done something else!

 

Don't be so sure about not getting in to uni without qualifications, I got onto a Theatre Production degree without any qualifications, they gave me the place purely on my portfolio and interview.

 

Certainly RWCMD will consider applications without formal qualifications and I'm sure others would as well.

 

Always worth a shot.

[paulears]

This is very sad, and to be frank - a disgraceful way to carry on.

 

The Theatre Royal don't really get into training, although it's possible having a chat with Will there could be useful. The old Theatre Royal building, 'The Garage' is pretty well inhabited during the week by students from City College, so coming from the coast on your own with no help is grim. Why on earth didn't you transfer to City College's production course - this is pretty well established now and has a good reputation and decent knowledgeable staff. They're also very busy so their production people get to be quite hands on and involved. They're also pretty well established putting on shows at Epic (The old Anglia TV Studio in Magdalen Street).

 

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but in our area there really is so little regular work, and if you want to be working all the time, then staying on the coast isn't good. I always come home for the summer season, and each year it gets shorter and requires more work for the same money as audiences get squeezed.

 

Best of luck.

Paul

 

Word of advice - your school presumably took the Government funding for your course, the rules mean they have to only give back a small amount if you didn't pass - which makes me wonder if you have a complaint that would be taken very seriously. If they really have wasted all that time, and perhaps had a detrimental impact on your potential career prospects - then you could have a case that they would need to answer. Finding a production teacher is not at all hard - I can think of three, maybe four people who live and work in the region who could have been interested - so saying they couldn't get a teacher is rubbish - they simply didn't try!

[harryh733]

Thanks for all the replies

 

 

Why on earth didn't you transfer to City College's production course - this is pretty well established now and has a good reputation and decent knowledgeable staff. They're also very busy so their production people get to be quite hands on and involved. They're also pretty well established putting on shows at Epic (The old Anglia TV Studio in Magdalen Street).

 

Looking back I wish I had gone to City College after my GCSE's, I have heard from others that its a really good course and that they have learnt lots from it. I was just about to leave after my first year of college but after being promised that I would have a teacher after the summer I stayed on I guess another thing to think about is that I could always start again on something like the production course at city.

Me and mum are also talking about taking things further with the college as it just doesn't seem right to let them get away with something like that!

 

I don't think I'm ready to head straight into the real working world yet as I just don't have the knowledge or experience so I am defiantly looking to go into something where I can continue learning.

 

I guess I should keep applying to Uni's too as it never hurts to keep trying

 

The chances are that the majority of jobs you'll get at the moment will only be 'grunt' type jobs - case pushing and lantern hanging at best, teaboy at worst. BUT what you need to do is take whatever work you can get and be good at whatever that is. And try to make and keep the contacts that come your way, both at peer level as well as 'boss' level. You never know whether the guy by your side might recommend you to a different employer, or if an LD likes your attitude one show and invites you to work another with him.

 

And by far the WORST thing you can do is to walk into any job pretending to know more than you do. Be keen, be hard working and be friendly, but don't be a know-it-all.

 

Thats really good advice :D I know I'll have to start from the very bottom and keep working as hard as I can from there on to learn every aspect of how everything works, as you cant just walk in saying you know everything and not knowing how everything else works.

I had my time a couple of years ago in college thinking I knew everything but realize now just how bad that looks to other people and understand that I still have a very long way to go.

 

I will keep on trying my best for now and hopefully soon something will come along and then I'll be back on the road to new and exciting things :)