Do Something You Love: My Story
I’ve always been a pretty creative person and in school I always did better in subjects like English, Design Technology, Drama etc… and the more science-y stuff was not my forte at all and my grades were always considerably lower — in my defence the mark schemes for science subjects were harsh like I would put the answer but not the exact words on the mark scheme so therefore I wouldn’t get the mark…. clearly not still bitter about it….
When it came to A-Levels I chose to study Spanish, English Literature, Psychology and PE (Physical Education). For me the one I enjoyed learning the most was Psychology and this was mainly down to the fact that I was super interested in Criminology and the two are part of a similar field. This love mainly stemmed from the amount of crime tv shows (both factual and fiction) I watch and crime books I read — now I know that the fictional tv shows paint the world of crime and detective work in a glamorized way and that real life criminology and investigations are not at all like what you see on TV (people told me this incessantly after I mentioned I was thinking about studying criminology).
My love for criminology however mainly stemmed from the fact that I had watched so many films and television shows on it — alas a new possible choice of study arose. Well actually I say “new” but studying Film and TV was always in the back of my mind as something I would love to do, however sadly we still live in a world where arts subjects are still very much considered not academic enough or worthy of studying. It also didn’t help that I went to a school where the closest thing to Film and TV that you could study was Drama and LET ME TELL YOU they are not the same thing or even remotely similar (FYI I am interested in the behind the scenes of Film and TV, not in front of the camera — although at this rate from what people keep telling me I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up in front of it… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!)
I didn’t know anyone else who was considering studying Film and Television in my year group (as it turns out, I was the only one — although I now know at least 4 other people I went to school with who now want to work in Film & TV too, TYPICAL) and to be honest I had never had the opportunity to study Film and TV before, so for a while I felt kind of silly to be considering studying something so niche. So, I pushed it to the back of my mind and kept my option for Criminology open. Then it came time to go and tour possible universities and because I still hadn’t decided what I was actually going to study we had to go to multiple unis for both subjects (sorry mum and dad). Anyway long story short I chose Film and TV when I realised the Criminology degrees I had wanted to do were very science based something which we’ve already discovered is not my thing and all of the Film and TV degrees I had looked at just made me so excited!
However I still had a battle on my hands with convincing people this was the right choice for me — which looking back now having just graduated with a 2:1, I can’t believe I let people doubt my choice but anyway. Firstly was my mum (who worked for 26 years as a producer in radio at the BBC) — at the time she was initially very worried about my future career prospects within Film and TV (which I get as a parent and as someone who’s worked for years in the entertainment industry, she knows how tricky and brutal it can be) and without explicitly saying it I know she was probably hoping I went with Criminology however after attending our very first open day which was for Film Studies, she was completely won over by the talk we attended and I truly felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders as she finally understood how awesome it was and my passion for it!
The next set of convincing I had to do was with teachers at school, with one of them even turning round to me after I had just told them I had made the decision to study Film and TV to say “really, is that really what you want to do?”, in a patronising tone with a very concerned and bless her sort of look on their face.
As someone who is very indecisive, to have finally decided what I was going to do for my degree was a freakin big deal and I was happy and excited with my choice, however to then have to constantly explain and validate to other people my choice whilst getting disapproving and judgemental comments (and comments not just from the teacher I mentioned but from a few others too) kind of took away from my excitement — as I’m sure you can imagine — but I guess that’s what happens when you go to a very academic school and then choose to study something “not academic” (honestly feeling horrible right now as I right this for my 17 year old self having to go through this because as I sit here now as a proud Film and TV graduate at 23 years old, I’m just so immensely happy that I stuck to my guns as I’ve got so many exciting prospects ahead of me and have spent the last 4 years studying something I love so much.
During my time at uni I helped create a tv show from conception to live broadcast in just 6 weeks and also directed said tv show (stress but worth it), created multiple podcasts, organised and hosted a charity screening event on campus, wrote a script and researched and filmed a documentary with friends.
So to wrap up my story, my advice to you reading this is to make sure you’re doing something in life that you love; it’s never too late to change what you’re doing and to create a new path for yourself. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you shouldn’t do something that you love whether that’s studying a subject your passionate about or something else you’re trying to decide on!
… quite frankly I’d like to see those teachers that put me down make a tv show in 6 weeks…..