When I graduated from David Nieper Academy in 2021, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do as a profession. For my A Levels, I just picked subjects I knew I was passionate about: English Literature and Geography, which I had taken for GCSEs, and a new subject, Film Studies.
Film quickly became my favourite subject at Bilborough College, and I finally found what I wanted to do with my life. The script writing part of the course felt like I finally found my purpose. My knowledge of creative writing from my GCSEs fit perfectly together with my passion for film and I began creating short scripts outside of college too.
Studying writer-director focused films for my A Levels lead me to want to direct the scripts I had written too, taking heavy inspiration from La La Land’s director Damien Chazelle and other auteur directors.
Being a woman in the film industry can be very difficult, but having a female teacher as well as many women taking the course with me allowed me to build a network of women who also wanted to make films. Having like minded people around you is the most helpful way to face challenges like this. After leaving college I joined up with ‘Women in Film and Television’ who support women in this industry and run special events like Q&As with huge stars, which I have attended on various occasions. These include a BAFTA Q&A of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ with Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cate Blanchett, as well as Q&As with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore and a ‘Saltburn’ Q&A with Emerald Fennell and Alison Oliver.
These events helped me to make friends in the industry, as well as building strong connections to London. These opportunities didn’t just stop at Q&As: I eventually had the privilege of attending a Luncheon event where I was able to meet Academy Award Nominee Lily Gladstone. To me, she proves that we can defy all odds against us to succeed in this industry, and is my favourite working actress.
After college, I decided not to pursue further education and entered straight into film making. Over the summer I gained valuable experience as a Production Assistant on local short films. Then, in autumn, I began shooting my own short films with my younger brother Jude. We fundraised for our budgets and entered various film festivals, which was a very valuable experience. Our Sci-Fi short film ‘Asteroid Shower’ even won an award for Best Mobile Short!
In May 2024, I was contacted about working as a Production Assistant on a feature film, which would shoot in Kent. It starred some familiar names, which was nerve wracking as I was very much a beginner in the industry. I accepted what would be my first paid opportunity, and spent a challenging three weeks in Maidstone, working 12 hours a day, with 6 night shifts.
Once I was back home, I went straight into developing my next short film, ‘Adverse Utopia’ which would be my first to use a crew. This was incredibly exciting, and my brother and I wrote it together, with him as the starring role. For my crew, I called on friends from college to create an all-female crew and help them to get their first work experiences and get their foot in the door of the world of film making. We shot the film over a weekend in June in Alfreton, and I hope to shoot many more films here in the future.
My journey after leaving David Nieper Academy has taken me all over the country, to places I never dreamed I could reach with people I never thought I could meet. Getting into the film industry is challenging, but I managed to prove that people from this area CAN do it with hard work. This journey of perseverance started at school, even though I hadn’t yet studied film, and the connections I made there with great people and caring teachers will help me forever.
In terms of next steps, I want to help others to make films with my newly set up independent production company, Iced Coffee Films. I aspire to eventually direct my own feature films whose screenplays I am already working on, and continue to use the friends I have now as crew. I believe that Derbyshire can and should be a film making hub, and I’ll continue to shoot my films here in the hope that I can help it get there.
My advice to current students would be to follow your aspirations no matter how out of reach they may feel, and look to others with similar backgrounds to yourself for guidance on how to get there. Work hard and make friends, and you’ll always have people willing to support you on your journey.
Bella Hunter, film maker
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