It was a busy day at The Bottle Yard last Tuesday (5th March), as we welcomed more than 500 people through our doors for our special BBC Bring the Drama event as part of National Careers Week!

The special event gave people the chance to find out more about the many career opportunities on offer on both sides of the camera (or stage curtain) in Bristol’s film, TV and theatre industries. We also worked with Bristol WORKS to ensure that school groups from across the city could attend.

BBC Points West visited to report on the day, and spoke to Grace Morgan, Tyron D’mello and Harry Robins, three industry entrants we’ve been working with recently, who describe what it’s like starting out in a film/TV production career. They also spoke to Latent Pictures’ Prince Taylor talks about the importance of tapping into the talent pool of underrepresented talent in the South West:

And listen again to our Head of Film Laura Aviles and Industry & Community Outreach Coordinator Jane Coulter chatting with BBC Radio Bristol’s Joe Sims ahead of the event, about the work we’ve been doing to improve access to training for local crew entrants:

Thank you to the West of England Institute of Technology and Access Creative College for sponsoring and supporting the event, and to our Studios team and Bristol Film Office colleagues who spoke to so many talented individuals throughout the day.

And of course a big thank you to all of our exhibitors for giving their time and sharing expertise from their fields, including: Aardman, Access Creative College, Babbasa, BBC Studios, BFI Film Academy Bristol, boomsatsuma, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bristol School of Acting, Catch22, Firestorm PyroFX, Into Film, JonesMillbank Film & Video/Nine Tree Studios, Latent Pictures, Location One, Mangostone, MyWorld, Paradigm Post-Production, PYTCH, Phoenix Casting Agency, Quantum Manpower Services, Screenology Film, South West Make Up Academy, University of the West of England, VI Rental.

Don’t forget, if you’re a local new industry entrant, you can read more about our 2024 West of England Film & HETV Workforce Development Programme at www.thebottleyard.com/skills.