Grant awarded to: Clare Sturges
Ymddiried’s Contribution: £700 towards fees and expenses
The course was run by experienced Swedish director Jonas Grimes, and was designed to help newer drama directors advance and hone their skills in prep.
The course was run across two days in sunny central Glasgow. It covered many aspects of the work of a television director, including Jonas’s insights into what he believes a director is actually there to do; how to approach the script and how to fix it if it doesn’t work; tips on casting actors; guidance on how to work out a visual style; and tools to work out a one-shot solution for any scene when under pressure. Alongside these nuggets of wisdom, Jonas explored some learnings from his own experience of how to direct actors and make them give you their best performance – in his words ‘by doing virtually nothing’.
The course content and delivery was engaging and useful – lots of great insights and tips to take forward into my own practice when it comes to working in television drama and also on independent and film projects. I’m really grateful to Ymddiried: Media Grants Cymru for supporting me to attend. My learnings from this course will definitely help me when it comes to prepping for my next tv directing project.