Student to Master(class) with Leon McGeown-Fee!

I was really glad I attended Leon McGeown Fee’s Production Management Masterclass on Sunday 12 October, as part of the Cinemagic film festival.

The masterclass was open to the public (me) and the BFI film academy were also present. I had a mild panic when I arrived and worksheets were being handed out and I had no clue what was going on, luckily Cinemagic’s Shauna Shivers was really friendly and helpful and let me know that non-BFI ones didn’t need to hand anything in!

Leon is a very well known Production Manager/ Producer with credits on Disney’s The Lodge, Nova and Dani’s Castle. 

Her masterclass was extremely informative and enjoyable, she had loads of advice and anecdotes detailing her experience. It was brilliant to hear from such an established  professional! She covered everything from CV’s to unspoken set etiquette to what to wear on the job.

She was so thorough, that when she opened the floor to us for questions at the end, not a single hand went up, she’d just covered everything in such good detail!

The experience really humbled me and reminded me just how wet behind the ears (and how much of a nobody) I really am!

Whilst I took on loads of the points she covered, the one that stood out to me the most was that no job was too small, and you have to pay your dues. You shouldn’t complain about making cups of tea for people in senior positions because one day, if you play your cards right, a bright spark trainee will be making you one.

(Also, ALWAYS bring a notepad and pen to masterclasses, you will want to write down EVERYTHING!)