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Before going to film school I worked for a year as a runner and camera trainee on a variety of productions ranging from music videos to feature films. On set I'd talk to the other runners and younger crewmembers and when I told them I was thinking of going to film school they all said the same thing - "Don't go!". The general consensus seemed to be that film graduates never end up in the film industry. They explained to me you have to start from the bottom and work your way up, climb the ladder and the sooner you hop on the better. Why waste two or three years doing a degree?

I can't quite remember why I ignored their warnings, maybe I was looking for something more stable than random days of work or maybe I was sick of making cups of tea in polystyrene cups for curly haired commercials directors. Either way, I signed up to the Met Film School in Ealing Studios and did their two-year BA in Practical Filmmaking.

So I suppose the question is do I think the two years I spent at film school benefitted me more than the two years I would have spent climbing the ladder? The answer is a resounding yes.