Having returned from the magical land of Shambala Festival on monday night, I am more excited than ever about being part of Future Producers. The whole time I was there I felt like I was viewing the festival through the eyes of a producer, critiquing and analysing; what worked? what didn’t? and why? I feel like I have a deeper understanding of how wonderful events like this come in to being, and all the hard work that goes into it, and this just made me appreciate and enjoy it all the more.

It was the perfect festival; the size, the location, the visual aesthetic, the consideration of layout, the variety of workshops and performance… It all combined and reacted to make an explosive bank holiday weekend. In the future I would love to be part of making something as great as Shambala happen!

Compass Presents, who we hope to be working collaboratively with for our immersive event also had their own stage at Shambala, so it was nice to see what they had going on. Fingers crossed I will be able to get some experience with them as part of my Gold Award…

In terms of our own project, our BFI Gothic Season immersive event has built some momentum – we have finally decided on a film, and this has given wings to heaps of new, exciting (and maybe overoptimistic) ideas. What is great about our choice is that the whole group agrees that it is the perfect film, it ticks every box. It’s wonderfully gothic, it is well known but not obvious, it’s a visual and conceptual gift, and it gels perfectly with Watershed… but I’m afraid for now you will just have to wait and see…