{"id":58847,"date":"2025-10-07T08:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/58847\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T08:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:07:10","slug":"nfts-director-unpacks-industry-spanning-grad-impact-report-exlcusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/58847\/","title":{"rendered":"NFTS Director Unpacks Industry-Spanning Grad Impact Report (Exlcusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe National Film and Television School\u2019s (NFTS<\/a>) Graduate Impact Report landed Tuesday, and director Jon Wardle is taking THR through its wildly impressive numbers.<\/p>\n

\n\tEvery five years, the NFTS, located in Buckinghamshire, England \u2014\u00a0and included on The Hollywood Reporter\u2018s 2025 list of best international film schools<\/a> \u2014\u00a0 collects an enormous amount of data demonstrating just how its alumni are continuing to better the U.K.\u2019s busy film and TV industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom big-budget blockbusters Wicked and Barbie to acclaimed indie hits Kneecap, Love Lies Bleeding and Santosh, the new report highlights the depth of the school\u2019s training, as well as the trust placed in NFTS talent by the world\u2019s leading producers, studios and platforms. And with millions of pounds of funding on its way, the NFTS has big plans to bolster the breadth of their teaching.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Jon Wardle, who has worked at the NFTS since 2012 and been its director since 2017, caught up with THR for an exclusive first-look at the numbers, spanning the \u00a328 billion ($38 billion) spent on film and high-end TV production in the U.K. up to 2024. Wardle\u2019s five takeaways from this report, he hopes, demonstrate the school\u2019s\u00a0mighty footprint on Britain\u2019s entertainment business as the NFTS remains \u201ca key driver of industry talent and a powerful factor in attracting inward investment to the U.K.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the school\u2019s chief also wants to make known his commitment to preparing the next generation of film and TV creatives for a rapidly-changing industry. \u201cAm I inviting people into a precarious industry where they\u2019re not going to be able to build a successful life?\u201d Wardle asks, adding: \u201cI want to make sure I\u2019m helping them build a sustainable career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t1. Contribution to the U.K.\u2019s film and TV industry is sky-high\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAt first read, some of NFTS\u2019 numbers are entirely unbelievable. In film, 75 percent of U.K. production spend since 2020 has involved at least one NFTS graduate, and this number rises to 89 percent when it comes to high-end TV. At the largest U.S. studios and producers \u2014\u00a0including the likes of Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Apple, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. \u2014\u00a0the school\u2019s grads have a part to play in over 90 percent of their film spend in this country. \u201cI was really encouraged by that,\u201d Wardle says. \u201cIt\u2019s better than it was in the previous five-year periods, despite all the challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the set of Jon M. Chu\u2019s blockbuster hit Wicked were 22 NFTS graduates; for Star Wars\u2018 critically-acclaimed spin-off series Andor with Diego Luna, it was 67. Elsewhere, 74 percent of revenues of the U.K.\u2019s top 20 box office hits and 78 percent of revenues of the country\u2019s top 20 independent films feature an NFTS graduate in a key role.<\/p>\n

\n\tPulling together these numbers is a task more important than ever in an industry in desperate need of some buoyancy, according to Wardle. \u201cA studio exec said this to me: \u2018You\u2019re the first person who\u2019s ever come into my office and shown me what your graduates do on my productions,’\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of money spent, lots of activity, but can we actually track through what those people actually go on to do? We recognize that if we\u2019re going to ask the industry to support us as core funders, then you have to be able to demonstrate to them at the end of a year, or at the end of a five-year period, what you\u2019ve done on their shows and films.\u201d And it\u2019s what students want, too. \u201cThey want to know they\u2019re coming to a course that might lead them onto employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDirector Weronika Tofilksa and Jessica Gunning on the set of \u2018Baby Reindeer\u2019.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFTS<\/p>\n

\t\t2. Seniority among top professions continues to grow\t<\/p>\n

\n\tExpected, sure, but for Wardle, still a cause for celebration. Graduates who were working as assistant art directors five years ago now lead the team. Those who started out as boom ops are sound recordists in their own right. \u201cI hope, in five years\u2019 time, we\u2019ll see that grow again,\u201d he says. In the film sector, for example, the influence of NFTS graduates has grown in tandem with the industry\u2019s shift toward large-scale, inward-investment productions \u2014\u00a0an area where NFTS talent is particularly concentrated, according to the report. Their presence in key roles, including directors, producers and writers, on inward-investment film and TV projects has grown from 60 percent (2015-2019) to 67 percent of projects from 2020 to 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe school hopes to build on the breadth of vocation they offer thanks to a recent \u00a310 million ($13.5 million) investment from the U.K. government\u2019s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and another \u00a36 million ($8 million) fundraised by the industry. \u201cWe\u2019re going to start some new disciplines,\u201d explains Wardle. \u201cWe don\u2019t teach costume [design] at the school. We\u2019re going to start a costume department. We\u2019re looking in the space around generative AI and also visual effects and virtual production. We\u2019re developing two or three new courses in that space as we try and connect the dots between traditional art departments and visual effects and new modes of production, like virtual production. So we\u2019re going to come out with three new courses by the end of the year in that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the school explores the possibilities of AI, Wardle admits they are making no effort to try and create \u201cfully AI films.\u201d It comes in the wake of uproar over AI \u201cactress\u201d Tilly Norwood<\/a>, who, upon news that agencies are looking to sign the computer-generated talent, has made headlines attracting widespread condemnation from unions SAG-AFTRA, Equity, and some of Hollywood\u2019s most notable onscreen names. Wardle says the NFTS will be helping those in different craft roles embrace the use of artificial intelligence when needed. \u201cWe\u2019ve also had people come to us and say, \u2018You\u2019re selling out. You shouldn\u2019t be doing this,’\u201d he said. \u201cBut that feels like a very naive perspective, because [AI] is not going away. The genie is not going back in the bottle. So the key thing is, how do you help people navigate it effectively and ethically, also understand their own boundaries in it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t3. One in three NFTS graduates come from diverse backgrounds\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThrough \u00a32 million-a-year scholarships, an annual fundraising gala and with hubs across the country, the NFTS has bolstered its diversity initiative. This year, their stats pull out a 2021\/2022 Ofcom report that states just 16 percent of employees working in Britain\u2019s film and TV industry are from an ethnically diverse background, compared to 33 percent at the NFTS. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of that,\u201d Wardle tells THR. \u201cWe are now delivering activity all over the country. We\u2019ve got hubs in Glasgow, Cardiff, Leeds, and we\u2019re definitely seeing that people who are engaging with us in those hubs, maybe on a short course or on a part time course, their confidence is built that they [feel they] can go on and do something more substantive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the aforementioned funding from the DCMS, the NFTS campus will soon boast accommodation for disabled students. At the moment, Wardle explains, disabled students either have to live in London or Oxford and commute in. \u201cWe can\u2019t talk about being inclusive and wanting the very best people to come \u2014\u00a0no matter of background \u2014\u00a0and then say to them, \u2018But you have to live 45 minutes away and it\u2019s going to be hugely expensive,’\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe school is also proud to provide its diverse student body with the appropriate role models. \u201cThere are very successful Black, Asian graduates,\u201d adds Wardle. \u201cWhether you\u2019re looking at someone like Trix Worrell who created [Channel 4 sitcom] Desmond\u2019s, or Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts & Crosses\u2026 We often get application forms that say, \u2018I know [Singaporean filmmaker] Anthony Chen went to your school and I want to walk in his footsteps.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t4. Cross-sector skillsets are championed\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking to the future, Wardle is particularly excited about giving his students the freedom to build on various skillsets \u2014\u00a0especially in an increasingly competitive market like games. \u201cThe writers\u2019 strike showed us that if we rely on just film and high-end TV, it\u2019s feast and famine,\u201d he begins. \u201cSo a big thing we\u2019ve been doing over the last few years is making sure all of our graduates in below-the-line roles \u2014 sound design, composing, production design \u2014 they all can also face into games as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf a student is a sound designer for film, they should also be able to do games audio, says Wardle, and the same goes for composing. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely seeing that,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe\u2019re not quantifying that, because, there\u2019s not an equivalent of of IMDb for credits on games. But I\u2019m seeing NFTS graduates do six months on a film, and then maybe go into a game project. That is definitely the future as we try and help people build sustainable careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDirector Olivia Owyeung on the set of \u2018Red Egg & Ginger\u2019.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFTS<\/p>\n

\t\t5. Individual stories spotlight industry-spanning impact\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAs director of the NFTS, Wardle admits he\u2019s a real scholar \u2014\u00a0or, as his wife says, a complete nerd \u2014\u00a0when it comes to his graduates and their career trajectories. He can pick anyone\u2019s name out of an end credits and know immediately they\u2019re one of his, and highlights some of the more personal stories coming out of the 2020-2024 Graduate Impact Report. Francesca Gardiner, writer on His Dark Materials and a producer on Succession, is now showrunner on HBO\u2019s hotly anticipated Harry Potter series. This year\u2019s report features the first photo of Gardiner on the Harry Potter set. \u201cShe graduated the year I started at the school,\u201d recalls Wardle. \u201cShe was my first school graduation in ceremony 2012 and now, to think that 12 years later she\u2019s the showrunner of the biggest TV show in the world, which will run for 10 years\u2026 It\u2019s kind of amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Disney+\u2019s adaptation of Jilly Cooper novel Rivals alone, four NFTS grads boast an impressive resume of work. Alexandra Brodski, director on episodes six and eight on the Happy Prince production, is currently directing all three opening episodes of Richard Gadd\u2019s BBC\/HBO series Half Man. Cinematographer Carlos Catalan has worked on Broadchurch, Dope Girls, Murdered by My Boyfriend and Killing Eve, and production designer Dominic Hyman on The Witcher, The Last Kingdom and earned an Emmy for outstanding art direction on HBO\u2019s The Pacific. Rivals composer Natalie Holt made history as the first woman to score a live-action Star Wars project when she worked on Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+.<\/p>\n

\n\tWardle says: \u201cYou take people with a real passion and energy and you actually teach them. I think a lot of higher education has abandoned that. When I was at university before the film school, contact time in the university was maybe six to eight hours a week. At the NFTS it\u2019s 30 hours a week. It\u2019s like having a job. And we take small numbers. If you\u2019re only taking 10 composers a year, 10 directors and so on, then you can really help them build their careers and segue out.\u201d At the same amount of time, Wardle wants to make clear that success is never linear. \u201cOne of my concerns is that [the report] sends a message to a student that this going to be really easy, and it isn\u2019t actually,\u201d adds Wardle. \u201cBehind all those individual stories are a huge amount of resilience, perseverance and hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Film and Television School\u2019s (NFTS) Graduate Impact Report landed Tuesday, and director Jon Wardle is taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,399,46,43858,1299],"class_list":["post-58847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-international","tag-israel","tag-nfts","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}