Alleycats head of production Judy Wilson kicked off the season with the session, “How to manage a production”. Over almost five years at the indie, she has worked on many projects, including the BBC NI/ RTÉ documentary, How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story.

Ryan Kernaghan, the director of photography on revenge thriller Bad Day for the Cut, offered a crash course in camera and lightning techniques, explaining to the students in the audience how they should prepare for a shoot. 

BBC Writersroom development producer Keith Martin and writer/director Stephen Mullan gave a workshop on screenwriting. “Don’t overcomplicate – simple can still be original,” advised Martin. “Keep description to a minimum,” added Mullan.

In “Shorts to features with Ryan Tohill”, the director – whose films, made with his brother, Andy, include the short, Insulin and the full-length thriller, The Dig – talked about how he made the jump from shorts to feature films. “We wrote short films [about] what we thought NI Screen wanted to see, which was a mistake,” said Ryan Tohill. “Make what you want – it’s all about finding your own voice.”

The final workshop saw Brian Philip Davis (Bad Day for the Cut) discuss the art of editing and offer tips on using Avid Media Composer.

“Our Film and TV workshop season was a huge success. It was fantastic to see such an influx of people keen to hear and learn about the creative industry in Northern Ireland,” said RTS Futures Northern Ireland Chair Georgia Parkinson.

The workshops took place from 17 April to 1 May at Queen’s University Belfast, apart from the camera and lightning session, which was held at Acorn TV.