From Script to Screen: A Career in Entertainment - Rosie Dart

Speaker Series 2023 - 2024 - From Script to Screen: A Career in Entertainment with Rosie Dart 

Report by Hannah (L6)

On Friday the 22^nd September, Lower 6 were given the opportunity to attend a very interesting lecture titled From Script to Screen: A Career in Entertainment by Rosie Dart, a Queen Anne’s School alumna. After leaving Queen Anne’s in 2016, Rosie went on to study English at Durham University, and spoke about her experiences in casting and producing. She has worked on many projects, including Enola Holmes, Luther, and Girl from the North Country.

For the first part of the lecture, we explored the role of casting, which is the process of recruiting actors. We learned that there are six main stages to this: First, you must get the script, and then use this to create breakdowns for all of the roles. After that, an initial ideas list must be created. This is where the casting team decide on the actors that they want to play the lead roles. After this, the actors are then auditioned and then the selected actors have to be shared with the rest of the team. The director then meets the actors and the selection is finalised. After this, deals and contracts can be put in place for the actors and finances can be negotiated.

Once we had learned about the processes of the casting, we were asked to cast lead actors for a Romeo and Juliet series. Everyone found this activity very exciting and some very interesting discussions were had. Many names were suggested, including Theo James, Chloe Grace Moretz, Anthony Ramos, and Emma Watson.

We then learned about the role of producing, finding out about the three main areas that the role is responsible for. These were: project leadership, essentially managing the whole project, the creative concept (responsible for the vision of the piece), and finally making sure that the project does not go over the budget given.

The final part of the lecture explained all of the subjects that are needed in the entertainment industry. This was enlightening and inspiring as it showed us that a range of subjects can be applied to a career in entertainment. From the more obvious creative subjects such as english (writer, researcher, script supervisor), drama, and art (costume or production design) to the less obvious such as maths (working in the finance department), science (set engineering or working as a medic on site), and geography (location research and management).

In conclusion, the lecture was both entertaining and useful, as many people were not aware of the vast array of jobs available in the entertainment industry, and the nature and scope of jobs is constantly changing. Rosie gave us a valuable piece of career advice which was to curate a list of skills and preferences, and to identify career opportunities based on these rather than a specific job title or specific employer. She reminded us that the world of work and many industries are evolving all the time and that being open-minded alongside ambitious would serve us well. We all had lots of questions for Rosie and were inspired by this successful and passionate Queen Anne’s alumna!

- Hannah (L6)