Jonathan Laidlow

“I was involved in the Halty Job early on in my time at Haltwhistle Film Project. And with a friend Daniel Leadbitter we decided to make a remake of the Italian Job but with a local twist. Haltwhistle film project supported us with our idea and eventually with funding from First Light we were able to shoot, edit and screen our film. It was a brilliant experience and at the time helped me develop a lot of skills such as camera work and editing. However it also taught me a lot about working within teams and having creative control.

After the Halty job I decided I defiantly wanted a job in the creative industry. I started an enterprise company at my high school handling not just film work but all the live sound and lighting events that they hosted throughout the year. This included amongst others, Rock nights, Music Evenings, Awards evenings, Drama performances, fashion shows and the annual Charity Day. Outside of school I was involved in the Xhibit Film Festival. This was a small festival of films that toured venues in the north east showing young people’s films. Many of which were funded by First Light.

At present I am about to finish my second year at Staffordshire university studying Theatre Studies and Technical Stage Production. I hope to move on into the entertainments industry after graduation. What I learned with the film project and my first project, The Halty Job has clearly had a huge impact on the direction in life I have chosen.”