Learning from Masterclasses

Industry Speaker Name: Paul Holbrook

Paul Holbrook is a director and screenwriter who writes and directs his own screenplays. His job role mostly involves writing original screenplays and developing these into visual and artistic short films.

Before formally entering the industry, he wrote scripts for comedy skits that he worked on with friends and these quickly gained popularity. Being inspired by this, he started his career as a feature-scriptwriter. He was able to advance his career by participating in industry-recognised screenwriting competitions and so far, he has won numerous awards which have helped him to develop a strong reputation within the industry. In his career, he has explored filmmaking across a range of genres such as comedy, drama, sci-fi and horror. He does not have a formal education in filmmaking but by drawing inspiration from his environment and life experiences, he has been able to create a wide range of high-quality, impactful short films. For example, his short film ‘Shiney’ is a comedy which was inspired by his life experiences growing up in council estates.

From our Q&A session with Paul Holbrook, I learnt the importance of the development process of a script, as this is integral to ensuring that a good idea is executed in a way that is visually pleasing and impactful on its audience. From his contributions, I also learnt the importance of flexibility within the industry as not every film will require the same processes or practices to make them successful. For example, he explained that because of the raw nature of some of his films, there were situations where he has opted for street-casting as opposed to hiring actors through an agency to maintain the authenticity of his short films.

Paul Holbrook explained the importance of creating as many short film as possible as a good route of progression within the industry. It is through winning and participating in numerous competitions that he was able to gain the recognition he needed to continue advancing in his career. This is an ideology that I support as I aim to go into directing in the future and I understand the importance of building a reputation within the industry. The most effective way of doing this is by participating in industry-recognised competitions as well as film festivals and in the future, I plan to follow a similar progression path.