London’s MetFilm School to open new Leeds campus

From September 2022, MetFilm School’s Leeds campus, based at Prime Studios, will offer five undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Jonny Persey, director at MetFilm School, said: “Yorkshire’s Film and TV sector is thriving, and we want to ensure it has a dynamic, talented, and diverse workforce to meet all its needs.

“On MetFilm School courses, students learn by doing, participating in workshops, working within the industry, attending masterclasses and turning their knowledge into practical experience. All our courses are taught by award-winning professionals who are actually working in the industry.”

MetFilm School Leeds will be offering a degree in content, media and film production as well as acting for screen, plus MAs in cinematography, directing and screenwriting.

The school’s mission is to provide students with a practical, high-quality learning experience, grounded in professional industry practice and preparation.

Mr Persey said: “We are so proud to be launching MetFilm School Leeds. It has long been an ambition of the school to open a campus in a second UK city. Our strategic decision making since the school’s inception some eighteen years ago has been driven by a desire to make the unique education that we offer available to more people.

“That’s why we started running undergraduate programmes and later postgraduate programmes, and it’s why we opened in Berlin, Germany. And it is also why we are opening now in Leeds.

“Digital technologies in production and distribution, the subsequent emergence of the streamers, and the continued growth and support of the creative sector, have all made the film and TV sector across the UK ever hungrier for talented people in front and behind the camera. We are proud to do our bit in educating and supporting that talent and in turn in supporting the industry.

“We are already proud of our association with Yorkshire. In 2017 we helped produce the multiple award winning and BAFTA nominated film God’s Own Country.

“It is indeed no accident that Yorkshire has long been described as God’s Own Country, and its picturesque locations have made it a favourite haunt for artists and filmmakers.”

“This is something that the industry is waking up to. Channel 4 moved its headquarters into Leeds a few weeks ago, joining ITV and BBC in having a permanent presence in the region, and a host of production companies have also made similar moves. When the industry grows, it needs space as well as talent, and the county is proud to boast several new studio developments.”

One production which recognised the value of shooting in Leeds was MetFilm School tutor’s Prano Bailey-Bond’s film Censor, also exec-produced by another MetFilm School tutor, Naomi Wright, which released in UK cinemas in August.

As well as offering two undergraduate programmes and three postgraduate programmes, from September 2022, MetFilm School Leeds will offer a range of short courses to support talent gaps in the local industry.