Play Your Way Into Production: Game-based Skills Development for the Screen Industries

Abstract

Screen industry employers report they are unable to recruit graduates with the right skills for entry level roles in film and television (e.g. runners or production assistants), citing a lack of business awareness and various ‘soft skills’ as barriers to employment (Grugulis and Vincent 2009; Carey et al, 2017; Jones, Swords and Brereton, 2022). Traditionally such knowledge and skills are obtained through in-person work experience on set, but work experience is usually unpaid and therefore inaccessible to many students and graduates. However, research in the use of applied/serious games and extended reality technologies for training purposes has indicated that situational skills training can be facilitated using these approaches (Ebner and Holzinger 2007; Connolly et al, 2012). This paper presents an analysis of the design process behind a game-based learning intervention, developed to enable players to experience a day working on a film set and to allow educators to open up discussions about working practices and employability/progression within the screen industry. The simulation gives players the opportunity to take on a junior role in a film studio, respond to typical requests on set, interact with other crew members and observe proceedings. The study draws on interviews with educators and an ethnographic account of playing the game and using the complementary educational resources. We argue that a serious game can function as a meaningful intervention allowing potential new entrants to the screen industry to understand the tasks and duties of job roles in the industry. This approach also improves access to the development of skills and knowledge which are traditionally gained through (unpaid) work experience.