Meet the Alumni - David Roden

Our Meet the Alumni series is designed to give you an insight into what our recent graduates are up to and their experience at the Met Film School. 

This week we meet David Roden who studied One-Year Practical Filmmaking.

How would you describe your time at the School?

I loved it! I had the best time in the world at the Met Film School. My year went so fast and actually I wished I could have stayed for another year. I learned so much so quickly, and would have liked the opportunity to grow more in the brilliantly supportive atmosphere created by the school. I met a lot of people who have since become good friends and industry contacts, I grew in confidence, and it helped focus me towards my ultimate career goal. I felt supported by staff, and felt genuinely nurtured by the pastoral care and teaching. In fact, I felt that I learned more in my one year at film school than I did in three years at University studying drama ... it's intense, and it's hard work, but it gave me a brilliant and firm grounding when I finally graduated and moved out into the big wide (and very scary) professional world.

What was the highlight of the course?

There were several highlights in the course for me, to be honest. The biggest and best was going out on location to shoot my graduation film, and taking a cast and crew down to Cornwall to film a ghost story in a lighthouse. To date, this whole experiences still counts as one of my happiest and most creative memories, with a fabulously happy and talented team. The film turned out extremely well, and we won a 'Best Student Film' award at the Cornwall Film Festival for it! And I certainly wouldn't have won the Festival if it hadn't have been for the training I got at the Met, which prepared me for the rigours of long shooting days, and how to tell a story visually.

Other highlights included the visiting guest lecturers, as it's always great to get an outsiders' point of view - as it's especially easy in this industry to become insular.

What were the advantages of being taught by industry professionals?

Being taught by industry professionals was a huge advantage because they know what they are talking about and they know what it takes to go  anywhere in this business. That´s why you start straight away to think and behave like a professional and that´s what employers want to see  when you´re applying for jobs. 

What projects have you worked on since completing your course?

Since finishing at the Met I worked as a runner on a low budget British comedy 'French Film' where I worked as Hugh Bonneville and Eric Cantona's driver! I became a script reader, then a trainee script editor for BBC Wales, polished a feature film script, worked on the BBC's Writers Academy, became a script editor for Casualty, and wrote and produced the first websiode for the BBC's Continuing Drama department ... You can watch it on BBC or on Youtube.

I am currently the Development Editor for Continuing Drama at the BBC, and I work with writers new to the industry. Most recently I have just sold my first feature film script who are hoping to go into production on it in the summer of 2011, and I'm currently working on a new low budget horror film script.

How can we get in touch with you?