Play your way into production: game-based skills development for the film and TV industry

Jude Brereton; Bethan M. Jones; Carlton Reeve; James Zborowski; Anna Felicity Bramwell-Dicks

doi:10.1080/15405702.2025.2486773

Play your way into production: game-based skills development for the film and TV industry

Jude Brereton, Bethan M. Jones, Carlton Reeve, James Zborowski, Anna Felicity Bramwell-Dicks

Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Screen industry employers report that they are unable to recruit graduates with the right skills for entry-level roles in film and television, citing a lack of business awareness and various “soft skills” as barriers to employment. 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. However, recent research in the use of applied/serious games has indicated that situational skills training can be facilitated through these approaches. This article offers an analysis of the design process behind a game-based learning intervention and offers preliminary results, drawing on questionnaire responses, interviews and an autoethnographic account. 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 particular job roles and improve access to the development of skills and knowledge.

Original language	English
Number of pages	22
Journal	Popular Communication
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2025.2486773
Publication status	Published - 10 Apr 2025

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

10.1080/15405702.2025.2486773Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Play your way into production game-based skills development for the film and TV industry
© 2025 The Author(s).
Final published version, 3.31 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "Screen industry employers report that they are unable to recruit graduates with the right skills for entry-level roles in film and television, citing a lack of business awareness and various “soft skills” as barriers to employment. 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. However, recent research in the use of applied/serious games has indicated that situational skills training can be facilitated through these approaches. This article offers an analysis of the design process behind a game-based learning intervention and offers preliminary results, drawing on questionnaire responses, interviews and an autoethnographic account. 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 particular job roles and improve access to the development of skills and knowledge.",

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AU - Bramwell-Dicks, Anna Felicity

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