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all ages. “It has the same mission now as it did [at its inception],” explains Unsworth, Resource’s co-founder and CEO, “which is to enable social change through film and art, and to diversify the creative industries by finding people from underrepresented backgrounds who don't have connections in the industry, giving them the opportunity to tell their stories and connecting them to skills gaps within creative industries.” Resource Productions is just that – a resource. Up until recently, the organisation offered project funding on a case-by-case basis, with backing from Arts Council England and the British Film Institute. “For 20-odd years, we had no core funding whatsoever,” describes Unsworth. “We operated as a social enterprise, where we had to generate revenue from commercial activities and reinvest that into the social purpose.” As of April 2023, Resource secured three-year funding from the Arts Council, becoming one of its ‘national portfolio organisations’. “After many years of working with them, they’ve seen what we do, and are supporting us in a more strategic way to continue or work over the next three years – and hopefully longer,” says Unsworth. At that same time, the company was awarded BFI Skills Cluster status, another three-year funding programme “to address the skills gaps in the film and TV industry and connect people in different localities – in our case Berkshire – with jobs and gigs.”
SUCCESS STORIES Resource Productions has seen its fair share of success stories. “The one that's probably most topical is a young lady called Myriam Raja,” shares Unsworth. After seeing an advert for Resource in the local paper, Myriam’s mother encouraged her to visit one of the free training programmes. Within a year, she’d submitted to – and received an award from – Leeds Young Film Festival, and eventually attended the National Film and Television School on a full scholarship. Recently, Raja went on to direct for the latest series of Top Boy . “She's from an underrepresented background. She is a woman director, she’s based outside of London and she’s from a French-Pakistani background,” details Unsworth. “She may never have been able to find a touchpoint into the industry if Resource Productions had not existed.”
Resource also recently celebrated the digital release of its first feature film, Little English . Directed by Pravesh Kumar, the film follows a British-Asian couple who live in Slough. “The whole ethos of it was to get people to step into or access something that they could not before,” according to Lesley-Anne Macfarlane, Resource’s head of production and film. “Everyone on the set – both in front and behind the camera – was from an underrepresented background,” Macfarlane continues. “Some people had access challenges, some had childcare needs, some had physical or invisible disabilities, we had people coming from diverse economic backgrounds… there were just all sorts.” The project saw support from the Rothschild Foundation as well as a Kickstarter scheme, which brought 12 unemployed young people on board. “They were all able to attain first credits on a feature film and since then several have moved on to other things,” enthuses Macfarlane. Little English is now available on several streaming platforms. SUPPORT SYSTEM Whether due to Covid-19, strikes or some other force, the film industry is always in flux. “It’s difficult for people to take a risk when they see an industry that fluctuates,” argues Unsworth. “People need to be ready to be self-employed, but managing yourself as a freelancer is quite scary if you haven't got someone to support you.” Luckily, that’s what Resource Productions is for.
INVALUABLE ACCESS Unsworth (top, left) and Macfarlane (top, right) are working towards creating a more representative workforce in the filmmaking sector
Unsworth urges young Berkshire-based filmmakers to get in touch via resource-productions.co.uk
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