(Image shows participants speaking at events for Creative Careers week.)
Creative Careers Week at Kent
6-10 March is Creative Careers Week, featuring a wide range of Kent Alumni, freelancers and employers – come and hear their perspectives, ask them questions and explore your own creative career ambitions.
Beth Matthews is a graduate working in the world of High-End TV and Indie Production, and shares some of her student to assistant director and access coordinator below. Find out more and ask questions to help you find your next career move at In Conversation… with Beth Matthews on Monday 6 March from 19:00 – 20:00.
Hear how Beth reached her ambitions and set up opportunities for herself after graduating in 2018
Beth studied Film at The University of Kent from 2015 – 2018. As well as studying her course she embraced what the Kent student community had to offer. She was a Kent Union Student Media Volunteer for three years, where she perfected her media production skills. During this time, she ran an 80s radio show on CSR with her best friend and created various student films and television shows including content for the This Kent Girl Can campaign and student feature film Incredible which premiered at the Gulbenkian during the society’s 2016 Film Festival. By the time her final year approached Beth was elected as the Station Manager of KTV, the society’s president, where, under her leadership, the station achieved National Award Wins at NaSTA (The National Student Television Awards) and she herself won several Kent Academic awards for her achievements as the society’s president figure.
After building this impressive CV while studying, Beth started her graduate life as an assistant agent at Earache, a voiceover agency, before transitioning into the world of TV and film production. She networked her way to gaining opportunities, taking on roles as a Runner and Location Marchal on productions for Disney/BBC and more and short films. Beth then landed a contract with the multi-awarding production company New Pictures as their Office Runner, giving her a great ‘in’ into the industry.
She has since trained as an Access Coordinator, a role in which she advocates for Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent talent within the screen industry. This is a new role within the industry and Beth is one of the first 13 people in the country to train in this area, she is proud to be part of the industries initiative to make working more accessible for all talents on and off screen, a mission highly personal to her as a disabled woman herself.
Alongside this she is still Assistant Directing on projects, the latest being Pyramid of Disunion (Channel 4) and Indefinitely (Hot Coals Productions), a film which has been nominated for six awards.
Check out the whole programme for Creative Careers Week, and follow @UniKentCES on Instagram for the latest.
Written by Maisie Golding-Cocozza, Careers and Employability, 01.03.2023
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