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

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.