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- Nov 24, 2025
- 3 min read
That feeling of trying to get everything done before the crazy season starts is well and truly upon us! Although great to see that there are still productions crewing up – a much more positive end to the year. Here’s to that continuing into 2026.
WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO
It’s been a bittersweet couple of weeks as we have wrapped up our Getting Started in Set Decorating and Props course, delivered with support from ScreenSkills. This has been a great group, all engaged and keen to put their new knowledge and advice into practice. It’s been a pleasure working with them over the last 6 weeks – Set Decs and Prop Masters, please let us know if you are looking for trainees (although we hope they have already been in touch!) We wish them all the very best of luck with next steps. Huge thanks to the Talking Point members who came to talk about their experiences - your generous advice and networking was hugely appreciated.
We ran another of our How to Read a Technical Drawing sessions with Senior Art Director Rod McLean (Wicked, Jay Kelly, Jurassic World Dominion). This is a great workshop to really understand how to find the information you need on a large-scale drawing, look at a range of different drawings to see points of difference and feel more confident around reading them. Also, an invaluable opportunity to ask Rod questions and meet other like-minded people! Please let us know if you would be interested in attending future courses.
THINGS COMING UP
STEPPING UP TO SUPERVISING ART DIRECTOR - January 2026We have opened applications for our Stepping up to Supervising Art Director course. This will be delivered in January and February with a mix of zoom and in-person sessions. Moving up a grade is daunting and this course not only provides a huge amount of information about the Supervising role but will also help you feel more confident when you make the move. Information on the website – deadline for applications 12th December.
WORKING IN ART DEPT, SET DECORATING & PROPS – Tuesday 16th December 10-12:30
This zoom workshop is a great introduction to understanding how these three departments work and collaborate on large scale feature and HETV drama productions.
Small, informal group with lots of information, advice on getting started and opportunities to ask questions and meet people in a similar position.
More information on the website.
MENTORING NETWORK We are pleased to be opening applications for the Talking Point Mentoring Network 2026. The Mentoring Network is our flagship programme running over 3 months. It includes weekly sessions on how the industry works and how to succeed in it, CV and portfolios, how to move onto productions and do well. We also arrange a session with a departmental mentor. We have worked with 184 mentees, over 86% of whom are now working successfully on large scale feature films and HETV dramas.
More information on the website.
THINGS WE HAVE BEEN ENJOYING
Wes Anderson – the Archives at The Design Museum. Three decades of personal archives and a retrospective devoted to his significant contribution to cinema. Explore the design stories behind all his films – including our film of the month on our Talking Point Film Club insta post in November!
Some great binge tv and opening weekends to engage with this month. Congratulations to all those who worked on Wicked – that has been quite the event cinema and deserves all the praise being heaped on it. Also Die My Love, Bugonia and Malice – great work from some of our mentors and mentees.
Just as it was freezing, it started warming up! But best to get ahead – and this is a good one for the Christmas list – Hot Hands Hand Warmers. Air activated and hot for 10 hours! Perfect for those chilly markets, stages and workshops.
INDUSTRY TOP TIP
Get ready the night before! It’s getting darker and colder and those mornings are hard. It really does make such a difference if you are properly ready the night before - have your phone charged, petrol in the car, know where you are going, have your snacks, wet weather clothes and warm layers. Your morning self will thank you!
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