Derren Lawford supports emerging talent at BAFTA Connect event

Stern & Wild filmmaker and consultant Derren Lawford joined three other creative leaders on a BAFTA panel earlier this month to discuss the realities of building a portfolio career across the screen industries.

Held as part of BAFTA Connect’s year-round programme of events, the ‘Portfolio Power-Up’ session aimed to give Connect members a better understanding of how to position their expertise to unlock new opportunities, how experience is evaluated and which transferable skills apply across different industries or disciplines.   

Key takeaways from the event include: know who you are, know your skills and embrace change.

Derren was keen to underscore the importance of self-branding both as a tool to make an individual stand out from the crowd and to show how that person’s unique skill set is a good fit for any role they’re pursuing.

“Although we are in a creative industry there are people we are working for – or trying to work for – that need a clear picture of what you can bring,” he said. “So you have to make it really clear what your role would be in that process… I basically have to reimagine and reconfigure myself very specifically for each opportunity.”

Derren was joined on the panel by Vincent Aupetit, creative director and visualisation supervisor at Framestore, development exec and script editor Kellye Carnahan, and writer and director Nosa Eke. Nadia Oliva hosted. To read BAFTA’s report on the discussion, click here.