“Once you find your path, you’ll fly.” – Cleo Passley
By Natalie Turner-Sylvester
Cleo Passley, alumni from Media Trust gave us the background of her journey into the media. This journey was undoubtedly not a clear cut one, but one with ups and downs. Whilst at university, Cleo did not enjoy it and decided to drop out and pursue a more creative route, much to the disappointment of her parents. They said to her that she had one year to get a job, or she would be going back to university. Consequently, she worked at a pub for a while, disliked it and therefore did something about it. Cleo really had guts and proved to her parents just how determined she was to make her mark. Cleo reminisced on her time at Media Trust and told us that it literally changed her life. Media Trust taught her to not be afraid to try new things and she advised us that this is crucial and can really help give you some form of clarity.
What really resonated with me is when she said, “Don’t feel like you should know what you want to do”. To some extent, I know which avenue I want to go down, however sometimes I get conflicted, worry and doubt myself. However, Cleo did restore my confidence as she didn’t know precisely what she would do and now she is a junior casting researcher at Bear Grylls. Although it was not an easy ride and as Cleo said, “creative industries never really go smoothly”. Before this role, she was a logger which I did not have much awareness of. This involved long hours and she admitted it was not them most riveting role. Nevertheless, she enjoyed it as she got to learn about other roles from being surrounded by executives and learning the media jargon. Cleo is very ambitious and strives to have her own production company.
Some quotes that I took away:
“Make sure you find time, be happy and content”
“Creativeness never goes” – essentially, she said seize all opportunities now whilst we can, in the prime of our lives.
“Your journey is different to everyone else’s”
“Encourage each other” – I am all for supporting each other on this process that we are sharing together and growing together in our future careers.
“Create a mood board. Look at it every day and it will happen”. She emphasised the importance of time management and visioning your goal.
Going back to the title of this feature, “Once you find your path, you’ll fly.” – very fine words indeed!
Roles in TV and Compliance – with Jasmine Dotiwala
Our session was then followed with a masterclass from Jasmine, where I learned about the numerous roles within TV and compliance.
Jasmine really deconstructed all the roles that make up a television programme and eradicated the stereotypes in which generalise these roles to a mere few and therefore disregards other crucial roles. I really enjoyed learning more about the UK company Ofcom who govern content and ensure that illegal content is removed. When getting into the media it is vital to know about these laws and regulations or it could have devastating consequences. I also learnt more about pitching, the art of networking and commissioning.
