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Signalling Success

Although Signal Films is a brand new company, Kerry is no newcomer to the area or to filmmaking. Signal is now set to take the company to higher levels with a big project in Barrow-the Cooke’s Building. The Grade 2 listed building is undergoing restorative work at the moment and the 2 million pound project will eventually become an incubation centre for creative projects and businesses. This exciting 3rd sector enterprise will be set up and managed by Signal Films and will house a café bar, an exhibition centre, a gallery and performance space. There will be space for new business start-ups. Meanwhile, they are very busy with many other projects, most of them community based.

Signal Films is a social enterprise that specialises in creative and digital media training and produces its own professional films for cinema and broadcast. Kerry Kolbe and Loren Slater along with their dedicated team are extremely experienced in professional film production and running projects for the community. In, many people’s minds, Signal is very tied in with the plans for the regeneration of Barrow and with entrepreneurship in general. Although Kerry is very creative and loves making obscure artistic films, she knows that it is unrealistic to expect to be able to do this all the time. They split their time between social enterprise projects, training, community projects and artistic films.

This means they have had to be very skilled at writing funding applications which is an art in itself but also very tedious and time-consuming. Never-the-less, funding applications are a necessary evil to making a go of a creative business. Kerry has been particularly skilled at this because of her strong journalist background and all of her experience since working in the film industry.

This has meant that they have been able to secure many projects such as Death in the Bay, A Bit on the Side, Daylight Hole and Dead Dog and have been a source of inspiration to other creative would-be entrepreneurs. Their stunning track record and extensive screenings have given them a sky-scraping profile in Furness. Their work has been screened on television, at festivals, used in corporate and enterprise work as documentaries and short films nationally and internationally. They run a programme of trainings that are suitable for beginning right through to advanced filmmakers. The master-classes are always over-subscribed to making it necessary to select the applicants carefully.

They have been able to find placements for a number of the trainees and some of them have gone on to set up their own filming business. Others have taken the skills back to their work-places and used them there. To date, they have trained about 400 individuals of all skill levels, ages and backgrounds.

So how have they come to be so successful?

Hard work, more hard work and the willingness to put in the hours at all aspects of the job whether it is admin, cleaning, tea-making, creative projects or networking. The work itself is also carried out to a very high standard, no matter how big or small the project. Kerry says that they have a dynamic and interesting mix of personalities that ensures that things never get boring and they all keep each other on their toes. This can-do attitude is essential in a cut-throat business like filmmaking and Kerry says you have to be tough:

“The bigger the chunk of life you carve out for yourself, the more you have to elbow for your space”.

Sometimes this means weekend and evening work and it always needs to be done enthusiastically. It has to be a lifestyle.

I asked Kerry about the challenges that lie in front of them.

She said that time was always the biggest challenge, because they are so busy. They need to make some time to plan strategically and work out the clients they really want to work with in the future instead of just accepting projects because they keep landing on the doorstep.

Her advice to other young entrepreneurs?

• You are working in an area where there is as much opportunity as anywhere else in the country. Grasp it!
• There are lots of people and organisations who are willing to help you, like Furness Enterprise.
• Here you can be a big fish in a small pond, so make the most of it.
• Accept that you will have plenty of paper and leg work!
• Expect delayed gratification and buy into the fact that you might be skint for a while. Make this a conscious decision.
• Go for it properly, don’t wait around for opportunities to come to you, go get them!

So if you want to be kept up to date, do email Signal Films and they will keep you informed of all the exciting projects. Who knows, maybe you could be the next trainee to make it big?

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Posted by Kay Hebbourn on 9th July.