Aspiring screenwriter Roshane McField is making waves as the first Caymanian accepted into the National Film and Television School in the UK after receiving a scholarship from UK television broadcaster, Channel 4.
McField, 30, was accepted in October last year to NFTS, one of the most recognised film schools in the United Kingdom. During his time at NFTS, he will be enrolled in a television writing course where he will learn to write an original TV pilot episode. The pilot will be pitched to leading TV production companies at All3Media, one of the UK’s biggest film and television production and distribution companies.
“If my project generates enough interest at the end of the course, I could receive a first referral in producing and developing it further from one of All3Media’s production companies,” McField told the Cayman Compass.
A love for screenwriting
For McField, going to the cinema and watching television shows was one of his favourite pastime hobbies.
“I never, however, considered film to be a potential career route later on in life. It was during my late teens that I found myself developing an interest in the performing arts and how film and television shows are made. At that time, I was actually working towards becoming a pilot and did computer science at UCCI for my associate’s degree,” he said.
“I eventually received an offer to pursue an aeronautical science degree at the Florida Institute of Technology. However, I was unable to move forward with my enrollment due to the lack of financial funds to cover my university expenses.”
It was then, McField said, he decided to do some “soul searching” and stumbled across Caymanian American Grace Byers on the music drama TV series, ‘Empire’.
“That’s when I really started to consider my pastime hobbies in film and television as a potential career route,” he said.
“I then decided to immerse myself locally into the arts by performing in local plays at the Prospect Playhouse and attended local film events such as CayFilm, which exposed me to other Caymanian film and television creatives such as Frank E. Flowers. It felt really risky at the time, but I eventually decided to take a chance and pursue a career in media, film and television and relocate to the UK.”
It was during his second year of his bachelor’s degree in media and communications at the University of Greenwich that McField enrolled in a screenwriting course.
“It really hooked me into the art form and exposed me to how critical scripts are for any successful film and scripted television content,” he said.
McField was also the first Caymanian to be admitted into the London Film School, the oldest and another widely respected film school in the UK, where he completed his master of arts in screenwriting.
After graduating from London Film School, through the University of Warwick, McField was the first Caymanian and only representative from the Caribbean selected from all over Europe to participate in a European television programme called the Eureka Series, a three-month, in-person, intensive programme aimed at engaging TV drama writers to receive industry training from working European television industry professionals at the Series Mania Institute in Lille, France.
McField said, “My time at the programme allowed me to develop an original European TV drama and at the end of the programme, do an in-person pitch in Paris, France to the VP and commissioning editor of original productions of HBO France, head of international fiction acquisition of France Télévisions and other industry professionals.”
He finished the programme as a member of the Eureka Series alumni class of fall 2023.
‘To be the best writer I can possibly be’
Last year, he was once again selected as the only representative from Cayman and the Caribbean for another international training programme for television writers in Europe called ‘Serial Eyes – Diverse Storytelling in Digital Web Series’, hosted by the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.
During his two-month experience, McField had the chance to learn and work from several experienced screenwriters and industry professionals from Europe.
McField added, “Career wise, I simply wish to become the best writer I can possibly be. I’m constantly refining my skills and abilities to develop my own unique and authentic voice as a writer. Being able to write and create an aesthetic and emotional experience from page to screen for a living is certainly a dream of mine that I am actively working towards making a reality.”
After finishing up the certificate course at National Film and Television School, McField said, “I’m hoping for one of my projects to be picked up in the near future and land my first development deal. Until then, my focus is to continue working on my craft and navigate my way further into the industry.”
Additional reporting by Henri Morineau.
Related Videos
