Last Saturday (6th July), I attended the Raindance Saturday Film School.

This is a one day film course which takes you through Writing Screenplays, Making Movies, Directing and getting into the film business, with a networking event afterwards. The normal price for the course is £119, but when I saw it on Groupon for £39, I could not resist.

I have to say, it was £39 very well spent as I had an absolute blast of a time and in many ways, I feel I learnt more in this one day than I did in 3 years at Art College.

Three out of four parts were taken by the owner and founder of Raindance Film Festival, Elliot Grove. I could have listened to him for hours, regaling the 160 strong audience with his tales of the film industry. It’s very easy to get engrossed in someone who’s protegés include Christopher Nolan and Edgar Wright, let alone with Grove’s experience and obvious love for film.

The Directing section of the day was taken by seasoned director Patrick Tucker, who has over 150 screen credits to his name. He engaged everyone through his humour (consisting of a laugh a minute) and again, obvious experience and love for directing.

The Saturday Film School did sometimes feel like a marketing device to get you to sign up for their longer, more expensive courses, but this can be excused for the fact that it is only a day course which is aimed at those with an interest in film. It was more like an introduction, yet it was still very informative and entertaining. These people actually CARE, which is a rarity.

My conclusion? I loved it so much I’m seriously considering saving up my hard-earned pennies to take a longer course! Go, go, GO!