Careers in Media & Acting
24 June 2020
On the May 15 Stowe hosted Arvind Ethan David (Chatham 93) who is now a British film producer. Arvind is a British film producer, founder of Slingshot Productions, and Executive Director of Ideate Media. He is best known for producing David Baddiel’s The Infidel in 2010, and the American adaptation of Douglas Adams’ science fiction detective comedy novel series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency on BBC America, which premiered in October 2016. Other feature films he has produced include Tormented starring Alex Pettyfer and French Film starring Hugh Bonneville and Manchester United football legend Eric Cantona - with the latter winning Best Actor for Bonneville and Best Screenplay for Aschlin Ditta at the 2008 Monte Carlo Film Festival.
He spoke about his experiences in first directing a Chatham House play during his time at Stowe, to producing the play on Broadway, to then directing the same as a series on Netflix. A passion for Douglas Adams’ science fiction was clear. Arvind’s talk was a mixture of anecdote and advice for Stoics wanting to secure a work placement or to enter the acting and film production industry.
Following Arvind’s presentation there were many questions from Stoics related to careers, sources of finance for productions and the inevitable questions linked to how Covid-19 may impact the short to medium term future of theatre, other live events and TV and film production. Arvind's presentation can be seen here.
Acting is clearly a rewarding career, but “do not go to acting school to get rich. You should only go to acting school because you love acting”.
Ethan Collins (Upper Sixth, Temple)