The Young Film Academy Podcast

Hosts Dan Allen and Amelia Sciandra chat with joyous and experienced commercials actor Stephanie Linas! Learn how to make every bite of a taco look as tasty as the last and how to prepare for the straaaangest of jobs in the world of commercials / advertising.

Sound Recordist Zak Ferguson chats with hosts Amelia Sciandra and Dan Allen about the trials and tribulations of recording sound for movies and TV shows on set. Zak has worked on countless movies including a swathe of horror films such  Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey 2!  What are the biggest difficulties recording sound? What are the biggest mistakes to avoid? And what is more important than simp...

Hosts Dan Allen and Amelia Sciandra chat with director Dom Ellis about the weird and wonderful world of directing TV commercials for BIG BRANDS; from working with animals (CATS included) to telling clients their ideas just WONT work... What does it take to be a director for hire AND deliver the goods!!!

Hosts Dan Allen and Amelia Sciandra chat with prolific film producer Becca Hirani about how to make movies happen! Becca now lives and works between London and Manchester, UK. She has produced over 60 feature films over the last few years, and is also known for her leading roles in the globally released "Fox Trap" (2018) "Unhinged" (2017) and "The Watcher" (2018) whic...

PLAY ALONG! Join guests filmmaker & actor Josh Dickinson, sound recordist & graphic designer Alex Haeberli, actor & director Amelia Sciandra, along with QUIZMASTER / director, writer & editor Dan Allen for this end of year special episode! We have an EPIC 2023 as well as Christmas movie quiz that goes right down to the wire... But can you beat the quizzers?!?!   How well do you kno...

Hosts Dan Allen and Amelia Sciandra chat with Emmy winning producer Fenton Bailey about the origins of Ru Paul's Drag Race and putting iconic personalities on the big screen and the little screen. Fenton Bailey is the author of 'ScreenAge: How television changed our reality from Tammy Faye to RuPauls Drag Race', co-founder of @worldofwonderknown, and known for Party Monster (2003),...

Dan Allen chats with regular host Amelia Sciandra about her voice work in the world of audio books, commercials and "looping". Discover how to record your voice from home and  how much creativity goes into recording your favourite audio.

Hosts Dan Allen and Amelia Sciandra chat with New-York based actor Doug Harris about finding your way as an actor in the 21st century across both theatre and film, as well as the actors strikes and why they are important.

Alex Hackford, head of A&R at Sony Computer Entertainment America, chats with filmmaker Dan Allen and YFA Co-Founder James Walker about what its like working on the scores for some of the biggest games on the planet. Alex is responsible for soundtracks of The Last of Us, Gran Turismo, MLB, Sound Shapes, Little Big Planet Karting, and Playstation All Stars: Battle Royale among others. He 

Young Film Academy Co-Founder James Walker chats with filmmaker Dan Allen about Dan's first forays into storytelling and working towards telling "serious" films.

Young Film Academy Co-Founder James Walker chats with filmmaker Dan Allen about James' first time making a short film, the unforeseen hurdles, and the surprise success!

Sonum Sumaria of Guerrera Films, is an award-winning filmmaker, who has been making documentaries on marginalised communities for the past ten years. Her work includes 'In the Shadows of Moscow', a film exploring xenophobia in the Russian capital, 'Goppi, The Cuban Indian', a short about identity and belonging in Havana, and 'Even The Crows: A Divided Gujarat', a feat...

Amelia Sciandra chats with actor Riley Anderson (The Crown) about acting in big TV Shows, what its like acting in an immersive show, as well as what being a SPACT actor entails...

In this Project Paradiso special, Amelia Sciandra chats with the three cast members who star in 'Lemons', a short film shot on location in Sicily after a successful crowdfunding campaign run by the students. Find out what the process was like for Emily, Lochlan and James as they discuss their characters and Project Paradiso experience. Project Paradiso is a prestige project from Young Fi...

In this Project Paradiso special, Amelia Sciandra chats with a handful of the filmmaking students behind 'Lemons', a short film shot on location in Sicily after a successful crowdfunding campaign run by the students.  Project Paradiso is a prestige project from Young Film Academy (YFA), offering a select group of YFA’s most promising students aged 16-20 the chance to create a stunning sh...

Avatar 2 & 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man are just some of the incredible movies Graham Foote has worked on. Find out what an Orchestrator does and what it's like working in the music department on some of the biggest films on the planet. Hosted by Amelia Sciandra and Dan Allen. 

Jamie Campbell (Eleven Film) produced worldwide phenomenon 'Sex Education', 'Red Rose', 'The Enfield Haunting' and more. Take a listen to this live Q&A Meet The Makers special, hosted by Writer and YFA director James Walker. 

Writer of hit TV shows and movies including Sweeney Todd (2006), The Enfield Haunting (2015) and The Wedding Dress (2009), Joshua St Johnston talks about what its like to work in and run a writers room - a hub of creativity where everyone works as a team to deliver TV shows. Hosted by filmmaker Dan Allen and writer James Walker 

Hosts Dan Allen and Amelia Sciandra chat with Visual Effects Production Manager Richard Elson about working behind the scenes on some of the biggest shows for Disney Plus and Sky, including Gangs of London, Nautilus and Nearly Famous! Just what exactly goes into making all these VFX heavy shows happen...?

Getting jobs here and there for different productions and companies in film and TV can seem daunting. Freelance Director of Photography Gonçalo Valle dispels myths and fears, telling us all about his experience making the leap from studying film at university to being self-employed in the industry. We also learn about his fresh new filmmaking podcast, as he chats with host Dan Allen. 

Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith talk all things writing as a duo in this Meet The Makers Special. Collectively they have worked on 'Run', 'Afterglow', 'Save Me', 'New Blood' and soon, 'The Upper World' for Netflix! Hear all about working as part of a team to deliver a singular vision in this enlightening Q&A Episode. 

Actor SLASH writer Nikhil Parmar has had success in not just one role in the industry, but two! As an actor, you can see Nikhil in Apple TV+ series 'Foundation' and the upcoming Sony Pictures movie 'Gran Turismo'.  As a writer, he has written for stage and film, whilst also developing a TV series. We hear how each of these very different professions help fuel the other.

Locations are paramount to elevating story and production values. Bad locations can make your film lacklustre or even break the reality of the film. Assistant Location Manager Joshua Faux talks to us on his lunch break whilst working on a big new Netflix show. He's worked on both features and TV shows and tells us all about this fairly unknown role and its significance in the storytelling pro...

Katya Alexander is a film producer known for Pretty Problems (2022), which got into the prestigious SXSW Festival! Find out what goes into producing movies and how learning as many film crafts as possible could become your greatest strength. Plus, how to get into festivals!!!

Happy New Year! Film director Nathan Theys talks working in the world of commercials, shooting ads for brands as a director-for-hire. Hear what it's like having representatives from different companies in your ears as you try to assemble your vision on set!