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Up Close. Personal. In Depth.

Rachel Hall shares
the key to success

Poor To Porsche

1980’s Britain, a country under Margaret Thatcher, the decade of the Falklands war, Charles and Diana, IRA bombings, yuppies, the mobile phone, BMX bikes, New Romantics, U2 and Band Aid. A nation torn apart by economic divide and whilst the South ‘never had it so good’; the North was besieged by unemployment, miners strikes, poverty and ever increasing political unrest. 

Growing up in Birmingham my family had always struggled financially. We couldn’t afford a car or a telephone and I think we were one of the last families on our estate to get colour TV, and even then it was rented. Our house was furnished and decorated with things that had been given to us. I remember threadbare carpets and the sofa that was so old the arm rests were worn thin. When Thatcher came to power she made great promises of economic reform, home ownership for all, reduced control for the Unions, and getting Britain back on its feet. She was going to bring the Great back to Great Britain,’ says Rachel Hall as she reflects on her childhood. ‘ I was 11 years old and at High School when my Father was one of the 3 million who lost their jobs, he was unemployed for 8 years. At first we thought it was great as Dad got his redundancy money, suddenly we had new carpets, modern furniture and a used car. The shine soon wore off; we did it tough, living off the dole, government handouts and subsidies including vouchers for free school uniforms and tokens for school dinners. It was hard times and quite a social stigma to deal with.’

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Life Is Not The Movies

Behind the camera
what really
happens on set

"For me, life and the world is all about people, all about relationships, all about equality and all about brotherhood.
 
A film set is a micro version of that, which is why I love my job and am very good at it - my commitment to those relationships and people and my love of collaboration equates to everyone being inspired to be the amazing everything that they are." Explains Otto Bathurst - Film and TV Director

Film is a supremely powerful medium and it is the absolute responsibility of a film-maker to try to offer a different way.  

​To stand back and watch brilliant people, being brilliant is an honour, which I deeply, and vocally appreciate.  Many, many crew members have become life-long friends way beyond the job and often still tell me how much us working together inspired them and changed things in their life.

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Related tags The Students of Universal Medicine, Universal Medicine Students