Written by Alumni & Friends
From making music on his old MIDI keyboard to now working behind the scenes on some of Australia’s most exciting films, Curtin University Film & TV graduate Gavin Repton is pursuing his childhood passions one film at a time. 📽️🎬
For the past seven years, Gavin has paved an impressive career in the film & TV industry as a freelance Location Sound Recordist and Drone Pilot, working on projects for BBC One, Discovery Channel, Channel 7 & 9, Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Australia and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Recently, Gavin finished working on fellow Curtin graduate Zak Hilditch’s feature film, ‘We Bury The Dead’, and has just wrapped up filming with Australian Director, Bruce Beresford on his upcoming film, ‘Overture’.
Gavin shares how he managed to break into the Australian film & TV industry. 👇
𝐐. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫?
The biggest standout moment of my career so far was recording location audio on my first big feature film, which was ‘H is for Happiness’. It was a six week shoot in Albany, WA and I learnt a lot from that experience!
𝐐. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫?
I chose Curtin because its film and TV course had a great reputation. Having access to audio studios, editing suites and high-quality educators made all the difference.
The friends I made at university are the reason why I’m still in the industry. Making and maintaining those personal and professional connections is a huge skill to learn for someone wanting to have a successful freelance career.
𝐐. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 & 𝐓𝐕 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲?
1. 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑒.
Reach out to industry professionals who do what you want to do and ask if you can get them a coffee and have a chat. Jobs will not come to you if you don’t put yourself out there!
2. 𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒. In film you can learn a lot and meet people by working in departments you might not want to work in long term, so put yourself out there!
3. 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡.
Invest time and energy into the area you want to be in rather than trying to master everything at once.
Watch Gavin’s exciting week in his life working behind the scenes on upcoming Australian film, Overture here: https://shorturl.at/MrkOR
Written by Alumni & Friends
