Have you always wanted to be a leader? Our latest Human of York, Film and TV student Oliver, explains how the Laidlaw Scholarship is helping him develop his passion and skills.
“I always want great things to add to my CV, I’ve always been very conscious that’s something I need to think about. The Laidlaw Scholarships popped up and I thought they’d work for me.
“Research and academic processes aren’t really my strong suit but I applied anyway and I got it. It was an amazing opportunity.
“When you apply, you give your reasons you want to be involved, your ideas for the second year overseas 'Leadership in Action' project, and have to give a research proposal. Mine was all forms of representation in film and TV, which I narrowed down eventually to LGTBQ+ representation in Disney.
“You can read it on the Laidlaw Scholars Network website. I’ve done essays before, but to have a report published on the site looks really cool. I spent a very, very long time on it and it was hard at points. But I’m really proud of it.
“For my research project I interviewed the chief communications officer of GLAAD, the BBC lead creative Ollie Wiggins, and Tom Duthie - who’s a Lucasfilm and Marvel Script Editor. I’ve always been a big Star Wars fan and this guy wrote part of the Andor series, so that was really nice.
“As part of Laidlaw I got to meet people from different backgrounds: history, politics, sciences, everything really. They all do really weird and wonderful research projects.
“We just went to the conference in London with all 200 scholars from across the country. My research was put on a massive poster so people came and talked to me about that.
“There’s a great kind of diverse variety of us. It’s broadened my skill set so much.”
Oliver, Film and TV Production, Goodricke College, Humans of York, 2022
