Jodie is a second assistant in sound and is currently working on the sixth and final season of The Crown, having joined the crew in its third season. Last summer, she also worked on Greta Gerwig’s upcoming film Barbie. Her previous credits include Life After Life, Hanna Season 2, Doc Martin Season 9 and The Personal History of David Copperfield.
Jodie studied film at The Arts University Bournemouth. She originally wanted to be an editor, so specialised in editing with sound as her second option. As the course progressed, she found she actually really enjoyed sound and decided to pursue that as her career.
After university, Jodie worked on a pilot episode for a TV show and applied for ScreenSkills Trainee Finder, but was unsuccessful.
Instead, she went to a ScreenSkills workshop which taught her how to conduct herself professionally, including writing emails and tailoring her CV. As Jodie is dyslexic, this was a great help for her and increased her confidence when approaching employers.
She also attended Open Doors Events, where she met industry professionals including a line producer who put Jodie in touch with a sound mixer. This was how Jodie found her first job and her first opportunity on set. He then took her on his next job and following this, recommended her for a role with another mixer. This helped kickstart her career.
Jodie’s now been freelancing for five years and has built up a good network of contacts to work with. She says she used to worry about finding her next job but now she knows “something always comes along”. If anything, she finds it difficult to take time off!
Jodie’s advice to people just starting out is not to give up.
“It took me six months to find my first job and the constant applications can be really deflating,” she says, “but if you keep going for it someone will give you the opportunity.”
Jodie says that without ScreenSkills she might not have found her way into the industry so easily.
"ScreenSkills was a big support for me and gave me the confidence and resources to really kick start my career," she says.