Forget speaking to the IoD or at a ‘media’ event; appearing in front of the next generation of would-be film makers, directors and editors fills me with trepidation.
But being asked to talk to 17 year olds at Strode College was a privilege I couldn’t refuse.
The subject was my month long filming assignment as an assistant director in 2007 for a ground breaking Tigress documentary about the bush meat trade in West Africa.
I was supposed to link this surreal episode in my documentary career to revealing something about how different cultures find ways of getting along with one another.
I don’t know how successful I was … but judging from the response of the class to the first episode of ‘Going Ape’ I think I caught the group’s attention.
Who knows perhaps it will inspire one of the Stode students to get out there and forge a career in natural history filming?