After spending years in front of the camera on Coronation Street playing Nicky Wheatley, Kimberly Hart-Simpson wasn’t short of acting experience. But she was still struggling with confidence.
Now, two years after leaving the cobbles, the Manchester-based actor and writer says the Women in Film & TV (WFTV) Four Nations Mentoring Scheme has transformed both her self-belief and her career.
Since finishing the scheme earlier this year, she has since landed a full run for her one-woman show Amnesia at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, and seen the production optioned for TV as a sitcom.
With applications now open for this year’s WFTV Four Nations Mentoring Scheme until 4 September, the programme has spent the past 16 years supporting hundreds of women working across film and television across the UK.
For Hart-Simpson, initiatives like this remain crucial as women continue to face significant barriers in the industry.
“The stats are appalling in terms of women in the TV industry, but we are the change,” she says.
“It’s not just about us anymore. It’s about trying to pave the way for the future as well.”
Her comments mirror some of Prolific North’s own reporting on the challenges facing northern indies, plus film and TV freelancers in the industry.
Across a focus week earlier this year, we put a spotlight on the issues facing female freelancers as senior TV producer Sarah*, who asked to remain anonymous, described how her age and experience now appeared to work against her, while freelance filmmaker and actor Eleanor Roberts explained how coming from a working-class background without a financial safety net had made simply getting started a daily struggle.
READ MORE: Locked out or left behind? The very different barriers facing two Northern film and TV freelancers
For Hart-Simpson, programmes like the WFTV Four Nations Mentoring Scheme are more than just career development opportunities for mid-career women in film, television and digital media, they can be life-changing. She says the programme has already transformed her own career.
“Having worked predominantly as an actor and pivoted into writing, I’ve mostly worked in front of the screen and always wondered what happens behind it…you get a bit of a gist of it, but you never get to stop and ask questions like; what do you do? What does this do? So first of all, this scheme has allowed me to understand a lot more about TV and what everyone’s role on set is, which is really important,” she says.
“Confidence wise – it has shot through the roof – way more than I ever anticipated or thought possible…When you first start the course, you write a letter to yourself on what you want to get out of it, and mine was all confidence based, and not apologising for having an idea.
“I’ve seen myself come on leaps and bounds and now I can confidently say I have a voice, and it might not always be right, but it still deserves to be heard. This is what this scheme has taught me; there is no wrong thing to say here…it’s about finding yourself and meeting brilliant women along the way. It’s absolutely popping off in our WhatsApp group with all of our achievements and what we’re doing collectively…there’s some gorgeous stuff happening.”
She now has her own show opening at Edinburgh Fringe called Amnesia and will be there for the entire run of the Fringe at the Pleasance Theatre.
“I was doing previews of my show in Cardiff and all the Welsh cohort came to watch. That has also already been optioned as a sitcom for TV. I’ve also joined a show as an actor in a TV drama,” she says.
“In terms of writing specifically, it’s going really well at the minute. My mentor is the best in the world, she even came to support me during Amnesia previews. I was at the BBC comedy conference not long ago, and the only reason I was in that room was because of WFTV and that my mentor, Emma Lawson, invited me to go there, so all roads lead back to WFTV. I’ve also got to give Helen [Bullough] a shout out, who’s our leader. If you’re in the same room as her, she will take you around and introduce you to every single person she knows. I cannot thank that woman enough. She’s brilliant.”
Looking back at her time as a mentee, she says there is one piece of advice a mentor gave her that has stuck with her: “One size doesn’t fit all”.
“Every TV channel is going to be different – BBC might work one way, while Channel 4 might work another. So – do what the hell you want because there’s no recipe here that you’re meant to follow…just follow your heart, and follow your gut. You deserve to be here. The stats are appalling in terms of women in the TV industry, but we are the change…and it’s not just about us anymore, it’s about trying to pave the way for the future as well.
“I think that’s what is most exciting – ‘this will be good for me, but what if I changed somebody else’s life and pay it forward?’
“Everything changes so much in this industry. Just look after your mental health, look after your happiness, look after your life outside of all of this. And make shows you want to get out of bed for.”
On what would you say to someone who’s thinking of applying to the WFTV scheme, but may not be sure whether this is for them, she urges them to “please apply”.
“I think there’s a lot of women in the cohort that might go into this with one particular vision, but then you find out about somebody else’s job and that could sound more like you. You might go in thinking you want to be a director, but there’s nothing to say you might not become an editor at the end of it. And you can do that in this course, because you have a wealth of people who you can just ask. Nothing’s definitive. Everything is an exploration.
“This is the best thing that can ever happen to you, not just in terms of your mindset, but in terms of the lifelong friends that you will make along the way. It’s bigger than a mentorship. It’s a community.”
She adds it’s an “open door” if you want to meet people from other nations.
“The Welsh cohort for me has been an extended family. I’m in Manchester, but the scheme doesn’t have any postcode bounds.”
As conversations continue around opportunities outside London, Hart-Simpson believes female regional talent deserves far greater recognition.
“So much is concentrated in London in this industry. However, a lot of filming has taken place in Manchester and Liverpool this year, there’s talent here, in abundance…not just in the capital. We can’t afford to film things there, so naturally we go to other places…but what that means is there should be an emphasis on hiring locally. Talent is everywhere…in every single pocket in the world…you’ve just got to give everybody an equal opportunity and a chance.”
Ultimately, she praises how WFTV found the right mentor who was “perfect for her”.
“You can put one million names on the list of people you’d like to be matched with…but they matched my personality with a person that I would get on with and be friends with at the pub. And that’s the sweet spot of any mentorship…I’ve been able to be myself. And they also happen to be one of the best in the biz! Emma is also from Newcastle, so she knows what we go through, and she fights for regional voices.”
And reflecting on the past year, she has little doubt about where her recent success began.
“I think for the rest of my life, my career, I will always go back to WFTV and be like, ‘it began there’…I will always be able to root it back to WFTV. This scheme has changed my life.”
Applications for this year’s scheme close on 4 September – and it’s a free opportunity for women working in film and television across the region.
