LIAM NUGENT, FILM STUDENT AT CITY VARSITY – PROFILE STORY
By Gemma-Louise Wright
As the morning flow of people bustle onto the busy train carriage, Liam Nugent sits enthusiastically next to me, eager to get started on our interview. He has a smile that never fades and a distinct laugh. He places his hands on his knees and jokes with me in between the interview questions.
Liam is a first year film student at City Varsity. He plans to major in producing and script writing.
“I enjoy my course, but sometimes I feel like I have chosen the wrong one and then something exciting will happen and it makes it worthwhile.”
Liam was born in a small town called Grey Town in KwaZulu-Natal and he grew up in an area called Berea in Durban. He currently resides in Cape Town for the duration of his studies.
At the tender age of 22, he already boasts an impressive CV of experience in the film industry.
In 2007, Liam went abroad to South Cardiff, Wales where he started working in theatre for the Stage Daze Theatre Company.
“I enjoyed working on stage, it is a lot more pressure because your call times are a lot tighter, you are constantly on the go. It’s life, unlike film.”
After working in theatre for two months, he went on to work for Space Studios as a continuity editor in the post production field, editing raw footage. He then moved on to BBC Wales, where he assisted with the castings for productions, dealing with mainly background actors and working on the occasional set.
Afterwards he returned to South Africa and took a gap year, before deciding to enroll at City Varsity for 2011.
Liam wasn’t quite done yet. During his gap year in 2010, he worked on the set of Spud, a film adaption of the book written by South African author, John van de Ruit. He was offered the position of the production assistant. It didn’t take long before he was promoted to a casting assistant, where he worked from the set, Michael House School, in the KwaZulu –Natal Midlands for eight weeks.
“It was stressful, I wasn’t used to the onset hours required and the last-minute mentality but if I could do it all again, I would. I learnt a lot about the industry during this time.”
Liam also had the opportunity of meeting and working with British star, John Cleese.
“He’s very people friendly. You wouldn’t think he was a star off set. On set, he had to get into character.”
This year, the film students were required to do two shoots a week for the previous six weeks. Liam has had the opportunity on more than one occasion to produce, direct, edit and take on the position of Director of Photography.
“From doing these shoots, I have realized that I am a better producer, than I am a director.”
After Liam graduates at City Varsity, he hopes to go into casting, producing or script writing. When asked what influenced him to take these career routes, he replied:
“I enjoy interacting with different people. I am good at writing and I am also very organised.”
“Had I not chosen film, I would have wanted to go into performance or journalism.”
“People inspire me. I have met so many different people and the little things about them are what inspire me.”
When asked how he deals with stress, Liam replied: “A hot bath and a cup of tea.”
“I have realized that the creative industry is not for the faint hearted. It’s a high pressure environment, where a lot is expected of you in a short space of time.”
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