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In the spring of 2020, locked in a dorm room at the University of Roehampton in London, film student Eléa Tessier found herself at a loss for what to do when she realised she only had those walls and her phone camera to answer a loaded question, “Who are you?”
Her professor assigned the class to create a five-minute film bearing the essence of who they were, and at the time, the challenge left her up the creek without a paddle. Unlike students who got to go back home due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, Tessier — originally from France — couldn’t.
And she’d never been trained to handle the camera and act, all at once.
“Hearing the feedback about the quality of the film felt a bit wrong because I know it wasn’t good,” Tessier says. “I didn’t feel I had the good conditions to make a film, ‘cause you were left by yourself and there was no space to do anything.”
In the dead of the pandemic, first-year student Tessier was left questioning if film was her true calling. She wondered if England — the place she’d dreamed of living in since she visited at 10 years old — was exactly where she needed to be.
Spoiler alert: it was. It just took some resilience.
From the set of her graduation film “Cuerpos” in June 2024. Source: Eléa Tessier
According to Acting Magazine, over 90% of actors abandon their careers after failing to meet their goals. Ke Huy Quan waited 25 years for his career-reviving role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” while Jennifer Grey says a botched nose job cut her time in Hollywood short despite the success of “Dirty Dancing.”
It’s a gamble that takes hard labour, long hours, and oftentimes low pay. It’s a journey that requires you to thread unknown seas, drown in hard work with little reward, and use your might to stand up and do it again.
It’s admirable — the resilience of filmmakers, writers, actors, and production crew members.
Such is the strength of Tessier, pursuing her dreams despite the setbacks.
She couldn’t answer “Who are you?” with a cinematographic masterpiece, but she could do the next best thing: use footage from videos she’d taken before about everything and anywhere, and answer her professor’s question by stating who she is not.
Tessier, while usually working on production management as a film student, had the opportunity to be an extra in films as well. Source: Eléa Tessier
How to build support from ground-up
Tessier’s love for film bloomed early on.
In her countryside town in France, she grew up with a film-loving mother, watching movies and TV shows to learn English. After, she’d spent seven years performing in her local theatre club.
“For me, it’s all about the emotion and the escape,” she says. “Films are also a window to new stories and cultures. It’s a great way to learn about the world and share important messages.”
But while most would be happy with aligning their hobbies with their future careers, it wasn’t something Tessier had even considered.
“I grew up in a family where the mindset is that there are hobbies, and there’s a job,” says Tessier. “You do your job to live, and you do your hobbies on the side to have fun.”
Yet, being at the career fair, surrounded by rows after rows of jobs that sparked no joy, there was only one person who offered a glimmer of hope.
“There was a girl filming the event to then post on social media and on websites of the town,” recalls Tessier. “She was in the film school in our town, and she explained everything that she learnt to me.”
That’s when she realised: a film career was possible.
During her time as a film student in the UK, Tessier got the opportunity to visit Pinewood Studios. Source: Eléa Tessier
But first, she had to convince her parents.
While Tessier’s parents didn’t necessarily oppose her pursuit as a film student, they were nervous at her prospects; if it’s stable, if it’s even a “proper job.” Tessier even considered pursuing science instead to ease their worries.
But if there is one thing Tessier is not, it’s a passionate scientist.
A busy period in the family came as a blessing in disguise — this was when Tessier applied to her top five schools in the UK for film without much hovering from her parents. When the letters came through the mail, she found out she had been accepted into all of them.
“What my dad said at the time was that he just didn’t know anything about it,” she says. So Tessier got him to meet a professional in the audio-visual industry who did camera work for sports, concerts, and even the Olympics, assuring him that it’s indeed a viable job. Her parents researched about film, and read up.
It’s been five years since, and her parents are now resolutely on her side.
“They get very excited when I say, ‘Oh well, I went to the premiere in London, and I went to see this, and these people came to the school to talk,” says Tessier.
When working on industry-standard films, Tessier, even as just a film student, would have to begin her work day at 5 or 6 a.m. Source: Eléa Tessier
The resilience required of creatives
When you watch a film like “The Greatest Showman,” it’s like this green light dawning from the gods, telling you to run towards your dreams. From rags to riches, P.T. Barnum is the arbiter of all the bad and good in the creative arts.
At the end of the day, though, it’s just a film.
Reality hits you fast, and it reminds you that to find success in the arts isn’t as beautiful as an hour and 45-minute film paints it.
But when you love what you love, the struggles are worth it.
“[Barnum] just decides to go for what he actually wants to do; he’s got an idea everyone believes is not possible — but then he pushes through and in the end it’s like one of the biggest show in the world,” Tessier muses. “I cried when I watched it because it feels like it is possible, and I just need to keep pushing.”
And push she did.
Tessier’s team of film students on the set of “My Father Breaks Things.” Source: Eléa Tessier
Fast forward to today: Tessier just completed her postgraduate diploma in Production Management at the National Film & Television School (NFTS) in Buckinghamshire — part of the Hollywood Reporter’s Top 15 Best International Film Schools for the past decade.
“I don’t think my bachelor’s helped me at all to get into film — it was really just NFTS,” Tessier says. “The programme was very practical so we just got put on films very quickly after we joined.”
At NFTS, a team is formed with film students in different master’s programmes that cover directing, producing, cinematography and more to embark on a project.
From animation, to documentary, to sports production — there isn’t a project that hasn’t left an impact on Tessier and her skills. When it came time to do her graduation film, production management became a fibre of her being. Her team of 14 flew from the UK to Spain for their project, leaping through hurdles of language barriers to communicate with the local workers.
Experiences like these burn bright in Tessier’s mind; a reminder of the joy that making film brings her, even when she can’t say for sure what her next steps are.
“What’s next?” she mused. “I would love to know.”
Tessier completed her diploma in October 2024, officially graduating from NFTS earlier this March.
Since then, it has been an uphill battle of applying to jobs, connecting with people, and the millions of emails floating between. The stagnancy happened partly due to timing, the period before Christmas often slows down in job opportunities, but there’s another large reason for it.
The writer’s strike.
It began on May 2, 2023, when the Writers Guild of America disputed with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for better compensation, staffing, protection from artificial intelligence, and more, but failed to land an agreement.
Despite being a few years ago, the industry still feels its impact.
“Nobody has jobs, nobody has money for jobs or for films,” Tessier says. “People who have been in the industry for years and who are very experienced struggle to find jobs, so they get jobs that are a lower level than what they could do.”
For Tessier, who’s starting out fresh, it’s a competition lost.
“We still need to pay our rents, and we still need to be active and do something,” she says. “It’s just very frustrating to think that a lot of us have jobs that have nothing to do with film just to pay the bills, when the NFTS is considered one of the best.”
But íf Tessier has proved anything, it’s that she’s not a quitter.
Despite her frustrations through the job search process, she’s holding out on hope. She’s got interviews booked, and she’s landed a stint working on short films for a few months. Living with two friends who aren’t in film helps too; they keep her reminded that it hasn’t even been six months since graduation—that she still has time.
“I could see myself doing something else but not anytime soon, maybe when I’m 40 or 50, and it’d still be related to entertainment and performances,” Tessier says.
Her skills in production management are transferable to the music and theatre industry, but film will always be her first pick. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get bored of making films, as every film is different and comes with its own challenges,” she says.
