We would encourage any prospective students who are considering taking our 1-Year HE Course or any of our courses to attend the Exhibition as it is a fantastic opportunity to see the variety of skills you will learn.  It will also allow you to speak to our current students who will be able to tell you more about the course and talk about their experience at Delamar.

Opening times:

Friday 28^th June 2013: 11am to 8pm

Saturday 29^th June 2013: 11am to 5pm

If you would like to attend please email info@delamaracademy.co.uk and tell us your name and the day you would like to come.

“I remember being warned about the Make-Up Hair Union when I began working in the film industry.  Despite living in a post independent country where women had freedom of speech and we had a female president, there were still gender-based discriminatory practices that were being enforced by make-up artist unions.  One example of this was that men were allowed to practice make-up and women only hair styling.  If you wanted to practice make-up then you had to become a member of one of these unions.  These unions were very controlling and tried to ensure that no non-members could work on a production.  I chose not to pay heed to their rules and continued to work and grow in the industry that has been kind to me and made me who I am today.

In 2005 I was working on a 10-day project for a big movie.  On the third day at 6am the make-up union entered the make-up room and dragged me out by my arm.  The union officials shouted at me and claimed I was not allowed to work as a make-up artist as women were not allowed to practice make-up and I did not have a union card.  The union fined the production company who had hired me, fortunately the production house stood by me.  After this incident occurred I went to the Union’s Office to question why I had been treated in such an unfair way, the only answer they could provide me with was that I had to abide by their rules.

The union has been taken to court several times but they have a very powerful influence and play dirty politics.  Even today they still come onto our set and harass any females working.  There have been some improvements though, unions have been set up to support women and come to their aid when gender discrimination does occur.  It is a sad state of affairs that we have to fight to work in a democratic free country.  Hopefully in the not too distant future the gender discriminatory law will be over thrown.”

We would like to thank Namrata for sharing her account. We would also like to thank all of the other make-up artists who are fighting for equality. Whilst standards are improving, more still needs to be done. India is still a brilliant place to be a make-up artist, with the success of the film and fashion industries, however there are cultural issues, you need to be aware of. UK based make-up artists could also benefit from the Indian busy season of January to March (when the UK tends to be quiet).

If you would like to contact Namrata or any of our students/ graduates, you can do so on 020 8579 9511 or email agency@delamaracademy.co.uk

If you would like to hire any of our graduates for work experience or paid jobs then please contact us on agency@delamaracademy.co.uk or 02085799511

From December last year until March this year, I have been part of the Make-Up Team on Sky1’s “Got to Dance”.  This is in fact the fourth series that I have worked on the show, which is designed by the very talented Joanna Jenkins.

For the current series I was able to introduce a group of Delamar students, who had recently graduated, with the hope that they would be taken on as trainees.  Leda, the Managing Director of Delamar, and I discussed the graduates we felt would be up for the challenge and who we felt would fit in with the team.  The final decision lay in the hands of Joanna Jenkins who interviewed everyone before allocating dates.  I knew that it was an exceptional show to work on and any trainee would learn so much during their time working on it.  When working on the show it was crucial that each student came to work upbeat, keen to help and had bags of enthusiasm, however early the call time was.

The show itself is extremely busy and creatively is considered extremely carefully with each department.  The preparation for each show is huge with Joanna putting enormous effort into mood boards and constantly thinking of new ideas in order to create stunning and visually beautiful hair and make-up that will work with the robust routines.  Consequently, the graduates observed how to create incredible hairstyles that were secured so that there was no risk of hairpieces going flying or hairpins falling out!!

Our graduates also saw creations of short-cropped hair that was transformed by colourful extensions using cornrows.  On the show there are girls and boys of every ethnicity, so endless techniques of cutting, barbering and styling could be observed on numerous styles and types of hair.

In the make-up room Delamar Graduates helped to create some of the looks from painting nails to body painting!  It was interesting for the girls to see how the make-ups were started at 6.45am and then have to be maintained for 12 hours and still look immaculate for the live show in the evening.  Although there were 6 make-up artists and 6 hairdressers, we had huge numbers of people to make-up within some of the dance groups so it was all hands on deck to achieve this!!  The less interesting but essentially helpful jobs that the trainees carried out was to endlessly clean brushes, provide drinks, organise lunch orders, tidy make-up/hair places and help to carry kits and stock.

I hope the Delamar graduates enjoyed their time on “Got to Dance”.  It was important for the girls to experience the long hours and the hard work, as essentially this is the nature of the job.

We would like to thank Nikki and Joanna not only for the experiences but also for the lovely feedback.

We hope to bring you some blogs from some of the graduates involved in another blog.

If you would like to hire any of our graduates for work experience or paid jobs then please contact us on agency@delamaracademy.co.uk or 02085799511

If you would like to contact any of our graduates/alumni then please contact us on agency@delamaracademy.co.uk or 02085799511

The main subjects for discussion were the tax breaks for large productions and the availability of local crew outside London. Local crew is designed to help a regions’ film and television industry as well as save costs due to not needing hotels for the crew etc. The BBC and Offcom have set criteria for local crew, which can make a big difference to the cost of a production.

During the talk, one producer pointed out how much easier it is to move between locations in a city such as Leeds in comparison to London, which can often save hours of your day.

We are often asked about work outside of London and whether there is enough of it. This is a bit of a catch 22 situation as the reason there isn’t enough work is due to the fact that there is less filming because there isn’t enough crew.

One example used was award winning series ‘Game of Thrones’ in Northern Ireland. We have a lot of graduates that work on Game of Thrones who often travel to Croatia but not Northern Ireland due to local crew criteria. Whilst this is great for the crew on the project, Patrick pointed out that it employs so many of the local crew it can be difficult to have another production there at the same time.

At Delamar we have a strong alumni service and are often giving out details of graduates living in the region where productions are taking place. It makes it very important for our graduates to keep us up to date regarding where they’re living and the experience they have.

Jacqui, pointed out that the BBC have their own database, but that they would use TheCallsheet as well when looking for crew.

Jacqui also explained that crew (including make-up artists) would often be hired for work experience or as a trainee on a continuing drama first, such as ‘Eastenders’. They might then be promoted to a returning drama, such as ‘Silent Witness’.  The final level would be a top end drama, such as ‘Downton Abbey’.  They would also use the various trainee schemes.  For more information on trainee schemes for crew, please see previous blogs where Delamar graduates have won places on each of them.

After the Q&A the speakers and the audience stayed for networking opportunities.

We were networking on behalf of our alumni, who we support in our agency. As well as developing relationships with the speakers, we also swapped details with representatives from World Productions and a few other useful contacts. BAFTA winning make-up artist and Delamar Tutor, Catherine Scoble was also at the event

You can find further details on TheCallsheet on

Website: http://www.thecallsheet.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecallsheet

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/thecallsheetcouk/45414259083?fref=ts

We must mention and congratulate everyone involved in the making of  ”Game of Thrones”, which won the Radio Times Audience Award.  Previous Delamar Graduates  Holly Edwards, Tania Cooper, Tracey Lee and Amanda Warburton all worked on the latest series of the programme.  Tracey and Amanda also currently teach at the Academy.

Sarah Jagger, Delamar graduate and tutor, attended the ceremony!  At Delamar we were fortunate to speak to Sarah who revealed, “I had an incredible time at the TV BAFTAs on Sunday evening. In preparation I was lucky enough to experience the BAFTA style suite at the Corinthia Hotel, where BAFTA nominees and presenters were being buffed, polished and pampered by some of the world’s best fashion, makeup and hair teams…I’m used to doing red carpet makeup but it’s always funny doing my own and a bit daunting because after all, I’m representing myself as a makeup artist!”

To read the full account of Sarah’s night at the BAFTA’s you can visit her blog.