Beej Harris

Film and tv director and producer - beej harris om 2010

Tell us a bit about yourself…

I am a filmmaker and director. I live in Brixton, South London with my wife, Arabella, and our two children, Monty and Flora.

What is your profession?

I straddle two camps in the film world. Firstly, and for the majority of the time, I am a director. 

What have we seen that you’ve made? 

Well, have you seen Avengers? Yeah, I didn’t make that. Truth is, probably not much yet. I spend most of my time directing commercials/adverts. I am brought in by larger production companies to write and direct for clients, which one week might be high-end fashion and the next week might be strawberry farming - both real life examples from the past year. This paves the way, however, towards making more long-form narrative pieces with an eye on directing features when the opportunity allows.

The other half of me is Clay Film, which is my production company that serves as a vehicle for when clients get in touch directly. In these instances, I will work as a producer/executive producer as well as director, pulling together a crew and running end-to-end production for the client.

What was your journey to that career path?

When I left Monkton in 2010, owing to the fact that drama had been an absolute blast, I was laser-focused on being an actor. It was for that reason I went to the UEA, Norwich, as it had a great Drama department which majored in acting and performance. However, by the end of the course my burning desire to tread the boards had subsided a little and been replaced by an interest in filmmaking and directing. The little DSLR I bought in third year allowed me to play around making theatre trailers and production diaries, which botched together a working knowledge of editing, camera work and how to tell simple stories. It wasn’t Kubrick, but it was a start.

That was about 8 years ago. Since then, via a winding route through the freelance production industry, I ended up in directing and production.

What do you enjoy the most, and what are the challenges?

It’s a fascinating, eclectic industry to be a part of and scratches many of the itches I developed at Monkton - creativity, collaboration, nice lunch! You spend a lot of time on your feet, meeting people, directing people, trying to convince people you’re right (!) and traveling all over the place. It forces you make bold choices whilst learning to listen to who you’re working with in deciphering exactly what it is they want. In the same breath, many of the challenges lie in the creative process and working out compromises with clients and crew. The reality is, almost everyone has a different opinion. Fortunately, going to Monkton taught me that mine is the right one... I jest, of course.

Any final thoughts?

I was back in the valley recently seeing family. It was that iconic part of May when everything was in bloom and a rich, luscious green. It nudged me to remember quite how special that part of the world is, and how much I owe to the school, and the place. Maybe I’ll make a film there one day.

See more about Beej's work at beejharris.co.uk