Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day with Katy Kardasz, the Woman behind the Camera.

From Camera Trainee to Regional Sales and Operations Manager

Katy now works as our Regional Sales and Operations Manager for Camera & Grip in our Film & TV business. However, she first entered the industry as a Camera Trainee on High End Dramas such as Sherlock, Atlantis, Merlin and Doctor Who, working in Cardiff and Bristol. With over twelve years in the Camera Department, Katy enhanced her skills and developed a deep understanding of the industry.

                                                                               Katy on set in Morocco for BBC’s Atlantis

Looking for a change of pace, Katy took up a position at Movietech (now Sunbelt Rentals Film & TV) to establish and manage their Cardiff office. She successfully managed and ran the office, which consisted of just one small test room and Katy, with support from senior leaders from the Movietech depot in London. Katy later expanded the office, bringing in a new team of five members of staff and additional space for kit and testing.

“We started off with a small office, one test room and just me. I then grew this to include five permanent members of staff, three test rooms, a projection room, a kit store, and a Grips Department! This is how the depot still stands today.”

Before setting up the Cardiff office, Movietech had only provided two productions in Wales. However, under Katy’s lead and as the Cardiff team grew, they were able to supply exciting productions to the BBC, ITV and Sky Atlantic!

“I was lucky to lead on some fantastic productions in Cardiff, such as His Dark Materials S1, S2 & S3 (BBC), Industry S1 & S2 (HBO), Havoc (Feature film Netflix), Willow (Disney), We Hunt Together (BBC), Pembrokeshire Murders (ITV) and Gangs of London S1, which featured on Sky Atlantic.”

Leading the Manchester depot

Since leaving the Cardiff depot, Katy has moved to Manchester to set up and run our Camera and Grip Depot in Irlam. Again, Katy embraced the challenge of setting up the depot from scratch, with the support of Sunbelt Rentals Lighting (formerly PKE), who are based in the same building.

Katy is joined in Manchester by her Senior Camera Prep Technician, Rafael Da Silva and Technical Trainee, James Lau. Her day to day consists of networking with industry professionals for new opportunities to hire out equipment and working with full camera teams in the weeks prior to shoots to ensure the smooth running of productions.

Katy was quick to highlight the success the depot has had so far in supporting Northern based television dramas by supplying Camera and Grip equipment to popular productions such as Sexy Beast, Netflix science fiction thriller Bodies, Time 2, and This City is Ours.

Breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry

Katy’s career has been varied, exciting, and fast-paced, but it hasn’t been without its challenges. During our conversation, Katy acknowledged that when she began in the TV industry nearly two decades ago it was predominantly male dominated, with women significantly underrepresented, especially in technical departments like Camera.

In her early roles, Katy often faced challenges related to gender bias in the industry. She observed that the limited female representation was perpetuating this issue. Rather than allowing it to hinder her own professional development, Katy became determined to showcase her abilities and overcome these barriers and worked hard to successfully demonstrate her value and worth in the industry.

“It didn’t stop me, I pushed through, got good at what I was doing, worked hard, and ended up on some fantastic TV shows and Films shooting all over the world - something I am still immensely proud of today”.

Katy on set of Merlin (BBC), filmed in France

Katy also reflected on the shift she noticed towards women in the industry:

“During my time on set I experienced a shift, an acceptance towards more women entering the Camera and Grip department. In Wales they encouraged all departments to have female representation, and the numbers began to grow. I always felt like I championed this as much as I could throughout my time on set and on the jobs that I was on. By the time I left set twelve years later, I was working on TV jobs with all female crews within the Camera Department!”

Remaining underrepresentation of women in leading roles and behind the scenes

As encouraging as it is to hear of the shift that Katy has experienced throughout her own career, women are still widely underrepresented within the Film & TV industry as a whole.

New research shows that only 17% of nominees at the Oscars since 1929 have been women – and less than 2% of nominees were women of colour. [1] According to an article in the World Economic Forum, gender inequality at the Academy Awards is indicative of trends in the wider film industry, and society as a whole.[2]

For women like Katy, working behind the scenes, the representation is even smaller. A study by the University of Southampton into women in six behind the scenes roles shows that just 14% of directors and 7% of cinematographers were women across 3,452 UK films in production between 2003 and 2015. Just 1% of all directors and 0.3% of cinematographers were women of colour. [3]

Supporting initiatives and encouraging female representation

After reflecting on these figures, we were keen to ask Katy about what more we can be doing as a business to encourage women into the Film & TV Industry.

Katy emphasised the importance of training and providing opportunities to people from all backgrounds and genders, and expanded on the training and workshops which are currently offered at our Manchester depot:

“Since opening, we have offered the 16mm and 35mm Film workshops which have been incredibly well attended, especially by camera trainees. It’s great to be able to offer trainees that hands on experience with loading film magazines and lacing up cameras, such as the Arri 416,  Arri LT, Arri ST and Arri 435 cameras!

We also recently hosted the Association of Camera Operators Camera, Remote Head and Grip Workshop! This provided the opportunity to work with telescopic cranes and remote heads, helping attendees to extend their skills and confidence when on set. The workshop was delivered by Peter Robertson ACO SOC Assoc. BSC and Rodrigo Gutierrez ACO, Assoc. BSC  - two industry legends whose knowledge and experience was just exceptional!”

Katy and her team are also proud to support training schemes such as It's My Shout and Screen Alliance Wales which are gender-neutral, inclusive, and serve as excellent entry points into the industry.

Women in Film & TV are a fantastic organisation who Katy has herself received support from over the years. She tells us how they work to offer support and provide opportunities to women looking to join the industry, and how she regularly attends their meet ups, finding it a great way to network and empower women within the industry.

This summer we are also launching a new Women in Leadership Apprenticeship, which offers comprehensive management and leadership training. For the first time, this training focuses specifically on supporting, inspiring and motivating women throughout the business, including recognising female-related challenges and experiences.

Recognising female role models within Camera & Grip

With nearly two decades of industry experience and now leading her own team and mentoring students, we were keen to uncover who Katy’s female role model is in the industry.

“I would say Director of Photography - Suzie Lavelle BSC. I worked with her on a block on Doctor Who many years ago. She had been a DOP only a couple of years at this point and had also just had a baby and was returning from Maternity leave. It blew my mind that she managed to work a 12-hour day back then and also see her baby! Suzie was the first woman I had ever worked with (within the Camera Department) who had achieved this, returning to work after having a family, and I found it very inspirational.”

Finally, we asked Katy for any advice she would offer to women aspiring to enter a career in Camera & Grip…Here are her top four tips!

• Ask as many questions as you can to those that have been doing it longer than you have.
• Become knowledgeable about the technical equipment that you are using.
• Work hard and don’t give up, especially during difficult times on set.
• Be nice to everyone on your way up the ladder!

[1] Oscars: Gender parity in the film industry under the spotlight | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

[2] Oscars: Gender parity in the film industry under the spotlight | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

[3] Highlighting The Role Of Women In The UK Film Industry | University of Southampton