Bringing modern project management methods to the world of film and television

Ian Haig – Head of Creative Business, National Film and Television School

The UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) is ranked by the Hollywood Reporter as among the top 15 international film schools; its alumni have worked on major films including Wicked and Barbie, as well as television hits such as His Dark Materials and Succession.

The school recently began training its MA students in PRINCE2 Project Management and Ian Haig, Head of Creative Business at NFTS, explains why:

Films and TV shows are often massive projects involving hundreds of people, sometimes funded by major studios and needing control and procedures to ensure production goes well.

However, things don’t always go to plan when major creative projects aren’t managed well, as Ian Haig of NFTS described:

“Take Kevin Costner’s 1990s film, Waterworld – everything went wrong, including the logistics of filming on the ocean, and the star had a near-death experience. All films have their moments, and it’s about managing issues as they arise, forecasting risk, managing quality and keeping to time and budget.”

This need to manage film, television and immersive projects – like London’s Paddington Bear Experience – effectively and efficiently, is one reason Haig saw the value in training NFTS students in PRINCE2 Project Management.

“We are creating new executives and entrepreneurs who may have been first assistant directors or producers and want to progress in the industry. For this, they need skills in leadership, business, finance, legal and the ability to pitch new ideas.

“But they also need to be good at executing their ideas in a robust way. Good project management means creative ideas are more likely to be realised – and the leaders are more likely to get the next gig.”

Matching creative media projects to controlled project management

Adopting the PRINCE2 Project Management method for NFTS students offers a clear synergy with the typical industry approach to film and television projects. This is reflected in the method’s manage by stages principle with the creative media industry’s approach to development, pre-production, production, post-production and distribution.

“I was looking for a project management method that covered the core things needed to manage any project, such as quality, risk, sustainability and issues,” Haig said. “And the method’s business case practice is essential to ensure our students will develop projects that, ultimately, have an audience.”

Developing a series of tools and approaches that all managers, executives and directors should have is essential to trying new and creative things, while executing high-quality projects within certain constraints. When creativity happens at the scale and risk level of a major film or television project, this requires formal processes.

And while students are training in PRINCE2 Project Management for end-to-end project management, agile approaches also play a role – especially for the challenge of iterative testing with an audience which involves getting feedback and testing again. Haig notes that agile methods, which have worked well in the gaming industry, could also provide lessons for the traditionally linear process of film-making. With this in mind, NFTS is currently looking at introducing the new PRINCE2 Agile Version 2 into its curriculum in 2026.

Mapping creative industry materials to PRINCE2 Project Management learning

An innovative way the NFTS is helping students learn, understand and apply the concepts in PRINCE2 Project Management is by using feature film and immersive experience examples.

Using the case of Kevin Costner’s Waterworld shows what can go wrong in a project but also – using the accepted stages and terminology when producing a feature film – can be mapped across to how the principles, processes and practices in PRINCE2 Project Management help prevent or mitigate such disasters.

Similarly, the students are expected to use the PRINCE2 Project Management approach to create a fictional immersive experience. By matching the usual terms in this type of creative project to the project management method, they become more familiar with the concepts.

And, in a real-life example, students produce a festival for their peers at NFTS and deploy the PRINCE2 Project Management principle of learn from experience. Therefore, if students don’t enjoy the festival for some reason, there’s no business justification to repeat it.

Future-proofing creative careers with better project management

How will the knowledge and concepts in a method such as PRINCE2 Project Management improve students’ skills and abilities as they enter the industry?

Haig said: “I hope they’ll be able to lead and advise so their projects will be more successful as a result. Delivering projects effectively means they are infinitely more likely to get future projects. When executing projects and things are going wrong, PRINCE2 Project Management can be a very good way to address issues and get things back on track.

“One of the greatest risks and rewards of working in film and TV is that when something goes wrong it will hit the news in a big way. Creativity and sound management are not mutually exclusive, and even constraints can produce more creativity. Even with independent or short films – where things are done on a shoestring – they need to be managed well.”