Charlie Sharp and Andrew Barnett

Tell us a bit about your career journey so far, and what a typical day looks like for you

We originally met on our acting and performance course and found that we enjoyed writing and performing together. After our course ended we decided to carry on working together to create our own content and ended up making a comedy sketch show called ‘Generic White Guys’. After we finished our sketch show, we decided to create our own production company - Sharp Barnett Productions. To start this we had a logo and a website created as well as getting some professional headshots. We have also decided to offer freelance filming services for showreels, events, theatre, sports or any project we could physically film. Since Sharp Barnett Productions was formed this year we have professionally created a wrestling promo and filmed two promotional videos for LMSuk and Sync’s music events.

A typical day for us would be either meeting in person or face-timing and discussing our next plan of action to develop our company. We have various tasks to attend to, such as: writing, rehearsing, location scouting, filming, editing, preparing social media posts, liaising with actors and clients and maintaining our website.

What do you enjoy most about having your own production company, and what are the biggest challenges?

One of the things that we most enjoy about having our own production company is the sense of freedom in choosing what we create and how we create it. We discovered early on that we weren’t only interested in acting but also writing, directing, editing and social media promotion. Having our own production company has allowed us to explore those areas and develop our skills within them. Creating our own content has allowed us to collaborate with other aspiring creatives from the industry and Solent University, in turn, this has allowed us to build connections and networks with them. Having a business partner of a good friend is extremely helpful as we can always honest with each other and have complete trust for one another to deliver the highest quality for Sharp Barnett Productions.

One of the biggest challenges was creating this production company around full time jobs as this is our passion and obsession it’s never hard to find motivation to develop the production company, but we do have to work around when we are both free. Another big challenge for us was discovering how to film and edit by ourselves and how best to share all of our content.

How do you feel your studies at Solent helped prepare you for your career?

Our studies at Solent have shown us how to convey emotion truthfully when acting. It has also given us experience in devising performances for stage and film which we have taken into our professional creative work. Solent also taught us how to market ourselves as actors digitally and write confidently about our brand and projects. In conclusion, Solent has given us a hunger for creativity and this is an attribute we take into every aspect of our lives.

What advice would you give to those wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Keep being creative and keep trying your own ideas whatever they may be. They may not turn out how you expect but you will be able to learn from them and in turn create even better new projects.

Most of all: Bring your creative dreams to life!