Maisie Williams kicks off Media Futures

We welcomed Game of Thrones star, Maisie Williams, to come in and talk to our School of Media students about her career, her app ‘Daisie’ and her advice for breaking into the industry.

Image credit: Harry Fitzjohn

There was a huge buzz surrounding her visit, with many students eager to hear from the Emmy nominated actress and entrepreneur.

Maisie is best known for her role as Arya Stark in smash-hit TV series Game of Thrones, but has also appeared in Doctor Who, Cyberbully and a variety of other films.

She began her talk by speaking about her upbringing and her desire to become an actress from a young age. Though Maisie was awarded a place at stage school, she couldn’t afford to go. She told students that though this was extremely disappointing at the time, if she has gone her career could have gone in a completely different direction and she may not be in the position she is now.

Daisie

Maisie noted how her success of Game of Thrones put her in the privileged position of being able to pursue her other passions such as mobile app Daisie, which was co-created with her friend Dom Santry. Daisie aims to connect creatives, allowing them to network, like, share and collaborate on projects with a social networking setting. It was devised to help new entrants into the industry gain exposure and connect them up with mentors who can provide career guidance.

The first version was created by a team of six people and released in August 2018 where it had 30,000 downloads in the first 24 hours.

Media Futures

Maisie’s talk kicked off a fortnight of Media Future’s events hosted by the School of Media which aimed to help students prepare for their future careers. As well as Maisie’s talk, it included talks from other industry professionals, recent graduates and masterclasses ranging from freelancing to writing a killer CV.

Maisie’s top tips for industry success

Following the talk students were given the opportunity to ask Maisie questions and she provided some amazing advice for succeeding in the media industry.  Her top tips included:

• The key to success in the industry is through collaboration as it helps turn ideas into a project. You should be open to learning and it’s important to ask questions along the way, even if you think they might be “stupid.”
• You have to keep going out there, networking leads to opportunities to get ahead in the industry you have to learn what’s special about you and communicate it.
• If you’re not feeling confident in an interview create a character that is. The industry is full of introverts and extroverts and there’s a place for everyone.