On Wednesday 11 January, Old Viking Albert Rydevik paid a visit to his alma mater, to give Sixth Form Media Studies pupils a lesson in screenwriting. Since leaving Shiplake in the summer of 2015, Albert has pursued a career in screenwriting, and returned to his former College in order to impart wisdom to those who are still studying.
Albert joined Shiplake in 2013 for Sixth Form. Originally coming to the school for rowing, a back injury quickly put paid to this dream. Changing both of his A Level subjects, Albert swapped Business Studies for English and Physical Education for Drama. It was this turnaround that led Albert to his passion for scripts and, in particular, writing for the screen. Upon leaving Shiplake, Albert headed to Sweden, where he worked as Onset Assistant Producer for crime drama series Before We Die, which premiered in Stockholm last week and is due to be released in the UK at a future date. Albert is currently living in America, having won a place to study screenwriting at the prestigious New York Film Academy, but took the opportunity to visit Shiplake, whilst he was back in Europe at the premier of Before We Die.
Albert gave two workshops to Media Studies pupils, as an introduction to the basics of screenwriting. He went through the sequence of a script, from the opening ‘hook’ through to the ‘call to adventure’ and the ‘final showdown’. Pupils were then encouraged to write their own sections of a script, working on creating characters and innovative storylines. It was an eye-opening workshop for the Sixth Formers, who found it interesting to learn the industry secrets of screenwriting from a peer. Head of Media Studies Mr Marcus Milburn commented: ‘it was a great to have Albert back in for the day. He hasn’t long left the College but is already making a great name for himself in the filmmaking industry, and it’s great for the current Sixth Formers to see the possibilities for them.’
