About the Greater Manchester Film Liaison Officer

ASK anyone who has any connection with the Greater Manchester Film Office, what it’s like working with Susan Williams and Bobby Cochrane, and you’ll get the same answer: brilliant!

Over the last few years, the double-act have developed their own, unique method of running the Greater Manchester operation, and it’s a style which is paying dividends.

“We’re a bit like good-cop, bad-cop!” laughs Bobby. “But we’re never quite sure which part we’ll playing that day.”

Regardless of which role they decide to take, however, their overall performance is always guaranteed to entertain – and inform. And between them, Susan and Bobby have helped to ensure that filming in Greater Manchester continues its upward trend.

“We had 232 productions shooting on location last year, producing 1,281 film days. Not only was that a 5.7% increase in production levels compared to 2005, but it also meant that in 2006 filming generated over £28 million into the regional economy,” explains Susan. “We’re looking forward to matching those figures in the future.”

Susan and Bobby came to their jobs at the Film Office within a year of each other, but via very different routes. “After my A Levels I actually started out working for a security systems company,” explains Bobby.

However, it was his interest in film and TV that eventually led Bobby to contact Vision and Media’s Cheshire and Warrington Film Office, which at the time was based in Frodsham, Bobby’s home village.

“I knew the film office was in Frodsham so I contacted the Film Liaison Officer and asked if there was any chance of some work experience over Christmas. Thankfully, she said yes!”

Bobby’s time in the Cheshire and Warrington Film Office coincided with the launch of Vision and Media’s fifth sub-regional Film Office, in Cumbria – which meant an increased workload, and room for additional staff.

“I was just in the right place at the right time, as a job in the Greater Manchester Film Office came up, as office runner. Although I was actually assisting the entire office, because of my interest in film and TV I tended to hover around that area in particular, so when the job of Assistant Film Liaison Officer came up in February 2004, I was offered the job,” explains Bobby, taking on the role which Susan had filled for the previous year.

Susan, meanwhile, was promoted to Film Liaison Officer. “I loved the job right from the start,” says Susan, who confides she’d had her sights set on working in TV from a very early age.

“I did the usual thing of taking A Levels, then a Btec in Visual Design and Communication Techniques, then I went on to Newcastle Poly to take a Media Production degree,” she explains.

Susan then entered the industry as a third assistant director via the FT2 apprenticeship scheme, working on various films and drama. “I was in London for 10 years and worked my way up the ladder, doing all sorts, from script reading to working on a weekly newsletter.” In 2003, however, Susan decided to return to her home-town of Manchester, and landed a job working for the regional screen agency.

Since they started working together, Susan and Bobby have expanded their roles and the range of services they are able to offer to film and TV productions. They make a great team.

“The job has really changed since I took it on,” says Susan. Bobby agrees: “It’s hard to describe a typical day, because you really never know what will happen when the phone rings. But we do spend a lot of time talking to local councils and the police, getting clearance and feedback, and generally making sure everyone’s OK with what the crews want to do.”

And as Susan adds: “If someone is looking to film in the Greater Manchester area, and they’re looking for a certain location, or the answer to a certain problem, then…” “Then they can call us, and we’ll do our best to help them,” continues Bobby.

“See, we work so well together as a team, that we even finish each other’s sentences!” laughs Susan. But it’s that professional partnership which works so well, and helps to explain why the Manchester Film Office is the busiest in the region.

“You need to love the industry, have a good knowledge of it, and watch lots of films and TV,” says Bobby. “It also helps to be able to type!” adds Susan. “There’s lots of paperwork to get through, and monthly and quarterly reports to write.

“And you also need to know your area inside-out, so you need to walk around it, catch a bus or drive round, just really take an interest in the area you are promoting to the industry. So if someone asks you a question, then hopefully you’ll know the answer. We tell everyone we’re a one-stop-shop for all filming enquiries, so whatever people want, we try to assist them.”

Bobby agrees: “It’s like being a party-planner really, making all the arrangements and making sure everything goes according to plan – except you don’t get to go to the party at the end of it!” The route towards it, though, more than makes up for the disappointment.

“When you get that initial phone call, when there might not even be a script to look at, but you’re in on something right from the beginning, that’s a brilliant feeling, the best bit of the job without a doubt,” says Bobby.

Susan nods her agreement: “It’s nice to know you’ve played your part in the process, and that something you might have said or done contributed to the end result. You get to watch ideas develop and grow, until before you know it you’re assisting in the second series of Life on Mars or the third series of Waterloo Road.

“Then the phone rings again, and who knows where that call will lead!”

Contact Susan

**Bobby Cochrane is currently on secondment and will return as Film Liaison Officer later in the year**

Greater Manchester Film Office