NFTS Sean Connery Institute
Scotland’s screen talent. The next episode.
The National Film and Television School and the Sean Connery Foundation are creating the NFTS Sean Connery Institute – a new centre for developing Scotland’s next generation of film and television talent and helping them build lasting careers in the industry.
Launching in 2027, the Institute will bring together all of the NFTS’s work in Scotland under one banner, building on almost a decade of training delivered through NFTS Scotland and the success of the Sean Connery Talent Lab.
Our ambition is simple: to discover talent, develop skills, create opportunities, build connections – and help people turn their potential into lasting careers.
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For almost a decade, the NFTS has been delivering training in Scotland, working with industry partners to respond directly to the needs of Scotland’s growing film and television sector.
Now we are putting down roots.
Working with the Sean Connery Foundation, our ambition is to establish a permanent home for the NFTS Sean Connery Institute in Edinburgh.
It will be somewhere to learn, develop and make work; somewhere emerging talent can meet established filmmakers, producers, commissioners and employers; and somewhere Scotland’s screen community can come together.
Alongside our training programmes, we plan to create a regular public programme of screenings, masterclasses, conversations and events, connecting audiences in Scotland with outstanding filmmaking talent from Scotland, across the UK and internationally.
We are working towards opening our new home within the next 18 months.
Follow this page as we build the Institute.
We want the Institute to be more than a collection of courses.
We want to create a genuine pathway into and through Scotland’s screen industry.
Discover
Finding talented people wherever they live and whatever their route into the industry – and working with partners across Scotland to make sure opportunity isn't confined to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Find out about our work with the Scottish Youth Film Foundation and the Youth Talent Lab
Train
World-class training across creative, technical, craft and production roles, responding not only to the skills the industry needs today, but to where the industry is going next.
Explore our courses
Create
Giving emerging filmmakers opportunities to make ambitious work. The Sean Connery Talent Lab will remain at the heart of the Institute as our flagship filmmaking programme.
Apply to the Sean Connery Talent Lab
Connect
Building a lifelong community around the Institute – connecting participants with collaborators, alumni, employers and the wider NFTS network in Scotland, across the UK and internationally.
Work
Because training is only the beginning. Our ultimate measure of success will be whether the people we support go on to find work, build careers and shape the future of film and television.
At the heart of the Institute will be the Sean Connery Talent Lab, our year-long development programme for emerging writers, directors, producers, cinematographers and editors.
Created by the NFTS in partnership with the Sean Connery Foundation and BBC Film, the Lab gives talented filmmakers the training, resources, creative relationships and industry connections to take the next major step in their careers.
Participants develop their craft together before creating ambitious short films conceived, developed and produced in Scotland.
Applications for the 2027 Sean Connery Talent Lab are now open.
Apply now to the Sean Connery Talent Lab
Meet our Sean Connery Talent Lab Filmmakers!
2017
NFTS Scotland is established with the support of the Scottish Government and BBC Scotland bringing the NFTS’s specialist training closer to Scotland’s screen industry.
2024
The Sean Connery Talent Lab launches in partnership with the Sean Connery Foundation, creating a major new development opportunity for emerging filmmakers.
2026
The NFTS and Sean Connery Foundation announce the creation of the NFTS Sean Connery Institute.
2027
All of the NFTS’s work in Scotland comes together under the Institute, with an expanded programme of training and talent development, alongside new industry and public activities.
NEXT...
A permanent home for the Institute in Edinburgh.
There is a lot still to do.
We have a building to find and open. New programmes to develop. Partnerships to build. Talent to discover. And many more announcements to come.
Our ambition is to play our part in making Scotland one of the best places in the world to be an emerging filmmaker, with a School that matches the ambition of its talent and responds to the needs of its screen industry.
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What we've achieved so far
Our Talent Lab has gone from strength to strength.
Due to putting Industry practice and connections at the forefront of our Lab, we have held regular Meet The Industry events in both London and Glasgow.
We premiere our films in Scotland.
For the second year in a row, the NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab premiered its students films at the prestigious Edinburgh International Film Festival, as part of their Shorts Programmes strand. It is a great launching pad for our students as they go off to start their professional careers, and a great way for Industry to meet them.
Pictured: Jason Connery, Paul Ridd, Chris Young, one of our filmmakers, and NFTS Director Jon Wardle at EIFF.
We are already award-winning filmmakers.
The Sean Connery Talent Lab film Checkout was the Postgraduate Entertainment and Comedy Drama winner at the 2026 Royal Television Society Awards (Cinematographer Simon Williamson pictured with award). In addition, the film St. Anthony was longlisted for a 2026 Student BAFTA Award for Live Action.
We train students to professional level, because they're taught by professionals.
This is a behind-the-scenes picture from the Talent Lab film Angel In The House. Students get the best practical Industry training, to leave as confident filmmakers.
Our supporters
This is just the beginning
Join the mailing list
Explore our courses
Partner with the institute: email connery@nfts.co.uk
Meet the team
Head of NFTS Scotland Alison Goring | Head of the Sean Connery Talent Lab Chris Young | Development Manager and SCTL Manager Abigail Howkins | Development Manager Francesca Walker | SCTL Coordinator Emma Walton |
Contact the team
Email connery@nfts.co.uk | Phone 0141 729 8190
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