Hanna Flint's reel life

Watching movies was our family’s pastime

Every week we would either go to the multiplex or rent a movie from Blockbuster Video – so a love of film was nurtured in our family. The careers I wanted to pursue were very much influenced by what I'd seen on screen. I remember when I was young watching Flipper and thinking ‘I want to be a marine biologist.’ Later on, I watched Legally Blonde and decided I wanted to study law!

What I most enjoyed about Nottingham is finding out who I was

As someone who's half Tunisian - I'm Arab, North African, British - Doncaster where I grew up didn't have a lot of diversity. In my first year at Nottingham I was flat sharing in St Peter's Court halls with girls of Indian and Sri Lankan heritage.

The ethnicity might not necessarily be the same, but it felt nice to be around people who share similar identities and experiences as women and ethnic minorities.

Learn your craft

Rather than trying to fast track your way towards success, understand there’s value in learning from others who are more experienced and educating yourself.

This is reflected in businesses not wanting to hire people for what they’re worth and investing in them too. Rather than letting people grow in a company, they just want to get the lowest person in or the cheapest person, rather than helping sustain the ecosystem.

What I liked about my degree was that there was so much I found useful as transferable skills. The thing about writing essays and doing research - it's all part of the craft you use as a journalist to tell a compelling story.

It’s all about the hustle

The reality is you have to pay rent! After graduating I got a job working in a marketing agency for about a year. But I also contacted someone I knew at LBC radio to ask if I could come in and shadow. So from Monday to Friday I was working at this marketing agency, and every Saturday and Sunday I was waking up at 5:30am to do guest bookings.

I then became an assistant producer, then I did overnight shifts on LBC, then I was working at talkSPORT – but all of this was not actually in the entertainment field I was keen on, but I just saw it as ‘get in anywhere’.

I'm 36 now and it’s taken me probably 14 or 15 years to get into this position, but I didn't have the straight route there. I only went freelance in 2017, but that whole period before of it, was just slog, slog and you have to have the stamina. Every time I speak to anyone about how to make it, I say it's a lot of hard work! Consider how you broaden your horizons and think how to make every opportunity work for you.

Some people come out of university and are fortunate to go straight into Empire magazine and never leave, or they get to do the BBC placement. But it's so oversaturated in our industry now. I had to go the long way.

Shining a light on Gaza

Cinema For Gaza is one of my most shining achievements (Hanna and five film industry peers raised over £250,000 to support Medical Aid for Palestinians), but it's also really difficult as an Arab watching it unfold, seeing the wider dehumanization of Arabs and experiencing racism. Ta-Nehise Coates said something like, ‘what do we lose as writers by not writing and talking about it?’ I've got a voice and a platform, so any chance to raise awareness I will.

A Night to remember

One of my highlights was interviewing the director M. Night Shyamalan. We talked about risk and believing in yourself - when he wasn't doing well after he directed The Last Airbender he came out with The Visit, remortgaging his house to do so, putting his own money on the line. He's had such an interesting career and what I really love is that he's carried on, in the face of a lot of critics. That’s such an inspiring story for me.

Hanna’s book Strong Female Character is available now. Find out more about her work.