Brendan, along with his colleagues in The Proper Picture Company, is a very experienced and entertaining short-course trainer, covering all aspects of screenwriting and film production for the EU and regional bodies. He is also a visiting tutor on Features Journalism for the National Union of Journalists in London.

Brendan and his colleagues have worked for many of the most prestigious universities and film schools world-wide as well as guilds, film funds, festivals and private companies as well as the EU Media organisations.

Their short courses and seminars all share three key elements. They are intensely practical, great fun and are built on personal experience. As Brendan Foley puts it: “collectively we have a century of media experience, so we’ve fallen down most available holes in the business, and we now know what to avoid, so we can spare our students at least a little of the pain along the way. Only people who never do anything never make mistakes. Our courses are about avoiding pitfalls where you can and making lemonade at the bottom of the pit when you can’t”.

Their courses also share a sense of fun and participation. Lars Hermann, who has been a Eurimages Board member, and involved with regional and international training from Britain to Eastern Europe says: “If you can’t have fun in the movie business, you are unlikely to have fun anywhere. It is very hard work, and the point of all that hard work is to make great movies and enjoy making them ”

Just a few of the bodies that Brendan and his Proper Picture associates have worked with individually or as a team:

Nantes University, London College of Printing, Drexel, York, Leeds Metropolitan, Northwestern, Danish Film School, London School of Drama, NI Screen, Writers Guild, National Union of Journalists, Little Rock Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, FilmFyn, Danish Film Institute, Nordmedia Germany, North Sea Screen Partners and Eurimages.