EE and Daisy Edgar-Jones Turn Teen Filmmaking Dreams into Reality

Ahead of the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards, EE has teamed up with BAFTA nominated actress Daisy Edgar-Jones to launch Set The Stage, a campaign highlighting the variety of creative careers in the film industry. The initiative offers teenagers the chance to write, direct and produce a short film under the guidance of a crew of BAFTA award-winning industry experts. 

From today, 15 –17 year-olds interested in filmmaking can apply for a place in the crew to create this unique short film under the mentorship of industry experts across storytelling, production and direction, including mentorship from BAFTA-nominated actress Daisy Edgar Jones.  

Applicants can apply by submitting a video via direct messaging @EE on Instagram and TikTok using the word ‘STAGE’ or by tagging @EE in a post with their entry including the word ‘STAGE’ in the tag. Applications for Set The Stage will close on March 21st 2025.

To launch this campaign, new research from EE reveals a generational divide on career perceptions, showing a disconnect between parents and teens. The research highlights that 97% of British parents of 11-17 year olds worry about their children's career aspirations, with 57% feeling out of touch due to the rise of influencers and technology. While 59% of parents prefer established careers for their teens, many teens aspire to modern roles like video game designers, software developers, and social media content creators. 

The data shows that 70% of teens feel their parents don't take their career aspirations seriously, and over half believe their parents don't value modern careers like influencers, despite these career paths demonstrating creativity and technical expertise in areas such as video production. This concern is echoed by 67% of parents who fear these modern jobs are unstable career choices for their children. 

50% of teens believe their parents don't understand the transferable skills gained from social media, technology, and gaming in new and evolving areas such as content creation. However, parents do acknowledge that their children have developed valuable soft skills like creativity, socialising, and empathy through these platforms, setting them up for success as they pursue their chosen career paths. Additionally, 81% of parents recognise that their children have acquired important hard skills such as coding, problem-solving, and digital literacy, suggesting they do see value in these activities. 

EE has teamed up with award-winning broadcaster and recipient of the 2024 BAFTA Fellowship, Baroness Floella Benjamin OM DBE, to offer insight into these findings. Since the 1970s, Floella has tirelessly advocated for better opportunities for young people.  

Baroness Floella Benajmin commented, “The definition of what highlights a successful career is evolving and very personal. EE and BAFTA are highlighting many new roles emerging for young people. Growing up with phones isn’t easy, but when teens are consuming social content, playing video games and exploring the arts, they gain many creative skills. These activities open a window into the future possibilities. It’s important to connect these skills to future opportunities and encourage the next generation to explore their interests in filmmaking.” 

Through Set The Stage, EE will showcase the breadth of creative careers in the on-screen arts, demonstrating how teenagers can translate the soft and hard skills they have learned through engaging with social media, gaming and technology into a successful film career. 

Following the recruitment process, sixteen teenagers will be selected by EE, the expert crew, and Young Film Academy for roles in makeup artistry, costume design, cinematography, sound, direction, and production. The teens will be judged on their relevant skills, ability to deal with a long shoot, resilience to adversity and teamwork, alongside their passion and enthusiasm. Over the course of a year, under the mentorship of industry experts, including Daisy Edgar-Jones, the selected teens will create a unique short film. 

Pete Jeavons, director of marketing communications at EE, said, "We are on a mission to help parents connect the dots between their children’s curiosities and their next steps. Whether their interests lie in makeup, fashion, performance, or production, we want to inspire the next generation to follow their passions, explore their curiosities and transform them into meaningful careers.” 

Lisa Prime, head of children and young people’s programme at BAFTA, said, “Part of BAFTA’s mission is to inspire the next generation of budding creatives to consider careers within the screen industries. We do this year-round through our Young BAFTA programme, and we are delighted to be partnering with EE on this. ‘Set the Stage’ is a fantastic campaign to highlight the diverse range of careers and opportunities that are available within the film industry. Nurturing young talent and building a pipeline of future storytellers is crucial to futureproofing our industry.”

As well as EE Set the Stage, EE continues to encourage the next generation to explore their interests and provide them with real opportunities. On 20th February during half term, EE is hosting Learn Live, an event where celebrities, influencers and industry experts will inspire secondary school students, by showing how their passions can be applied to real life skills.  

EE Learn is an educational initiative that can fuel teen passions by harnessing the power of technology to elevate their future opportunities. To apply for a role in the EE Set The Stage film crew, teens aged 15 to 17 can visit EE Learn. Application close on March 21st 2025. 

The campaign was created by a cross-discipline team from Havas Play, Boomerang, Saatchi & Saatchi, Edelman, and Digitas.

EE has extended its partnership with BAFTA continuing one of the longest standing cultural partnerships in the UK. The multi-year partnership sees EE continue as title sponsor of the EE BAFTA Film Awards, partner of BAFTA Games Awards, BAFTA Scotland and BAFTA Cymru as well as begin its support of Young BAFTA, a year-round programme inspiring the next generation of budding creatives to consider careers with the screen industries.