After graduating with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing (Joint Honours) BA (Hons), alumna Amy Mallett has found her dream job working with Netflix.
Amy, 29 years old, graduated from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) in 2014 and has seen her career go from strength-to-strength as she has worked with the likes of Bauer Media, IGN and now Netflix.
The writing skills she developed on her course, coupled with her radio presenting experience through DMU's award-winning student group Demon Media, helped Amy get her foot in the door of the industries she is passionate about.
“I chose to come to DMU because it was one of the most creative universities I visited – it specialised in so much more than core subjects like science, English and maths.
“I developed wonderfully as a writer under the guidance and mentorship of my Creative Writing tutors. Writing is very much a core skill these days, whether it's scriptwriting, copywriting or prose.”
Amy’s first big break was a job at gaming and entertainment site IGN, where her presenting skills helped her land a role where she could create video content, record voiceovers and interview AAA game developers.
“I was nominated for MCV/DEVELOP’s Women in Gaming Award in 2019 for my role at IGN, and then last year, I was recognised as one of MCV/DEVELOP’s 30 Under 30 in the Games Industry, which blew my mind. Still pinching myself,” she said.
“I've been lucky enough to work with the publishers and developers of some massive titles, from Ubisoft to SEGA, and even worked with Square Enix on my favourite game of all time: Final Fantasy VII.
“I've gotten to play games on camera with huge YouTube legends, meet a zombie expert and feature on the livestream for Assassin's Creed Valhalla with the actor who played the lead Viking. For a professional nerd like me, it has been a blast.”
At the end of last year, Amy saw an opportunity to join a small team of passionate, like-minded people and became a producer at We Are Reach: an agency working with Netflix and PlayStation, among others.
“With We Are Reach, I get to produce content for some of Netflix’s biggest shows. It’s confidential info at the moment, but I get to work on interviews and featurettes, build social media campaigns, and create fan-focused content for hugely popular shows.”
Even though Amy always had a love for video games and pop culture, she never imagined she would work in the gaming industry as it felt like a passion with no career paths.
She is now helping others get into the industry with student talks and outreach activities, and she recently worked with the Creative Writing staff at DMU to offer work experience to current students.
Two students shadowed Amy and her team while she was at IGN so they could learn how to apply their skills to the industry. They were offered a taste of the many different departments and roles so they could learn more about the jobs on offer.
She said: “The gaming industry can be difficult for many minority groups to break into, so I think it’s really important to raise awareness of the huge range of different types of jobs within gaming and entertainment.
“My biggest advice for DMU students and graduates is to find that one thing that makes your soul light up – the spark that gets you out of bed in the morning – and chase that vehemently.
“I suffered from really bad postgraduate depression when I first left uni because it felt like the wall of safety of studying and ‘being a student’ had come down, and now I was staring down work in retail, cafes, bars, etc, possibly forever – but that won't be what happens.
“So be kind to yourself, and if you haven't figured out what you want to do yet, just try to seek out what makes you giddily happy and start from there.”
Posted on Wednesday 27 April 2022