George William Turns Lecturer

Ghanaian actor George Brigars Williams has been missing from the screens for some time now and reports are that the good old actor is currently teaching Acting at the Accra Film School (AFS) , an Accra-based private film and television training institute .

Mr. Williams, a British trained actor, was arguably an unrivalled authority in Filmmaking and Theatre Arts.

He was reported to have decided that the best legacy he could leave for the movie industry was to impart knowledge and teach how to act.

When BEATWAVES called at the school to talk to Mr. Williams, he was said to be busy with his students and therefore could not talk to the journalist.

However, the director, Rex Anthony Annan, explained what went into the choice of Mr. Williams to teach Acting:

'We are particular about who we employ to teach here because we want the best for our students.

George Williams is one of the top best industry players left and his experience, both academic and practical, is what makes him stand tall. Not many people know that he studied acting at The Stage Craft Centre in London and studied Broadcasting at the BBC.

He has held various positions including being a Senior Producer in the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service and worked with the Nigerian Broadcasting Service.

'Aside that, he joined the Liberian Advertising Service and later became the Chief Executive of the Sierra Leone Advertising Service.

He also represented the New York Times in Sierra Leone in advertising and sales.

He was a former Commercial Manager of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and his works and contributions to the Ghana movie industry need not be repeated,' Mr. Annan noted.

He also spoke of the Accra Film School:
'Most people stumble into television production and filmmaking in Ghana and they do not have a clue about the job.

But from experience, we realized that when someone is learning on the job, there are certain drawbacks because it is not a formal training in a formal environment.

On-the-job training is important but it is always best to have formal training first if we really want to raise the bar.

'We offer six months and 12 months training, depending on what programme you want to take, and we are actually approved by the Ghana Education Service.

We offer Certificate and Diploma courses in Film Directing, Acting, Scriptwriting, Film Make-up, Digital Editing, Graphic Design, 3D Animation, Art Direction, Camera, Light and Sound Technique, Still Photography, TV Presentation, Production Management; and we adopt a hands-on approach in teaching, because we believe the best way to learn is to actually hear, see and do. We let the students see the relevance of what they are learning.'