Stephen Frears has come on board as the first patron of the Met Film School, based at Ealing Studios in London.

Frears will serve as an ambassador for the school as well as participating in debates, conversations and advice sessions with school directors about the school's future.

Frears said: 'Alexander Mackendrick said: film writing and directing cannot be taught, only learned. At the Met Film School, you'll spend most of your time making films with the support of professional filmmakers. I don't know any other way to learn'.

Jonny Persey, director of the Met Film School, added: 'When we first started talking to him about the school we realised what a perfect fit he would be as our Patron; his beliefs about film education fit so neatly with our own approach. Stephen's experience and stature will be invaluable to the school as we continue to develop our film training programmes, and we look forward to working with him in continuing to build innovative, industry-relevant programmes for our students'.

Also, Met Film School has launched a new slate of professional development courses to offer training in specific roles in the film industry. Classes will be offered in production, post-production and distribution, offering pathways in HD Camera, VFX, compositing, editing, digital video wrangling and online marketing.

Partners for these courses are Ealing Studios, Fragile Films, Slingshot, PAL, Men from Mars, APT Films, City Screen, Lovefilm, Goldcrest Post, Magic Lantern, and Apple.

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