ShuRun Yap

Film studies and a longstanding interest in the subject helped launch ShuRun’s career in Wellington’s creative industry.

When I first enrolled at university, I really wanted to pursue my interests rather than studying for the sake of getting a job. I already knew that I liked film and wanted to do a bit of psychology. After investigating the majors available and areas of research I decided that I would major in Film and Criminology at undergraduate level, as I was really interested in the creative and social side of Humanities.

I then enjoyed the practical skills and opportunities that the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Creative Practice offered. They built on the skills I already had developed as a project administrator/coordinator during my gap year. I gained further real-world experience applying my theoretical knowledge of film. I found ways to implement my critical thinking and planning skills in real commercial projects and the internship (which was part of the MFA). I also enjoyed the networking opportunities provided by the MFA, whether it was through meeting guest lecturers/speakers, through the internship, or through working with industry people in the projects that were part of the coursework.

My studies also really honed my organisational and time-management skills. As the MFA was a full-time course, it meant that I had to plan each day and achieve multiple things across the different courses that were running at the same time. Not unlike undergraduate study, except the workload and expectations around your ability to manage yourself were much higher.

My MFA opened up work opportunities through cementing relationships with people in the creative industry in Wellington and by providing me with the experience that gave me a head start in the job search process. I had many wonderful references and projects that added greatly to my portfolio even while I was studying. I also picked up many valuable skills that were transferable to other jobs as well, such as coordination and communication skills. I went on to apply these first as an intern producer, then a junior producer with creative video agency Wrestler.

Production is essentially project management and coordination at a fast pace with many moving parts. There is a lot of work behind the scenes and fostering of good relationships. It was therefore a natural progression into my role in vendor coordination at Cigna Life Insurance, where I engaged multiple vendors to facilitate good communications and relationships between the businesses, and to collaborate towards achieving the best outcomes possible for all.

Later, I moved into various IT roles at Cigna, including project analyst and business analyst. These two roles were particularly important in defining my understanding of business processes and requirements, and a great learning experience in how to communicate and deliver outcomes to various stakeholders. I found that my production knowledge and skills continued to serve me well in these roles, especially when it came down to planning and scheduling for people and resources, to build out a particular software solution, or to run deployment activities.

I’m currently an IT project and implementation manager at Wētā FX. My studies in Film, as well as my time with Wrestler, have provided me with a good baseline understanding of the filmmaking process and the technologies that support a particular way of creating content (through VFX). While I do not work directly on films, I am part of a larger technology ecosystem that enables the artists to deliver their best work. The best way I would describe my role is facilitating change and delivering improvements in a film-adjacent space.