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a training base for children hoping to go professional, although some choose to attend purely for fun and a confidence boost. “I don’t believe that children should be coming in on a Saturday morning to be taught for 45 minutes,” says Reece. “I genuinely believe that there’s a market out there for performers to be teaching the next generation.” Students aged from three years onwards can enrol in courses such as acting, musical theatre, singing, dancing, and lamda, or take one-to-one lessons. (There’s also a sister business Theatre College of Scotland which is aiming to provide a degree course in the future.) Sessions take place at one of Theatre School of Scotland’s physical locations, but beyond this the company also does outreach programmes with local schools – something that initially received reticence from the local community. “When we opened the Greenock site, there were a lot of local schools that felt it was ridiculous for a big school to be moving into the area,” says Reece. However, Theatre School of Scotland aimed to take a collaborative approach, whereby the business positioned itself as the next step in elevating talented students’ performing arts journeys. “When you have that open approach and when people can see you keep going, they slowly convert,” says Reece. Now, the business frequently works with schools and has regularly seen local performing arts clubs encourage their students to also attend Theatre School of Scotland. Why? Because Reece has the industry contacts. The Theatre School has a talent agency called KX Management which runs alongside it, meaning when broadcasters come looking for young performers they get the call. “Our students can be seen on everything from Disney and CBeebies to BBC One,” says Reece. “Just today, we announced that we’ve got three children who are the voice of Haribo.” Other high-profile jobs include Call the Midwife Christmas Special which was filmed over three weeks in the Scottish Highlands; the David Walliams book adaptations which are similarly all filmed in Scotland; and Harry Style’s ‘Adore You’ in which a student played the younger version of Harry. Cultivating audition-ready children requires industry expertise which means all staff must have a BA degree in the creative arts – a requirement that has inadvertently overcome the common challenge of hiring staff to run classes. “In this industry, you’re always going to have an actor, a singer, or dancer who’s in between professional jobs. And they’re exactly the type of people that should be teaching children,” says Reece. FILLING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC TALENT GAP Reece’s appearance on The Apprentice wasn’t just significant for Theatre School of Scotland, but a win for representation. He was the first Scot to appear on the show in eight years, which coincidently chimes with the business’ mission to get greater regional representation onto our TV screens – something Reece is so passionate about he’s decided not to open franchises in Central London. “There’s still a regionality crisis on our TV screens across the world,” he says. “I think let’s fly the flag from the regions. Up North is amazing. In Wales, there are such talented students. And we’ve just seen a young girl from Ireland play the lead role in Matilda. I think we need more of that.” This awareness of the disparity between the regions and London is borne from Reece’s own experiences. Although Theatre School of Scotland is seven years old, the entrepreneur has been involved in the industry for much longer. Reece started acting when he was six years old, appearing in shows such as BBC’s Waterloo Road . He then studied BA Drama at the University of Sunderland. “I think even when I was a child, if I didn’t have a postcode within 45 minutes of the M25 I would have been ruled out of a job,” he says. “And I think that all it takes is for someone on the phone, like me or my team, to make sure that children are represented. “I come from a working class, if not lower-class area of Scotland. The chances of me doing what I do now were pretty slim. And I would just like every child to realise that “I think a lot of people think that we run small dance classes at church halls on a Saturday morning, and that just isn’t the case” WHAT-FRANCHISE.COM 51