Who is Bethany Swan?
It’s a balmy winter morning on the canal at Here East when BAFTA-Nominated Bethany Swan arrives in an orange beany, a yellow puffer coat and a cute handbag style Ghana bag. Her disposition is as sunny as the weather, making it even nicer to sit and get to know this rising Hair & Make-up starlet.
Bethany would totally hate that description, but it’s hard not to feel a sense of excitement for her after hearing how she began her career on indie films and commercial projects before finally cracking into TV as the Hair and Make-up Designer on the award-winning I May Destroy You! Bethany has a warm and quiet confidence; due in part perhaps to the strong female influence she had growing up in a family where women out numbered men five to three, or perhaps due to her open-minded approach to learning and exploring her way through the industry?
“I think everything is a milestone. Every time you finish something, and you move on to the next bigger project with a new team. Or when you start on a completely new genre. You look back on every job you finish and see things you did well, things you may not have done so well, and on the next job you’ll do things differently…better. You learn something from every first and that’s why every project feels like a milestone to me, because it’s always the first time I’ve done that thing.”
There have been so many horror stories recently from black catwalk models and actresses who say their Hair and Make-up stylists don’t have a clue how to work with afro hair and darker skin tones. The hair and make-up in I May Destroy You is flawless, so as a white woman working with a predominantly black cast, I couldn’t help but ask Bethany how she felt working with different skin tones and hair textures.
“To me the most important thing about working with anyone is to make them feel comfortable in my chair, and in front of the camera. No matter what your origin is everyone’s skin and hair is unique to them and different hair textures & skin types require different products, tools and approaches. It’s not seen one, seen all. The first thing I like to do when working with new talent is to speak to them ahead of the shoot and ask about their allergies, products they hate and products they like so I can make sure my team and I have familiar items laid out when they arrive. The person in the chair is always the expert in my mind, so I like to stay humble and open to learning new things using my skills as a framework as opposed to a rulebook. As a HOD it’s also about assembling a team of people that have the right skillsets for the job at hand, whether that be working with black hair, or extra sensitive skin.”
We couldn’t talk about Hair & Make-up on I May Destroy You without talking about that infamous pink wig! An iconic bit of styling which to me, cleverly symbolises the deterioration of Arabella’s emotional state throughout the hard hitting drama. Had they chosen a more natural hair colour…would Arabella’s destruction have felt so vivid and real?
“It was a collaboration with Michaela – she always knew she wanted pink hair as the colour has so many connotations depending on the shade and how you wear it. We were thinking of dying her natural hair originally, but the way the schedule was arranged we needed to be able to jump between looks from any episode and a wig gave us that flexibility. It also gave us a chance to touch on wig culture and authentically depict how a woman might look after her wig at different stages of the day or night depending on where she is and who she’s with. To make it feel lived in and appropriate to Arabella’s emotional state when she was struggling to write and when she comes undone at the end of the series, we decided to make it a faded pink, with the roots showing.”
Bethany draws a lot of inspiration from watching people in the real world moving about their real lives. One of the most difficult skills in this business is to translate real life onscreen and you must be incredibly detail orientated to get it right. Bethany has a real ‘method’ approach to designing and applying her character’s looks. It’s not just about what’s required for any one scene – it’s about getting into the headspace of the character; where are they coming from before they arrive on our screen? Where are they going after we see them? How are they feeling? In collaboration with the other creative HODs, Bethany’s ability to realise what a character looks like at different stages of their story arc is something that makes I May, so emotive to watch.
Then of course you must maintain and recreate and match those looks again and again, often in haste, across the duration of the production.
“For continuity I like to take pictures of all angles, and in different lights as soon as it’s been applied, but I don’t consider the look locked until it’s been captured on camera because what goes on in the chair is not necessarily what ends up on screen. I think it’s a great idea for upcoming Hair & Make-up Designers to get themselves an LED light that changes colour so they can get a sense of what their creations look like in different light conditions, and they don’t get caught off guard when they get to set and the DP is using a blue hue [for example]. The more you learn and the more you experience the better you are…. It’s a practical job, so although you can learn things online you get vital experience by doing it…and hands on experience will also show you what parts of the process you enjoy, and what parts you may want to avoid or adapt on your own projects. Be fluid with all the industries and see where you fit.”
Such sound advice for newcomers aspiring to find their feet in what can be a hostile and highly competitive industry. There are numerous challenges faced in any role, and I am really drawn to Bethany’s holistic approach to overcoming some of the things she finds most challenging.
“The most challenging thing is the lifestyle that comes with working in this industry. The commute is always insane, no one is ever shooting down the road from where you live. When you’re on a job it’s difficult to have a life, and I’m grateful to have friends and family who understand that and support me whether I’m present or not. I find balance during the most hectic times by surrounding myself with good people. It makes a job (and life) easier when you’re not having to battle big egos when things are already stressful, so it’s important to me to build a team of nice, talented people – and you can have both! And it’s quite nice now that people are starting to know a bit about the work I’ve done, I’m getting the chance to meet a much wider range of talent.”
Bethany isn’t one to stand on a soapbox and preach her values to the world (you’ll more likely find her kicking ass covertly in the shadows), but having seen the passion with which she talks about her craft, I wanted to know what makes her tick outside of hair and make-up.
“We live in such a diverse society, and I want to see that diversity translated to our sets and to our screens. It can feel overwhelming but I try to do my part by mentoring on a scheme that helps push women into more senior roles, and by having trainees on my team whenever I can. On a more day to day level I find it much easier to fight battles for my team than I do fighting battles for myself. I feel it’s my responsibility to take care of them and their needs when we’re on a job. Flexible working is definitely important to me (as is professional mobility), it’s obviously a big topic industry wide too, but as a continuity heavy department the only way I could see us having more ‘flexibility’ is if we had shorter working hours.”
I always like to end my interviews asking about three women that our guest most admires! Bethany begins her response with the cavaet that she admires all the women that she’s ever worked with!
“…from the single working mum who smashed 15 hour days, to the newbees giving their all on their first jobs and to the veterans who’ve worked in the business for 40 years! I’ve worked with so many amazing women who inspire and empower me to continue to carve my own path. But if I had to whittle it down to 3 ‘well-known’ women I admire I’d have to say. –
SHONDA RHIMES – ulitimate powerhouse. TILDA SWINTON – effortless style icon & of course MICHAELA COEL – someone I always wanted to work with and now that I have I can tell you she’s one of the loveliest most talented writer/directors out there!”
You can find out more about Bethany Swan on her website, and we look forward to seeing more of her amazing work on Hanna S3 (Nov 2021) and on Mammals (coming 2022) with James Corden and Sally Hawkins – both on Amazon Prime.
Represented by @wizzoandco
