Experience Preferred.... But Not Essential is a 1982 British TV film directed by Peter Duffell as part of the First Love series.[1] It is set in a Welsh hotel in 1962 where Annie, a student, arrives to spend the summer as a waitress.[2]
Production
Like the other First Love films, Experience preferred.... was shot "in about twenty days for well under £0.5m"[3] though the overall budget was £505,000.[4]Goldcrest Films invested £480,000 in it and received £728,000 earning them a profit of £248,000.[5]
Cast
IMDb lists the full cast.[6] The BoxOffice review lists those "starring".[7]
Variety said “generally the picture looks a treat”.[2]Screen International said that UA Classics had great success with Experience Preferred.... But Not Essential in contrast to P'Tang Yang Kipperbang.[1] In 1984, Gavin Millar said in Sight & Sound that it "had them queueing round the block in New York".[3] Looking back in 1987, David Rose (interviewed by Nicolas Kent) in Sight & Sound described it as “one of Channel 4’s first big successes in America”.[8] Rick Marx, writing in BoxOffice, found it "utterly charming" but he found the "Scottish accents ... often almost impossible to interpret".[7]
References
^ ab"Goldcrest sets US First Loves deal". Screen International. No. 530. 11 January 1986. pp. 1–2.
^ abJapa (24 November 1982). "Experience Preferred But Not Essential (British Color)". Variety. p. 14.