ITV Studios exclusively partners with Media Trust to launch the Media Trust & Screenskills’ Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme 2021

ITV Studios exclusively partners with Media Trust to launch the Media Trust & Screenskills’ Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme 2021

17th February, 2021 - ITV Studios has exclusively partnered with Media Trust to launch the Media Trust and ScreenSkills’ Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme. The programme will see 24 early-stage mentees looking to progress their career in behind the camera roles in film and TV matched with industry mentors from across ITV Studios.

The six-month programme matches one mentor to two mentees and, as well as one on one mentoring, the entire cohort of mentees and mentors will benefit from professional development and skills enhancement workshops, peer-to-peer learning and networking, all delivered online. In addition, there will be panel discussions during which they will hear from senior executives within the industry including Pat Younge, Co-Founder and Co-MD of Cardiff Productions and Non-Executive Director of ITV Studios, and Jasmine Dotiwala, Head of Youth Engagement at Media Trust, D&I specialist, producer & broadcaster, who will share their extensive experience of mentorship within the TV industry.

The programme is run by Media Trust with support from ScreenSkills using National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of its Future Film Skills programme.

The ITV mentors work across a variety of behind the camera roles, including producer, assistant director, production coordinator, technical support engineer and camera operator and are based across ITV Studios locations in Manchester, Leeds and London.

The mentees are drawn from groups that are traditionally under-represented in the screen industries, in particular women, Black, Asian, minority & ethnic and disabled talent.

The Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme is part of ITV’s diversity acceleration plan, announced last July (https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-announces-diversity-acceleration-plan). The plan outlines how ITV will accelerate change in diversity and inclusion on screen and across ITV by creating more opportunities for those from Black, Asian, minority ethnic and other under-represented groups. ITV colleagues are encouraged to use three paid days a year to volunteer, as part of ITV's ongoing commitment to Social Purpose. 

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios, said: "Creating opportunities for early stage talent is vital if we are to change representation in senior leadership roles. Our participation in the Media Trust & ScreenSkills’ Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme allows colleagues from ITV Studios to pass on their skills and connect with future talent and they also get to learn from brilliant mentees, who can challenge their own thinking too.”

Media Trust CEO, Su-Mei Thompson, added: We’re so grateful to both ITV Studios and ScreenSkills for their incredible support for this exciting new initiative. Media Trust has a long history of empowering young talent to achieve their full potential by giving them a voice, boosting their confidence, helping them to become more employable through creative digital media skills training and providing them with connections to find mentors and work placements. We know that this combination of personal empowerment and employability skills can transform the prospects of young people, especially from diverse and under-represented communities, but we can only do the work we do with the help of dedicated industry bodies like ScreenSkills and committed industry partners like ITV.”

ITV Studios is committed to improving diversity and career progression in TV production. It supports ITV’s ‘Step Up 60’ initiative, which provides the chance for at least 60 people to step up and secure their first ITV senior editorial and production roles as well as the recent launch of the Production Trainee Scheme, in partnership with thinkBIGGER! which offers one year contracts across ten of its labels. ITV Studios has also worked with ScreenSkills and All Spring Media to develop its upcoming production manager apprenticeship programme.

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About ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a creator, producer and distributor of world-leading programmes that people can’t get enough of. We connect millions of people every day and shape and reflect the world they live in, we are More Than TV.

ITV Studios is home to some of the best creative minds, crafting over 8,400 hours of original programming across 55 production labels. Our global footprint spans 12 countries including the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, The Nordics, Italy and the Netherlands and our global distribution business sells our catalogue of 46,000+ hours to broadcasters and platforms around the world.
ITV Studios is part of ITV PLC, which includes the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster. 

About Media Trust
At Media Trust, we believe that if everyone has a voice that’s how we’ll get to a more equal society.  That’s why we’re working with hundreds of charities and the under-represented communities they serve to strengthen their story-telling, advocacy and campaigning, press engagement and social media. We do this through media, communications and digital skills training for charities delivered with the help of our media industry partners and by matching charities looking for communications support with industry volunteers looking to give back because we know non-profit work can’t just be done by non-profits. Meanwhile, our youth programmes are giving diverse young people the creative digital media skills, access and mentoring support to break into the media because we know talent is everywhere but opportunities are not. In this way, we like to think we’re doing our bit to contribute to Britain’s levelling up agenda while also helping the media sector to be more responsible, representative and connected.

For more information, go to mediatrust.org and follow us on Twitter: @Media_Trust, https://twitter.com/Media_Trust

About ScreenSkills

ScreenSkills is the industry-led skills body for the screen industries - film, television (including children's, unscripted and high-end), VFX, animation and games.  

We are supporting economic recovery and future innovation and growth across the whole of the UK by investing in the skilled and inclusive workforce who are critical to the global success of the  screen sector. 

We are funded by industry contributions to our Skills Funds and with National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of its Future Film Skills strategy to help people get into the industry and progress within it.  

Our work includes: 

·       Identifying skills gaps and shortages – current and future – across the screen industries and the whole of the country to provide an evidence base for investment in skills and training 

·       Providing careers information 

·       Mapping and quality-marking professional pathways to improve entry-level diversity and work readiness including apprenticeships and ScreenSkills Select which identifies college and university courses relevant to a career in screen 

·       Supporting development at every stage of a professional career in screen including through mentoring and offering bursaries. 

For more information, go to screenskills.com