Screen Australia Puts Up A$1 Million for Skills Training

Screen Australia is putting forward A$1 million ($670,000) in funding to be shared among the state screen agencies to support their training and skills development programs for the screen industry.

Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, said, “Supporting Australia’s screen sector is vital to ensuring our nation’s stories are seen and heard at home and around the world. This funding will help ensure creative talent is nurtured, and artist and arts workers have career structures that are long-term and sustainable – among the key priorities of Revive, the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy.”

Screen Australia’s head of industry development, Ken Crouch, said, “With such a wealth of production taking place around the country, it’s a priority for us to improve the industry’s capability and set the sector up for a consistent pipeline of work and opportunities for filmmakers to advance their skills in below-the-line roles. Screen Australia is proud to be working with the state screen agencies to address areas of immediate need. By partnering with each of the states, we can support the work they are doing and help them to build crew capacity with a tailored approach.”

“It’s important that we all work together to ensure we are in the best position to keep up the pace, and this is an important first step. In order for Australia to capitalize and enable a booming local screen industry, attractive globally, it will be critical to have further skills development investment in industry-ready training,” Crouch continued.

Immediate actions to address identified skills shortages include Screen Canberra, training and placements in crew positions, including locations and unit management on local productions; Screen NSW, on-the-job training and upskilling opportunities for practitioners through placements on productions across film and television, including post-production; Screen Queensland, placements for key crew roles on domestic and international productions such as in accounts, location management, art department, PDV and script supervision; Screen Tasmania, crew placements on productions in key crew roles, including increasing the number and length of attachments already being facilitated; Screen Territory, providing five paid attachments for Northern Territory creatives to work in the art, locations, sound, camera or makeup departments on local productions; Screenwest, supporting a 12-month program to provide targeted skills development and placement opportunities for below-the-line roles; South Australian Film Corporation, expanding the agency’s existing attachment scheme to double the length of roles from six to 12 weeks, allowing the attached creatives to gain a deeper learning experience; and VicScreen, supporting on-the-job training for key roles of acute screen industry needs, across digital games, film and TV, post-production and VFX companies, including an expansion of the specialist placement program.