We want to be the most creative production company in the industry and believe that a vibrant creative culture helps produce extraordinary projects and that the key to that lies in mentoring.
So we’re thrilled to have ITV, the BBC and Screenskills as partners and funders for our new writer and new director schemes.
In 2018 we set up a Screenwriting Mentorship Scheme with ScreenSkills to discover and nurture a new generation of TV screenwriters, funded by the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund with contributions from UK high-end TV productions. This saw us pair nine emerging voices; Nicole Lecky, Tony Schumacher, Daniel Brierley, Rose Cartwright, Grace Knight, Scott Mather, Temi Wilkey, Yero Timi-Biu and Sharma Walfall with established screenwriters; Levi David Addai, Jimmy McGovern, Jed Mercurio, Amanda Coe, Kay Mellor, Sally Wainwright, Lucy Prebble, Paul Abbott and Jack Thorne. Over the course of a year the mentees wrote a pilot episode of their own original TV series, funded by a bursary, and with expert feedback and encouragement from their mentor. At the end of the year, their mentor helped place the project with a production company and/or broadcaster.
We are thrilled to report that this scheme has had a truly career changing impact on all writers involved. Three mentees from this 2018/2019 cohort have seen original projects greenlit; Tony Schumacher’s THE RESPONDER, Daniel Brierley’s TRIGGER POINT and Nicole Lecky’s SUPERHOE (now renamed MOOD). And the majority of this first cohort are now full-time screenwriters; Temi Wilkey went onto write on SEX EDUCATION and WEDDING SEASON, Yero Timi-Biu went onto write on WOLFE and Sharma Walfall went onto write on NOUGHTS AND CROSSES, A TOWN CALLED MALICE and untitled projects for Disney+ and Netflix.
Through the pandemic we arranged a few interviews between Jed Mercurio and his mentee Daniel Brierley, Lucy Prebble and her mentee Temi Wilkey, and Jack Thorne and his mentee Sharma Walfall. You can listen to them here:
In 2020/2021 we launched the second cohort of this scheme with ITV, supersizing it to feature masterclasses and networking events. It saw us pair emerging screenwriters Abraham Adeyemi, Alex Clarke, Alex Straker, Emma Dennis-Edwards, Nessa Wrafter, Tina Pasotra, Victoria Ibitoye, Kirsty Smith and Lucy Dwyer with established screenwriters; Jesse Armstrong, Paula Milne, Lydia Adetunji, Sarah Phelps, Lisa McGee, Charlie Covell, Abby Ajayi, and Chris Chibnall.
In 2022 we launched the third cohort of this scheme, which saw us pair emerging screenwriters Abigail Rolling, Larissa Hope, Jess Jackson, Olivia Hannah and Karim Khan with Chris Lang, Camilla Blackett, Sarah Williams, Joe Barton, and Mike Bartlett.
This Spring we launched the fourth cohort of our mentorship scheme, which sees us pair emerging screenwriters Alannah Olivia, William Gillies, Lucy Burke, Bindu de Stoppani, Florence Espeut-Nickless, Shani Akilah, Nathan Queely Dennis and Izzy Radford with experienced mentors Simon Vincent, Jonathan Brackley, Namsi Khan, Emilia di Girolamo, Julie Geary, Camilla Blackett, Nathaniel Price and Oli Lyttleton.
In 2021, we partnered with BBC to launch a Directors Mentoring Scheme, which sees us pair an emerging TV director with an established director on a HETV BBC programme. The mentee receives a bursary and a guaranteed 2nd unit directing credit. So far we have paired Candice Onyeama with Tom Shankland on SAS: ROGUE HEROES; Nichola Wong with Tessa Hoffe on CROSSFIRE, and Asia Anthony with Richard Laxton on RAIN DOGS.