AFTRS is calling for applications for Talent Camp 2022. Now in its third season, Talent Camp 2022 is a partnership between AFTRS, Screen Australia, South Australian Film Corporation, Film Victoria, Screen Queensland, Screen NSW and Screen Tasmania.
Talent Camp, first established in 2017, aims to increase diversity and inclusion in the screen industries by providing career enhancement opportunities to early career and aspiring screen content creators from diverse backgrounds. The program recognises diversity as differences in gender, Indigenous identity, cultural and linguistic diversity (CALD), disability, sexual orientation, geographic location and socioeconomic status.
With a focus on building crucial screen skills across industry sectors, Talent Camp 2022 will be a two-part project: one centred on narrative screenwriting, producing and directing for comedy and drama, and one on documentary directing and producing. This year, submissions will be accepted for both film and episodic web or TV series, long or short form.
For the comedy and drama stream, there will be five State Talent Camps held in Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Melbourne and Adelaide. The five-day workshops will begin with storytelling and screenwriting skills development, followed by a choice between the directing or producing component. The State Camps will focus on the bigger picture, diving into the ins and outs of story development, producing and directing considerations and career pathways, including industry information sessions to connect with experienced producers. These state-based workshops will be followed by one National Talent Camp for narrative, with two participants from each State Camp selected through a separate application process.
The documentary stream will take place as a National Talent Camp only, with two applicants selected from each of the five states across Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. The participants will attend a one-week workshop, hosted in Melbourne. The workshop will be held during the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), to allow for participants to engage with the industry’s premier event for documentary filmmakers.
Following the completion of the national programs, Talent Camp will fund one narrative and one documentary short-form work, whether a short film, pilot episode or proof of concept, with $20,000 allocated for a comedy/drama production and $15,000 for a documentary production.
Dr. Romaine Moreton, Director of First Nations and Outreach, said, “Talent Camp is an excellent opportunity for Australia’s premier screen agencies to work together in support of diverse stories from our country’s incredible emerging talent. Since launching in 2017, the program has successfully developed a number of young creatives, many of whom have since received production funding and career opportunities within the industry. For 2022, we are thrilled to introduce a new documentary camp and have reworked the overall program structure to encompass directing and producing, in addition to screenwriting. We cannot wait to welcome next year’s Talent Camp cohort and continue to foster diverse creatives in the Australian screen industry.”
Nerida Moore, Screen Australia’s Head of Development, said, “We are excited to once again be partnering with AFTRS and state screen agencies for Talent Camp, providing an expanded program including documentary, producing and directing components for the first time. This program is an important part of the push to make sure the makeup of our industry truly reflects all Australians, and Screen Australia is really pleased to be part of it.”
Talent Camp is now open for submissions. Applications close at 11.59 pm on Monday December 6 2021.
WORKSHOP DATES
National Documentary Talent Camp
Workshop dates: Sunday 06 – Friday 11 March
Workshop location: Melbourne
(Note: this workshop is held parallel to AIDC (6-9 March) to allow for maximum benefit for participants)
Victoria
Workshop dates: Monday 14 – Friday 18 March
Workshop location: Melbourne
South Australia
Workshop dates: Monday 21 – Friday 25 March
Workshop location: Adelaide
Tasmania
Workshop dates: Monday 28 March – Friday 01 April
Workshop location: Hobart
Queensland
Workshop dates: Monday 11 – Friday 15 April
Workshop location: Brisbane
New South Wales
Workshop dates: Monday 18 – Friday 22 April
Workshop location: Sydney
National Narrative Talent Camp
Workshop dates: Monday 4 – Friday 8 July
Workshop location: Sydney
AFTRS Talent Camp 2022 is a multi-partner screen industry initiative made possible with the generous support of Screen Australia, Screen Queensland, Screen NSW, Film Victoria, Screen Tasmania and South Australian Film Corporation.
Talent Camp success stories include:
- SBS Emerging Writers’ Incubator Initiative 2021: Three of the six awarded participants are former Talent Camp participants: Sebastian Chan (NSW/ACT Talent Camp 2019-20), Alberto Di Troia (VIC Talent Camp 2019-20) and Cassandra Nguyen (WA Talent Camp 2017-18).
- Holly Zwalf (QLD Talent Camp 19-20): Holly was recently awarded a $30,000 development grant for the podcast Gay Graves as part of Pitch Lab 2020.
- Alana Hicks (NSW Talent Camp 17-18): Alana’s short film Chicken (co-funded by Create NSW in 2018 as part of National Talent Camp) was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival (June 2020) and the BFI London Film Festival (October 2020) and was awarded Best Direction in an Australian Short Film at Flickerfest (2020).
- Grace Feng (writer/director) and Nikki Tran (producer) (VIC Talent Camp 17-18): Grace and Nikki met at VIC Talent Camp and their web series Girl, Interpreted was nominated for a 2020 AACTA Award and was selected for the 2020 Melbourne Web Fest. The series is now streaming on YouTube, Flemflix, Tencent and iQiyi.
