Seven leading Australian production companies and broadcasters are taking part in the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) Graduate Program this year.
The highly competitive Graduate Program offers AFTRS’ graduates from 2024 a 13-week paid industry internship at some of Australia’s most respected production companies and broadcasters. This year’s program partners are ABC, BBC Studios, Endemol Shine, Eureka, ITV Studios Australia, WildBear, and SBS. The program creates valuable employment pathways for creative, multi-skilled graduates of the Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production course. This year, 10 AFTRS graduates have been awarded places in the Graduate Program. Riti Ramanujachari and Casey McCosh will join the ABC, Riti in the Children and Family department and Casey in ABC Factual. Apoorv Jaiswal will join BBC Studios’ Unscripted department and Jonathan Zhang BBC Studios’ Scripted department. Lauren McConnell and Sean Cheng will join WildBear, Ella Richards will join Endemol Shine Australia, Belinda Tyldsley will join Eureka Productions, Lucie Spencer will join ITV Studios Australia and Tavi Sharma will join SBS.
Dr. Nell Greenwood, AFTRS CEO, said: “The Graduate Program is such a fantastic and effective partnership between AFTRS and industry. Following 3 years of hands-on training, student productions and industry placements in the BA, our students are perfectly placed to make the most of this exceptional opportunity – and most progress from the program into ongoing employment in the sector. We owe this success to the generous commitment and support of our industry partners, and the faith they place in AFTRS to train multi-skilled, job-ready graduates”.
Chris Oliver-Taylor, ABC Chief Content Officer, said: “The ABC is proud to have partnered with the AFTRS graduate program since 2022. Nurturing the next generation of talented creatives is crucial for the ABC and the broader screen industry. I’m thrilled to welcome our graduates for 2025, Casey McCosh who will be placed with our Documentary and Specialist team and Riti Ramanujachari who joins our Children’s and Family team. The graduate program is a wonderful initiative that gives young creatives an opportunity to gain experience alongside some of Australia’s most outstanding content creators and kickstart their careers in the sector.”
Kylie Washington, General Manager and Creative Director, BBC Studios Productions Australia, said: “This is our fourth year of being involved with this program and we continue to be big supporters of AFTRS and their graduate students as they take their next steps into the television industry.”
Deb Spinocchia, Head of Unscripted, BBC Studios Productions Australia said: “We have always found the AFTRS graduate program to be a great source of new and rising talent. It is wonderful to facilitate and support these impressive story tellers on their path into unscripted content.”
Peter Newman, CEO, Endemol Shine Australia, said: “In an industry that is changing at such a rapid pace, it’s more important than ever to support the next generation of creatives in the television production space. The AFTRS Graduate Program is integral for emerging talent. We are so pleased to continue in our support and we are honoured to welcome Ella Richards to ESA. Congratulations and well done to all of the incredible graduates for this year.”
David Mott, ITV Studios Australia CEO & Managing Director, said: “We are again thrilled to participate in the AFTRS Graduate Program. This is our fourth year as part of the program and we have had enormous success retaining our previous graduates within the business working across some of our biggest brands. We were overwhelmed by the sheer talent and calibre of the applications this year and it is a real honour to support these young creatives as they embark on their careers in the industry. We have no doubt that Lucie will fit into the ITV family seamlessly as she gains experience on one of the largest entertainment programs in Australia – The Voice Australia”.
John Godfrey, SBS Head of Commissioning, said: “As part of our ongoing commitment to fostering meaningful career pathways for emerging talent, SBS is thrilled to continue supporting the exceptional talent pipeline of the AFTRS Graduate Program. Each year, we are impressed by the ambition, talent, and drive that AFTRS graduates bring to the internship. We extend a very warm welcome to Tavi and look forward to supporting his growth through hands-on learning opportunities within the SBS Commissioning team.”
Matt Nightingale, WildBear Entertainment Head of Production, said: “WildBear Entertainment is excited to continue its ongoing relationship with the AFTRS Graduate Program. The calibre of the graduates we met was outstanding and we are honoured to have been given the opportunity to meet these amazing people. We’re really looking forward to having Lauren and Sean on the team in Canberra, and to help nurture their skills and develop the next generation of talented content makers. Many thanks to the AFTRS team for their continued hard work on this excellent program”.
Paul Franklin, CO-CEO Eureka Productions said: “We’ve enjoyed another successful year partnered with AFTRS and our 2024 Production Interns, Sarah Wilson and Charlie Peiffer. We welcomed Sarah and Charlie to Eureka in January last year and we’re so pleased to still have them both working with us today, within our Edit Assist teams, across productions such as The Amazing Race Australia, The Floor USA and Farmer Wants a Wife USA. We’re looking forward to seeing what 2025 has in store for us, and can’t wait to welcome our newest AFTRS Intern, Belinda Tyldsley, to our team.”
Interns from the 2023 Graduate Program continue developing their skills and careers in the screen industry after completing their internship. Nicole Hutton (Children’s Development Internship at ABC) is working at Blackfella Films as Scripted Development Coordinator, Kristen Settinelli (Unscripted Development / Production Internship at BBC Studios) is working as Production Coordinator at Mighty Sound, Mia Tikellis (Production Internship at Endemol Shine Australia) continues working at Endemol as Production Assistant and Ashwini Kangatharan (Production Internship at SBS) is working as a Production Assistant at Mint Pictures.
Organisations interested in being part of AFTRS’ 2024 Graduate Program are encouraged to contact AFTRS at: internships@aftrs.edu.au
