Directors Masterclass on the set of Winner & Losers in 2014 (Credit: Open Channel)
Part of the national Screen Network, Open Channel runs professional development initiatives like conferences, seminars and pitching competitions and has a strong training division, with the focus of training people at an emerging and early-career level, including graduates from film school.
Daniel Schultheis, Vocational Education & Training Manager at Open Channel said the organisation gives people practical skills to make them work-ready.
‘Our focus is to give people the skills to be able to transition into the industry and work effectively but also to help them build networks and contacts along with the practical experience.
‘It’s reasonable to say that qualifications and educational history is very important to show a high level of skill development, but the industry has always been about forging professional contacts, and also about demonstrated work.’
Providing courses with varying durations, Open Channel’s specialist training courses are accessible to people with tight schedules.
Schultheis said that popular short duration courses like Screenwriting Introduction Course with Chris Corbett spread over seven evenings, or the one-day workshop ‘Working On Set’ are designed around the idea of bringing together industry professionals into a room with people at early stages of their careers, to forge networks, to get access to the latest knowledge and skills from the industry, and to help put those skills into practice.
Chris Corbett (trainer of the Screenwriting Introduction course,) said Schultheis, ‘has written for commercial TV, and is a fantastic writer who focuses on issues like developing a really strong framework for a script, identifying and structuring a strong story, and the skills to be able to write effective scenes around that.’
Also coming up at Open Channel is short course, Screen Producing – The Dark Art, led by Stephen Luby, who has recently finished shooting an adaptation of Kate Grenville’s The Secret River for the ABC.
‘The course is about how TV and film projects come together under the producer, and how does a producer finance, develop and manage the production right through to the release.’
Schultheis said that whether it was television or film, an organisation like Open Channel fast tracks networking with people that are currently in the industry and provides opportunities to put it into practice but in a situation where candidates are mentored by people that are doing it professionally.
To know more about Open Channel’s longer courses like Scriptshop visit the website.
