Northern Ireland’s leading screen industry professionals are offering young people free one-to-one mentoring to produce a new generation of creative talent.
Into Film’s ScreenWorks Online programme is expanding to offer more in-depth, personal training for students interested in a career in Film, Television, Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects as part of a scheme supported by NI Screen.
“For the past year we’ve been providing online training to hundreds of young people both through schools and at home on a wide range of potential career options. By offering one-to-one mentoring, we are taking this to the next level; this is an amazing opportunity to get specialist advice and skills training from 15 of the most interesting, experienced people in the industry”.
Sean Boyle (Into Film)
Producer and writer Amanda Verlaque is one of these talented professionals sharing her more than 20 years’ experience working on an extensive portfolio of projects from television soaps, dramas and one-off programmes to independent films.
She will use her many-faceted career experience to mentor Into Film participants looking for opportunities in the industry.
As a script editor, storyliner, producer and writer, Amanda has a wealth of knowledge to share. Her workshops for Into Film, both in the classroom and then online when ScreenWorks adapted to the restrictions of the pandemic, have been hugely popular with students wanting to break into the growing screen industries.
“When I started with ScreenWorks I was so blown away by the young people’s ideas and energy. There is so much potential in Northern Ireland, I can’t wait to see the stories that this new breed of filmmakers creates in the future”.
Amanda Verlaque
Amanda has worked as a freelance arts journalist, a script reader for the BBC, a script editor on such dramas as Holy Cross and a storyliner and producer on BBC Scotland’s popular drama series River City. She has produced the award-winning Red Rock and has executive produced for BBC NI Counsel and Ups and Downs.
She has now turned her attention to writing full time while also training and encouraging future filmmakers through Into Film. As part of the programme, she has set a challenge for the students to come up with a story idea that helps them get the story out of their heads and onto the page.
ScreenWorks Online is aimed at young people aged 14-19. For more information go to Into Film’s new learning platform check out Into Film’s website.