Diverse Queenslanders step up screen skills in intensive workshop

Talent Camp - Queensland
Image caption: Talent Camp Queensland group 2019

This week, 16 talented Queensland screen
storytellers will immerse themselves into the world of episodic development and
production at Talent Camp – a week-long intensive workshop for creatives from
diverse backgrounds.

Talent Camp is a national program run by the Australian Film, TV and
Radio School (AFTRS) in partnership with Screen Queensland, the Australian
Writers’ Guild (AWG), Screen Australia and all state and territory screen
agencies. The workshop focuses on skills development for emerging storytellers,
helping them to refine their story ideas to an industry ready standard.

Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich said it was exciting to see
diversity centre stage in this screen industry development program.

“Encouraging and training diverse storytellers is central to ensuring
our screen stories reflect the cultural fabric of our society,” said Kylie.

“It’s exciting to see initiatives like Talent Camp in Queensland, that
nurture new voices and stories from our unique perspective.”

Writer, director and Hervey Bay local, Rachel Anderson, hopes the
workshop will assist her in finding her voice as a filmmaker and help to refine
her project Winter
Wonderland.

“I started writing this tv series, Winter Wonderland a few years ago,”
explained Ms Anderson.

“I told myself I would make it later in my career and now I finally feel
ready to dive right into this beast of a project – so that’s why I applied to
be a part of Talent Camp.”

“I want to tell this story with authenticity and real lived experiences,
so I am really excited for the potential to connect with other writers and
like-minded filmmakers to workshop the ideas.”

Ms Anderson’s Winter Wonderland project is currently in treatment form
but she hopes to now develop it for funding and distribution.

“It’s a drama television series set in 1999 regional Australia,” said Ms
Anderson.

“I am hoping to workshop the scripts with other writers and start
pitching the series to producers following Talent Camp.”

AFTRS Outreach Manager Gary Paramanathan said Talent Camp is an opportunity
for screen creatives to gather essential skills for their future.

“Talent Camp develops tomorrow’s storytellers by offering them the tools
and bespoke support necessary to develop their ideas and careers,” said Mr
Paramanathan.

“Our focus on episodic narrative allows for them as screen creatives to
access work in television and web and develops pathways for their own work to
find wider and global audience.”

The Queensland Talent Camp intensive workshop runs from Monday, 4
November through Friday, 8 November. AFTRS is also hosting Talent Camp
workshops in WA, SA, VIC, TAS (includes NT participants) and NSW (includes ACT
participants). A few exceptional storytellers from each state/territory will
then be selected to participate in the upcoming National Talent Camp, which
takes place in April 2020.

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