ITV Studios has exclusively partnered with Media Trust to launch the Media Trust and ScreenSkills’ Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme.

The programme will see twenty-four early-stage mentees looking to progress their careers in behind the camera roles in film and TV matched with industry mentors from across ITV Studios.

The six-month programme matches one mentor to two mentees and, as well as one-on-one mentoring, the entire cohort of mentees and mentors will benefit from professional development and skills enhancement workshops, peer-to-peer learning and networking, all delivered online.

In addition, there will be panel discussions during which they will hear from senior executives within the industry, including Pat Younge, Co-Founder and Co-MD of Cardiff Productions and Non-Executive Director of ITV Studios, and Jasmine Dotiwala, Head of Youth Engagement at Media Trust, D&I specialist, producer and broadcaster, who will share their extensive experience of mentorship within the TV industry.

The programme is run by Media Trust with support from ScreenSkills, using National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of its Future Film Skills programme.

The ITV mentors work across a variety of behind the camera roles, including producer, assistant director, production coordinator, technical support engineer and camera operator and are based across ITV Studios locations in Manchester, Leeds and London.

The mentees are drawn from groups that are traditionally under-represented in the screen industries, in particular women, Black, Asian, minority & ethnic and disabled talent.

The Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme is part of ITV's diversity acceleration plan, announced last July (https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-announces-diversity-acceleration-plan). The plan outlines how ITV will accelerate change in diversity and inclusion on screen and across ITV by creating more opportunities for those from Black, Asian, minority ethnic and other under-represented groups. ITV colleagues are encouraged to use three paid days a year to volunteer, as part of ITV's ongoing commitment to Social Purpose.

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios, said: "Creating opportunities for early stage talent is vital if we are to change representation in senior leadership roles. Our participation in the Media Trust & ScreenSkills' Early-Stage Talent Mentoring Programme allows colleagues from ITV Studios to pass on their skills and connect with future talent and they also get to learn from brilliant mentees, who can challenge their own thinking too".

Media Trust CEO, Su-Mei Thompson, added: "We're so grateful to both ITV Studios and ScreenSkills for their incredible support for this exciting new initiative. Media Trust has a long history of empowering young talent to achieve their full potential by giving them a voice, boosting their confidence, helping them to become more employable through creative digital media skills training and providing them with connections to find mentors and work placements. We know that this combination of personal empowerment and employability skills can transform the prospects of young people, especially from diverse and under-represented communities, but we can only do the work we do with the help of dedicated industry bodies like ScreenSkills and committed industry partners like ITV".

ITV Studios says it is committed to improving diversity and career progression in TV production. It supports ITV's Step Up 60 initiative, which provides the chance for at least sixty people to step up and secure their first ITV senior editorial and production roles as well as the recent launch of the Production Trainee Scheme, in partnership with thinkBIGGER!, which offers one year contracts across ten of its labels. ITV Studios has also worked with ScreenSkills and All Spring Media to develop its upcoming production manager apprenticeship programme.