WFTV UK opens applications for the 2025 Four Nations Mentoring Scheme

Women in Film and Television UK (WFTV) announce that it is accepting applications for its prestigious 2025 WFTV Four Nations Mentoring Scheme now until 5pm on Monday 16 September 2024.

WFTV is looking for 20 mentees from England and 7 each from the North of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – from all disciplines across the film, television and digital media industry.

In 2024, the scheme expanded and successfully launched a North of England cohort. Although WFTV has always contained mentees based in the North of England, by focusing on the region itself the WFTV Mentoring team has been able to create 7 dedicated places for women based in the North, making a total of 48 places across the UK.

The scheme is designed for mid-career women working in film, television and the creative media who are at a crossroads and looking to take that next big step in their career.

The scheme will run for six months starting in January 2025, during which time each of the participants are paired up with senior industry professionals for one-to-one mentoring alongside peer-to-peer training and bespoke career and personal development workshops.

WFTV CEO Katie Bailiff said, “Our expansion of the scheme into the North of England was a particular passion of mine and I’m delighted it’s been such a success – we’re delighted to be running our second cohort in the North and look forward to receiving a diverse selection of mid-career applicants at the stage in their careers where they’ve identified a goal that we can help them achieve.”

Former mentee success stories include Commissioning Editor at E4, Mel Bezalel; Siân Whomes, Talent Acquisition at Netflix; Director Impact & Inclusion at IMG, Serena Lloyd-Smith; BBC Assistant Commissioner and Co-Director at Deaf and Disabled People in TV, Caroline O’Neill; BBC Drama Commissioning Executive, Alice Ramsey; Development Consultant at Merman, Janet Awe and Scriptwriter, Miranda Walker.

This year’s mentors included Netflix’s Alison Small, Senior Manager for Production Training and Industry Engagement, StudioCanal UK’s CEO Alex Hamilton, ITV’s Director of Creative Diversity Ade Rawcliffe, Two Rivers Media’s Managing Director Alan Clements, Composer Ben Foster, Channel 4’s Head of Drama Caroline Hollick, BBC’s Head of Comedy, Tanya Qureshi, BBC Documentaries’ Lead Commissioning Editor Emma Loach, Lucas Films’ EVP & General Manager Lynwen Brennan, Costume Designer Sophie Canale, NFTS’s Chair Sophie Turner Laing OBE, All3Media’s COO Sara Geater, UKTV’s Director of Commissioning, Hilary Rosen, Century Films’ MD, Brian Hill and many more.

Heading up the scheme is WFTV’s Director of Mentoring, Sarah Wright, an ICF trained Executive Coach and former Group Director of Acquisitions & Sky Cinema, UK and Ireland.

Sarah Wright said, “I am excited to kick off the applications process for the 2025 WFTV Four Nations Mentoring Scheme. This year has been a tremendous success, with mentees from all areas of the business coming together to grow their learning and their networks at a hugely challenging time in our industry. Together I know they will be unstoppable.”

Sarah works alongside WFTV Mentoring Producers, Hannah Bullough in the North of England, Sarah McCaffrey in Northern Ireland, Karen Kelly in Scotland and Hannah Corneck in Wales. The 2024 Scheme was supported by BBC, Channel 4, Eon, Panalux and Panavision, Pinewood, Sara Putt Associates, UKTV and Women’s Network NBCUniversal. The schemes in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were supported by Netflix.

The closing date for applications for the WFTV Four Nations Mentoring Scheme is 5pm on Monday 16 September 2024. For further information on how to apply visit here.