Experience behind Brendonhill
Skills Development Program
Build the pathway.
A paid screen-industry training program designed to turn access into skills, credits, relationships and real employment.
The context
What was being built.
Representation initiatives often stop at introductions, panels or unpaid access. The Skills Development Program was designed around a harder standard: participants would be paid, train inside real productions, earn credits, build networks and leave with practical employment pathways.
The program had to secure funding, recruit participants, design useful streams, pay people properly, fit learning into live-production schedules, manage reporting and build employer relationships strong enough for opportunities to continue after each cohort.
Access only becomes meaningful when it changes a professional trajectory. Training therefore needed to connect directly to paid work, real credits, senior relationships and the mechanics of staying employed.
Where responsibility sat
What I moved.
- 01
Developed and administered the program through The Black Academy in partnership with Insight Productions.
- 02
Built and managed funding relationships, grant requirements, budgets, onboarding and reporting.
- 03
Shaped training around real production needs and participant career goals.
- 04
Connected participants to mentors, executives, guilds, unions and representation resources.
- 05
Supported sponsor participation around measurable workforce-development outcomes.
Project-specific evidence
Proof close to the claim.
Metrics remain tied to their reporting period, source project and collaborators.
Beyond the deliverable
Participants left with practical skills, professional networks and screen credits. Alumni moved onto productions including Canada’s Ultimate Challenge and The Amazing Race Canada, while the program expanded to include financial literacy, representation guidance, guild and union access, executive networking and alumni support.
Partnerships can fund infrastructure, not optics—and access is most valuable when it ends in work.
Accuracy makes the work stronger
Credit and publication note.
The Skills Development Program was created and administered in partnership by The Black Academy and Insight Productions.
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