The work of the CDN continues to impact how ITV innovate and diversify both on and off-screen. Chairing the CDN in 2005 and 2006 with Simon Shaps (Director of Programmes) at the helm helped connect ITV people with the continued challenges faced by ethnic minority talent and audiences. The CDN has also improved access to and the number of job opportunities available to ethnic minority talent through positive action schemes like the Foundation Placement scheme and general Entry-level roles.
Since 2004 ITV’s employment representation of ethnic minorities has increased from 4.4% to 9.9% and while we know that the crucial need is to retain and mentor this talent we can already see the positive impact that people with new ideas from different backgrounds bring to ITV.
How would you answer these questions?
What is 21st century content? Where will you be able to access it in 10 years time? Where will we find the next Ant and Dec? What will ITV’s next big Entertainment success be? How will Digital affect our audiences? How does ITV stay ‘Authentic’? How will advertising be bought and sold in 10 years time?
What Talent opportunities are there at ITV?
Foundation Placement Scheme (FPS) – The FPS is a ‘positive action’ one year traineeship for ethnic minorities in any business area of ITV. Currently running 20 places annually in both Leeds and Manchester we have had a 79% retention rate in the media industry for Trainees. We will be launching the FPS in London late 2007.
ING News Traineeship – A general recruitment one year Traineeship for anyone looking to get into; News Journalism, News Technical and Graphics roles. 2007 intake starts in September with 21 people selected from journalism and non-journalism backgrounds. Recruiting every May and June.
ING News Journalism Bursary – ITV’s annual bursary scheme is open to students studying broadcast journalism at post-graduate level. The award offers payment of course fees and maintenance, a placement in a newsroom and a designated mentor. The recipient will also be entered into the News Trainee assessment process automatically for the following year. Recruiting every May and June.
Enabling Talent – Is a positive action Placement scheme for people with Disabilities to join any area of ITV. Launched in 2007 each placement is preceded with a work-experience segment and then a 3-6 month placement. So far we’ve had 50% retention within jobs at ITV.
Work Experience – Spending time with teams in all areas of the Business continues to be a great way to get into any business area at ITV. We offer over 1,000 placements a year to people over 18 years old. Each is an opportunity for someone in full time education to come and work with us.
ITV Junior Television Workshop
Now in its 23rd year, the BAFTA award winning ITV Junior Television Workshop continues to provide training opportunities for young people (7-21) to pursue a career in broadcasting. Talent is drawn from the Midlands twice-weekly workshop sessions covering various areas of theatre, film and television.
David Fraser Bursary Award - A Director Development Scheme offered by ITV. In 2005, the scheme was restricted to internal candidates but in 2006, external candidates were offered seven weeks shadowing an Emmerdale director with the opportunity to direct their own episode at the end of the training. Competition for places was fierce, and all trainees have gone on to direct on our soaps and become regular drama directors. All 2006 participants are now fully fledged TV drama directors.
Regional Production Fund - We have created a fund for production in the regions worth £9 million over three years. The money can only be awarded to new-to-network producers and can be used to commission programmes and provide development funding or long-term investment in independent production companies. The Regional Production Fund is intended to nurture emerging talent and contribute to meeting our quotas.
