A note-taking training program for First Nations screenwriters.
What’s the opportunity?
Seeding Storytellers is a note-taking training program for emerging First Nations Screenwriters, supported by Screenrights Cultural Fund, and delivered by Screenworks in partnership with the Australian Writers’ Guild.
Designed to provide the appropriate professional development required for the role of a note-taker, Seeding Storytellers will help set up emerging First Nations Screenwriters for the best chance of success in their careers.
A writer’s journey into the industry is far from linear and the variety of roles a writer takes on in their early career, with the appropriate training, benefits their creativity. Note-taking is a fundamental entry point in a writer’s creative pathway and a key skill in the professional development of early career writers. Awareness of the procedures and etiquette in writers’ rooms are an important part in understanding the administrative aspects of building a story for screen.
Tell me more!
Following the close of applications on February 28 2025, Seeding Storytellers will be delivered to selected participants as a series of three day-long online workshops on the 3rd, 10th and 17th of May 2025. These will be run and delivered by highly-experienced, working writers Sara Khan, Catherine Kelleher and Terence McCarthy. Covering note-taking, script coordinating and the basics of a writers’ room, participants will learn in a culturally safe, supported environment and come away with the skills required to find work as a note-taker in the film and television industry.
Program Manager Sara Khan, a proud Wailwan, Gomeroi and Pakistani woman and writer on HEARTBREAK HIGH, says, “For First Nations People, our stories and perspectives are invaluable to the writers room. How we utilise and share these for creative purposes requires protections. Providing First Nations writers with the essential skills for note-taking will seed the growth for more visibility and representation of First Nations People in writers’ rooms.”
Catherine Kelleher, an experienced writer-director and recently the Scripted Development Executive at SBS, will be responsible for the note-taker training workshop and resources. While at SBS, Catherine advised on how to facilitate culturally appropriate working environments.
Terence McCarthy, a writer, development executive, script department manager and script editor with fifteen years’ experience in the Australian and US film and television industries, will be responsible for script coordinator training.
At the conclusion of the program, participants will be supported by Screenworks to seek work as note-takers. They will also be showcased to the screen industry via the AWG Pathways website. The Pathways First Break tab is a permanent resource for industry looking for talented new writers who have valuable skills to offer in writers’ rooms.
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