ScreenSkills invites training providers or industry professionals to tender for new training designed to address skills shortages and gaps and to help build a more inclusive workforce in high-end TV.
Training for the UK high-end TV industry is supported by the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund (with contributions from production companies, broadcasters and SVoDs in the UK).
The High-end TV Skills Fund is looking for an organisation or individual/s who can design and run a second assistant director/ extras coordinator training programme for six high-end TV professionals working and/or living in Northern Ireland.
Who can apply?
ScreenSkills welcomes applications from individuals, partnerships or organisations that have a proven track record of delivering successful industry-standard training projects. We particularly welcome applications from providers based in the UK nations and regions, including partnerships between organisations and/or in partnership with freelancers who have worked as a second assistant director/ extras coordinator in HETV.
The successful applicant will need to demonstrate their understanding of HETV training requirements, including the diversity challenges facing the industry and must clearly demonstrate that they have the resources to track the career progression of participants beyond the life of the programme.
If applicants are already delivering similar training and can expand their offer to include the scope outlined below, they are also welcomed to apply.
Applicants must:
- demonstrate evidence of appropriate, recent engagement with the industry in the design and delivery of the programme
- meet critical diversity targets as outlined in this tender, including:
- making reasonable adjustments to the training (whether face-to-face, content or online and including during the application process) to make it accessible to a diverse audience – we will ask for evidence of your approach and implementation
- having an equality policy in place as an employer
- having a monitoring system in place to track the diversity of the delegates, see this guide
- providing diversity and inclusivity training to facilitators – (see free ACAS online training).
- gather long-term destination data from the delegates to prove impact of training utilising the ScreenSkills monitoring questionnaire
- develop a clear structure for the training, ensuring that it is outcome focused
- discuss and agree with those taking part in the programme that they will provide feedback on the training if requested which could include providing ScreenSkills with a quote on their experience of the training.
Key requirements
The applicant must design, manage, market, recruit and deliver a second assistant director/ extras coordinator training programme for six HETV professionals working and/or living in Northern Ireland.
The programme should cover all key responsibilities of the role including:
- production planning
- paperwork, callsheets & reporting
- communication skills
- working with other departments
- casting, booking and coordinating extras
The HETV Skills Fund is interested in hearing interpretations of how this programme can be delivered and encourages applicants to recommend further topic areas to enhance this training. The ScreenSkills’ skills checklists may be helpful.
Participant aims
The training should be for a minimum of six participants based in Northern Ireland and should target 3rd ADs and extras coordinators keen to progress to 2nd AD as well as recently stepped up 2nd ADs who want to strengthen their skills. All participants must work in HETV and be based in Northern Ireland.
The following are the minimum diversity targets for this programme:
- 100% of beneficiaries living and/or working in Northern Ireland
- 10-30% minority ethnic (ethnicity aim)
- 45-55% women (gender aim)
- 12-20% disability (disability aim)
- 25-40% lower socioeconomic background (social inclusion aim)
ScreenSkills aims to go beyond legal diversity requirements and considers additional measures of inclusivity, including:
- employment status
- whether a person is returning to work following leave
- geographical location (including representation of nations and regions)
- socio-economic backgrounds
Providing access to diverse crew and talent is key to our delivery objectives. All trainers and companies delivering programmes that are funded by the High-end TV Skills Fund must meet the identified diversity requirements. If they fail to do so, they must show robust evidence of why a target has not been met.
We require all Skills Fund-funded programme participants to set up a ScreenSkills profile via our website which allows us to gather data and track beneficiaries.
Participants must complete their profile and diversity data before the training begins.
How to apply
At this stage we are requesting an expression of interest. Please complete this brief document outlining the key aspects of the proposed programme, how the key requirements of the training sessions will be met, information about the company and the provider’s capacity to deliver training.
If you have access requirements and would like an alternative way to submit your application, or would like any support in completing the expression of interest form, please email Mairead.kelly@screenskills.com and we will be happy to help.
How much can you apply for?
We are looking for bids of up to £10,000 for the resource creation, training and management of this programme.
All our funds are treated as grants and therefore are not applicable for VAT.
Deadlines
Please save your completed form with this naming convention: ‘EOI – NI 2nd assistant director/ extras coordinator training – [Trainer/Training Company]’.
All expressions of interest should be sent directly to Mairead Kelly via the 'register interest' button below or via email to Mairead.kelly@screenskills.com by 18 July 2025.
If you are successful in being shortlisted, you will be required to submit an online application form and a budget.
Other useful information
If you progress to full application, we will expect you to detail your plans for ensuring the programme and application process are accessible including, but not limited to, alternative application formats, marketing and the delivery of training.
As part of accessibility, we expect your budget to include a reasonable bursary allocation for delegates who risk being excluded due to costs including, but not limited to, travel and caring responsibilities.
Please ensure that, where applicable, costs are shown in your budget inclusive of VAT.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this tender, or your proposal, before submitting your Expression of Interest, please contact Mairead.kelly@screenskills.com