Toi Mai Workforce Development Council has responded to the screen sector’s call for shorter, work-based skills training, developing a new suite of qualifications that combine classroom learning and practical on-set experience for the below-the-line workforce (crew).

The new qualifications were recently trialled in a successful pilot programme that included paid training on the Holy Days film set in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

“New Zealand’s screen sector generates billions of dollars in economic value and supports thousands of jobs, but its ability to meet increasing demand for its products and services is being stymied by not having enough skilled crew to work on the many international productions wanting to film in New Zealand,” says Toi Mai Te Tumu o Toi | Chief Executive Dr Claire Robinson.

“Unfortunately, there is currently a serious education/skills mismatch in the tertiary sector. Tertiary providers are intent on offering long form degree training for above the line jobs (director, producer, writer) that aren’t required in such high numbers by the screen industry. Graduates emerge with high expectations, debt and without the core skills to work in the available jobs. The industry ends up having to develop remedial training for graduates who aren’t ‘set ready’ and this is costing them time and money.”

In search of innovative models of skill delivery for the film industry, Toi Mai worked with industry experts to develop the new industry-led skill standards that form the building blocks for two new New Zealand Certificates in Screen Industry Skills and offer a work-based career pathway for people working in the sector.

The standards were trialled in a pilot training programme – Kahurangi Toi Ātea National Screen Skills Training Programme – delivered by screen sector training leader Share the Knowledge in partnership with education provider Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu. 60 students completed the first Introduction to Screen micro-credential, followed by online and classroom learning across a range of crew skill areas, with 22 going on to paid training positions on the Holy Days film set, a co-production between New Zealand and Canada based on a Joy Cowley novel.

Share the Knowledge and Firefly Producer Emma Slade says the pilot training programme was a huge success, with engaged and inspired participants who worked in positions ranging from transport operators to sound technicians.

“In the end on the Holy Days set you couldn’t tell the difference between the students and crew members. The programme was not without challenges, but they became part of the learning journey.”

Dan Betty, screen industry professional and co-founder of Dream Big, facilitated the broad range of partnerships involved in delivering the pilot training programme and supported the students on behalf of Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu.

“It was an amazing opportunity for participants to learn safely in a tikanga-led environment as they were introduced to specific departmental skills and learned first-hand from professionals on the set of a large-scale production.”

Claire Robinson says feedback from the students was equally positive.

“They told us the training programme let them put the theory into practice and understand how all the different departments in a film production worked together. Students were also taught how to operate as a sole trader, vital given the sector’s high number of self-employed workers.

“This collaborative project is evidence of the value that can be created when Workforce Development Councils work directly with industry and education providers to create something that has never existed before.”

Toi Mai is now encouraging other vocational education providers around the country to create their own work-based training programmes in partnership with the screen sector.

“We are also continuing to work with Share the Knowledge and Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu to ensure this form of skills development can be embedded within the current vocational education and training system and funding settings.”

Click here to find out more about the work Toi Mai is doing with the screen sector and education providers, including videos about the pilot training programme.