ScreenCraft Works is delighted to announce the cross-border mentee-mentor participants for its first International Mentoring programme, designed to enrich the careers of marginalised production and post-production craft talent.
In this first programme, eleven UK-based mentees have been matched with eleven volunteer mentors from another country, based on their aspirations for career and personal growth. With a focus on those craft roles that can be conducted remotely, the first mentoring group centres on the disciplines of editor, post-production sound and production management, and includes freelancers, people wishing to develop a craft business and those seeking cross-department collaboration.
This first mentoring programme received 70 applications to mentor or be mentored from the following countries and/or nationalities: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, England, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Peru, Poland, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, USA.
Across the selected applicants, mentees include those who describe themselves as having a disability, being from the LGBTQIA+ community or having caring responsibilities, and are based throughout the UK. The mentees describe a range of cultural, religious and non-belief backgrounds, and over half identify as women.
Rebecca del Tufo and Elizabeth McIntyre, co-directors of ScreenCraft Works, say:
“Our mentoring applicants tell us that the exchange of global knowledge and cultural perspectives, and widening craft networks across local and international barriers, will enrich all productions. This career development programme enables long-term, long-distance industry relationships, which would otherwise be hard to kickstart with cold-calls. Mentoring applicants have reiterated the importance of overcoming barriers to progression and are interested to explore a range of attitudes, cultures (including diaspora perspectives) and working practices, including where virtual production may also be greener. We are very grateful to all the volunteer mentors who are offering their time and expertise to build new cross-border connections, for the enrichment of the international film and TV industry.”
Mentees and their mentors:
Editors:
Tomoko Hirasawa (mentee) – Gino Moreno (mentor)
Rachel Erskine (mentee) – Paul Martin Smith (mentor)
Prince May (mentee) – Chris Dickens (mentor)
Sound:
Ryan Al-Shybani (mentee) – Adriaan Hellenberg (mentor)
Randy Kalsi (mentee) – Adriana Marques (mentor)
Shaunak Soni (mentee) – Stacey-Lee Hellenberg (mentor)
Production management:
Molly McGregor (mentee) – Leo Lavazza (mentor)
Christian Field (mentee) – Astrid Quentell (mentor)
Julia Chreptowicz (mentee) – Marion Aierle (mentor)
Karyan Au-Yeung (mentee) – Michelle Manassah (mentor)
Our mentees said:
- I would like to gain the confidence to be my authentic self through networking opportunities.
- I am keen to find new talent to collaborate with both home and abroad. I am particularly interested in diverse voices that promote inclusivity, as a gay man of mixed ethnic origin.
- A mentor would help me figure out answers to the questions I feel too silly to ask.
- This is a global business and I have an ambition to be competitive on a global scale.
Mentee-Mentor biogs:
Tomoko Hirasawa – editor (mentee)
Tomoko Hirasawa is a Japanese film editor based in the UK, Spain and Japan. Tomoko first discovered her passion for editing while VJ-ing in Tokyo nightclubs. She moved to the UK in 2006 to study film editing at Arts University Bournemouth. She now edits commercials and documentaries, including the award-winning short Mitaka Sumo School (2017) and feature documentary Bound (2021). She is a co-director of the post-production company Coup Pictures and is currently working remotely for Change.org Japan.
Gino Moreno, editor (mentor)
Gino Moreno is a film editor with over 10 years’ experience in film and TV, with a focus on Latin-American stories. Selected for the prestigious Berlinale Talents network and summit for professionals, Gino’s latest short film El silencio del rio premiered at the Berlinale 2019, and also won Best Narrative Short at the Calgary International Film Festival, qualifying it for the Oscars. His latest TV documentary specials Caravanas and En la línea: México both received EMMY nominations in 2020-2021, in the ‘Outstanding Investigative Journalism in Spanish’ category. Gino Moreno has edited numerous projects with directors and producers across the UK, US and especially Latin-America. Gino currently works as Lead Editor for a documentary series for Brasil, exclusive for Discovery+ in Latin-America, which will premiere in 2022. Gino is from Peru and is a member of the Peruvian Film Editors Association.
Rachel Erskine, editor (mentee)
Rachel describes herself as having roots in several places. After growing up in Holland and Germany, she moved from country to country with her family, settling in Scotland, a country she loves. Although a job in the creative industry had seemed unattainable in her teens, something that could only be pursued as a hobby, in her early twenties, she gained an apprenticeship with Warner Brothers, which launched her into the world of post production. Rachel worked for eight years as an assistant editor on a rich variety of projects, from high-end TV dramas to feature films. She loved the role of assistant, but was able to make the jump to editing and gained credits as an assembly editor, for example, on Supernova and Vigil. In 2021, she edited her first feature film, A House in Jerusalem, directed by Muayad Alayan, which was a fantastic experience. Rachel enjoys giving back as a mentor as well as being mentored. She is a member of BAFTA.
Paul Martin Smith, editor (mentor)
Paul Martin Smith is known for his editing work with George Lucas, having worked for five years at Lucasfilm Ltd. His many film editing credits include London Has Fallen; Journey to the Center of the Earth (the first digital 3D feature film); Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace; Renny Harlin’s Mindhunters, starring Val Kilmer, Jonny Lee Miller, Christian Slater, Kathryn Morris and LL Cool J; the war drama Behind Enemy Lines, starring Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson; the romantic comedy The MatchMaker, starring Janeane Garofalo; and Jim Gillespie’s thriller Venom. 20th Century Fox asked him to conceptualize and co-direct three sequences for its animated feature film TITAN AE and those became audience favourites.
Smith served as the consulting editor on Ernest Dickerson’s crime drama Never Die Alone, and edited four telefilms in the feature franchise The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. Additionally, he has edited over 30 documentaries, including Gunfight USA for PBS’s Frontline and Cold Spring New Dawn for PBS’s Nova. Smith’s other television credits include the telefilms Country Justice, starring George C. Scott; Unforgivable, with John Ritter; The Canterville Ghost, starring Patrick Stewart and Neve Campbell; the Hong Kong detective series Yellowthread Street for ITV in the UK; and the Amblin Entertainment/Universal for NBC sci-fi series Earth 2. Along with English he speaks French and Spanish and is a dual national (France and US). Smith lives in the US and is a member of the BFE.
Prince May, assistant editor (mentee)
Prince May is an assistant editor working in HETV and short films, with a focus on drama. Prince has participated in a range of schemes to gain knowledge of the film and TV industry such as the workshop with Signature Pictures and the BBC training scheme. Prince went to college to study animation but discovered film as he was studying and fell in love with editing, which he then pursued as his career. Later he attended and studied film practice at South Bank University in London, UK.
Growing up, he attended a youth centre where he could edit and create his own stories. In his free time, he mentored children in the same centre. During the Covid pandemic, he went online and taught himself some VFX. Prince May has recently worked as an assistant editor on TV shows such as The Watch, The Fear Index and Three Pines.
Chris Dickens, editor (mentor)
Chris Dickens is a British film and television editor. He has worked on some of the most highly regarded film and television productions of the last 20 years. In that time, he has worked with some of the world’s leading film directors including Danny Boyle, Tom Hooper, Steve McQueen and Edgar Wright.
Chris’s journey into the industry began when he started making Super 8 films at the age of ten. Born in the US and moving to the UK as a child, Chris went to Hailsham Community College in his teenage years and studied photography there. His love of art and movies took him firstly to art school, where he studied sculpture and then onto Bournemouth Film School where he continued to work on his editing and film-making skills.
He worked in television for a number of years, including a stint with the director Edgar Wright on the television series Spaced. Dickens subsequently edited Wright’s first feature film, Shaun of the Dead. He worked again with Wright on Hot Fuzz. In 2009, for his work on Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, he won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing and the American Cinema Editors for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic.
Recent projects include Steve McQueen’s Small Axe for BBC One, My Policeman with Michael Grandage for Amazon and Studio 666 with Foo Fighters. Other significant projects are Rocketman with director Dexter Fletcher, Mary Queen of Scots with director Josie Rourke, Macbeth with director Justin Kurzel, The Man With The Iron Heart for director Cédric Jimenez, Genius with director Michael Grandage, Suite Francaise, directed by Saul Dibb, Les Misérables, directed by Tom Hooper, and Don Mancini’s Seed of Chucky. Also Richard Ayoade’s Submarine and The Double, and Berberian Sound Studio, directed by Peter Strickland. Other film credits include Paul, directed by Greg Mottola. Chris is preparing to work with Steve McQueen again on upcoming film Blitz. Chris is a member of BAFTA, AMPAS, ACE and BFE.
Ryan Al-Shybani, sound designer and boom operator (mentee)
Ryan Al-Shybani is an Iraqi Scot from Glasgow, now based in London. He is a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art. He is 2nd Assistant Sound/Boom Operator with a background in post production, working with sound design and music composition and an aspiring artist working in the film & TV industry, with a focus on documentary and short films.
Having a high interest in individuals, different cultures, and history, Ryan’s fascinated in how we portray these stories and events, including for audiences’ learning. Believing that the power of the screen can be used as a tool to help us learn about ourselves, and the lives of others, this is what drives his motivations in the screen industry.
Adriaan Hellenberg, sound engineer (mentor)
Adriaan Hellenberg is an audio engineer at Pop! (Media 24) in Cape Town, where he records and mixes sound for location and TV studio shows. He also does sound design and final mix. Most of the shows are broadcast on DSTV Based TV channels Via and Honey. Adriaan is a graduate from City Varsity but continued his education at the University of Cape Town, acquiring an Adult Certificate in Education and is currently doing his Masters in Arts through SAE UK. His 20-year career has involved working in post-production, location sets, live television and educating young children at schools and institutional level at City Varsity and other institutions in Cape Town. Adriaan’s top achievements included winning an International Promax Award in 2008 in New York while working at SA television channel e.TV. He also spent some time working with Both Worlds productions on acclaimed internationally Emmy-nominated and SAFTA award-winning show ZaNews/Puppet Nation. Before starting work at Pop!, Adriaan worked as an online audio producer and voice artist – working on projects for international clients recording voices and designing sound for ads, TV, PSAs, corporate and social media. Adriaan also co-founded Sound 4 You with his wife Stacey-Lee, for the teaching of audio, music production and podcasting to children for profit and non-profit. Adriaan is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Randy Kalsi (mentee)
Randy Kalsi is a British Indian sound post producer and composer living in London, UK and speaks English, Punjabi, Hindi and Spanish. Randy’s first taste of production was as a pop music producer where he eventually found his niche in successfully creating songs for Sync – licensing his songs to TV and film. Following his own success, Randy created a company called Sync Songwriting, where he helped talented songwriters realise their dreams of having their songs licensed, through songwriting advice, music production and personal coaching.
In the past two years, Randy has transitioned into sound post-production and composing for TV and film and has an independent studio called Audio Post House in Surrey, UK. Randy and his wife, Katrina Grey, made their first feature film, Daytime Nightmare, a psychological drama thriller currently on Amazon Prime and Sky. He did full sound post-production and original score for this film, including 32 pieces of original music. During the festival run, Randy won five awards for Best Sound and five awards for Best Score at festivals around the globe. This experience led Randy to fall in love with this industry and is currently working on a feature film, Renegades, produced by Shogun Films.
Adriana Marques, Director of Content and Production, Mixer Films Brazil (mentor)
Adriana Marques is Director of Content and Production at Mixer Films, a production company based in São Paulo, Brazil, one of the most important film, television and advertising companies in the country. As one of Mixer Film’s main executives, her role is to oversee all aspects of both fiction and non-fiction projects. With more than 30 years of experience in entertainment, media production, television and advertising, Adriana has been in charge of projects for national and international groups such as Netflix, Discovery, Fox, Turner, Cartoon, Sony, Globo.
Shaunak Soni, undergraduate (mentee)
Shaunak Soni is in the final year of his undergraduate film production course at Brunel University London. Originally from Mumbai, India, Shaunak moved to London, UK as a teenager in 2020. With a passion for celebrating the creative and technical aspects of filmmaking, Shaunak is keen to explore how a variety of disciplines combine to create the very best high-impact films.
Shaunak does a variety of work experience projects with the Amina Khayyam Dance Company, creating video content and trailers for them. He also plays the classical guitar as part of his passion for music. Shaunak speaks Hindi, English and some Spanish.
Stacey-Lee Hellenberg, sound engineer (mentor)
Stacey-Lee Hellenberg is the Director of Sound 4 You, an extramural taught to school learners – primary, high school and special needs pupils. They teach sound, podcasting, DJ-ing and music production. Stacey has a history working as a broadcast sound engineer for 15 years at e.tv (a nationally broadcast TV station in South Africa), which included recording and mixing live news and outside broadcasts. She is also a seasoned DJ, having played at clubs in Cape Town. Classes are taught on site in Cape Town or online and students’ work can be reviewed on Spotify and Youtube. Stacey also currently works as an online post production audio engineer, working with various clients and colleagues globally, and will be starting to lecture sound at a local NGO Film School – Film School Africa. Stacey is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Molly McGregor, production manager (mentee)
Molly McGregor is a producer and production manager across film and scripted TV. She originally began working in the industry in 2015, as an office runner at the BFI Film Fund. Since then, she has produced shorts and commercials and developed long form projects, promos, and worked as production coordinator and production manager on various scripted film and TV projects. Her promo work has been nominated for the UKMVAs, and she has worked in the production department on BAFTA- and BIFA-nominated narrative work. In 2022, she was selected to take part in Screen Yorkshire’s FLEX programme as a producer. Molly is passionate about increasing the presence of previously under-represented groups within the industry, and championing those voices on screen. Molly is originally from Yorkshire and lives in the UK.
Leo Lavazza, Chief Operating Officer, 360Powwow, Latin America (mentor)
Leo Lavazzais Partner and COO for 360Powwow, with over 25 years of experience in the television industry. Leo has implemented various new business models in the US, Spain and Latin America and is an expert both in the assembly of complex outdoor setting production services and the set-up of in-studio productions. In 2010 he served as Vice President of Production for Imagina US, overseeing all East and West Coast operations. Before arriving in Los Angeles, he served as Production Manager for Promofilm in both the Miami and Buenos Aires offices where he oversaw setting up complex international production hubs on location. These locations included Panama, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, hosting international clients of diverse culture and language.
Amongst other achievements, he has managed productions in several television markets. Select productions include Un Cumpleaños Muy Kally for Paramount+, El Domo Del Dinero for Telemundo, Teleton for Univisión, Miss Universo: Las Nuestras for Telemundo, Kally’s Mashup S1 & S2 for Nickelodeon, Suelta La Sopa for Telemundo, The Leader Of The Pack for National Geographic, El Lider De La Manada for Cuatro Spain, Dance! La Fuerza Del Corazón Canal 10 Uruguay & Europe Distribution, Temptation Island for Fox, 12 Hearts for NBC and MTV, VH1 Goes Inside… Big Brother for VH1, A Lyon In The Kitchen, Survivor for various international territories. He also managed productions for the US Hispanic and Latin America markets for broadcasters such Fox Sports En Español, Discovery Latin America, Discovery Español, Televisa, Azteca America, Mun2, DirecTV, Sesame Workshop and Cosmopolitan TV among others. Leopoldo Lavazza received his Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Buenos Aires. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Christian Field (mentee)
UK-based Christian Field has 5 years of production experience and has also spent time in commissioning and the ADs. While freelancing in production management up to Coordinator level, he has spent the past 2 years gaining cross-department experience for his career by script reading, developing shorts, and focusing on CPD by taking a variety of courses. His most recent reading clients include BAFTA/Rocliffe, Fox Literary, and Forage Literary. He has also recently completed John Yorke’s Advanced Script Development training course and Yvonne Grace’s Script Editing for TV course. Currently working on a slate of his own projects, Christian is building his development and production management career, with the aim to produce high end features and cinematic drama with a focus on LGBTQIA+ and cultural ‘fish out of water’ stories. His recent production credits include 3 series of comedy specials for Baby Cow Productions, I Hate You for Big Talk Productions, and Disney’s Pinocchio. He assisted in the writer’s room for Chapter One’s Sexy Beast prequel series.
Astrid Quentell, Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Sony Pictures Film and Television, Germany (mentor)
Astrid Quentell serves as Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Production, for Sony Pictures, Germany. In this role, Quentell oversees all production activities and the ongoing development of SPT Germany across scripted and non-scripted programming as well as capitalizing on opportunities to adapt successful international formats to the local market – amongst them award winning prime time dramedy Der Lehrer and the successful German adaptation of Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank. Quentell joined SPT in 2009 from Eyeworks Germany where she had served as creative director since September 2005. In this position, she developed original content for exploitation in German and international markets, including research on and the adaptation of Eyeworks formats for broadcasters worldwide. Prior to Eyeworks, Quentell was Chief Operating Officer at Tresor TV and she held other senior positions at Kabel 1 Fernsehen GmbH, tm3 Fernsehen GmbH and ProSieben Television GmbH.
Julia Chreptowicz, undergraduate (mentee)
Jules is currently studying Film Production at Brunel University London, and is working towards a career in production and filmmaking. Jules was born in Poland and came to live in the UK when she was 7 years old. Since the age of 14, she has been fascinated by the filmmaking process. She is interested in various areas of film production. Although her current experience is at new entry stage, it involves work with companies such as TEDx, and she has already explored a few filmmaking roles. On her university course, Jules enjoys both collaboration and leadership roles with her peers.
Marion Aierle, Senior Production Manager (Factual), Seven One Entertainment Group / ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (mentor)
Marion is originally from Baden Wurttemberg, Southern Germany and now lives in Munich.
Marion started her career as a floor manager and production coordinator in 1995 with ProSieben Television, progressing to become production manager with ProSieben Sat.1 Media AG and then becoming Senior Production Manager for the Seven One Entertainment Group. Her role includes production, cost control and budgeting.
Along with her native German language, Marion speaks English and some French and Spanish. She loves travel and yoga, and is passionate about supporting the new generation of production managers and their teams.
Karyan Au-Yeung, Production Assistant (mentee)
Originally from Manchester, UK, and now based in London, Karyan is a first-class graduate and MA student, currently working as the Production Assistant for DARE Pictures. With a professional background in media communications, Karyan is able to translate ideas and tailor stories into creative audio and visual formats. Prior to joining DARE Pictures, Karyan specialised predominantly in podcast production and audio editing, but is also experienced in live radio and broadcast journalism. In 2021, Karyan won an RTS Student Award for her craft skills in sound recording for an award-winning short documentary, Canada’s Keepers. Her interests and strengths in critical theory feed into her production and development style, where her driving priority is to elevate authentic and diverse untold stories through collaboration.
Michelle Manassah, Director of Production Management, Warner Brothers Discovery (US) (mentor)
Michelle Manassah has served as team leader on both the production company and network sides of non-fiction media all over the world, negotiating a varied programming slate of all scales and formats. Michelle currently serves as Director of Production Management at newly formed Warner Brothers Discovery, supporting Investigation Discovery and Travel Channel, based in Silver Spring, MD just outside Washington, DC. Past production management posts include a variety of other Discovery networks, as well as National Geographic Television. Michelle also served as VP of Production at Story House Productions and Director of Production Management at BrainBox Productions. When not producing other people’s content, Michelle is a Co-Active trained Leadership Coach serving women leaders. Michelle is also a passionate advocate for parents – serving as co-chair of a working caregiver Employee Resource Group and volunteer for under-served families in her community through the Greater DC Diaper Bank. Michelle lives in the USA. a
