Women in Film and Television UK (WFTV) has opened the application process for its 2025 WFTV Four Nations Mentoring Scheme.

WFTV is looking for 48 mentees for next year’s scheme – 20 from England and seven each from north of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – from all disciplines across the film, television and digital media industry. It is designed for mid-career women in film, television and the creative media looking to take their next big step.

In 2024, the scheme expanded and successfully launched a north of England cohort. Although WFTV has always contained mentees based in the north of England, by focusing on the region itself the WFTV Mentoring team has been able to create seven dedicated places for women based in the north, making a total of 48 places across the UK.

The scheme will run for six months starting in January 2025, during which time each of the participants are paired up with senior industry professionals for one-to-one mentoring alongside peer-to-peer training and bespoke career and personal development workshops.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 16 September 2024. Full details can be found here.

WFTV CEO Katie Bailiff said: “Our expansion of the scheme into the North of England was a particular passion of mine and I’m delighted it’s been such a success – we’re delighted to be running our second cohort in the North and look forward to receiving a diverse selection of mid-career applicants at the stage in their careers where they’ve identified a goal that we can help them achieve.”

This year’s mentors included Netflix’s Alison Small, senior manager for Production Training and Industry Engagement, StudioCanal UK’s CEO Alex Hamilton, ITV’s director of creative diversity Ade Rawcliffe, Two Rivers Media’s managing director Alan Clements, composer Ben Foster, Channel 4’s head of drama Caroline Hollick, BBC’s head of comedy, Tanya Qureshi, BBC Documentaries’ lead commissioning editor Emma Loach, Lucas Films’ EVP & general manager Lynwen Brennan, costume designer Sophie Canale, NFTS’s chair Sophie Turner Laing OBE, All3Media’s COO Sara Geater, UKTV’s director of commissioning, Hilary Rosen, Century Films’ MD, Brian Hill and many more.