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Auditions: Project NEXT

God bless Andrew Denton, who is on the hunt for young reporters, producers, camera/directors, editors, graphic artists, researchers and web content producers.

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ideaAndrew Denton and the ABC have finally released more details of their obscurely worded Project NEXT -and it sounds very tasty indeed.

In a nutshell, Denton is looking for “the next generation” of Australian broadcasters, in both on-air and off-air talent.

Leaning heavily (though not exclusively) towards documentary, factual, news and current affairs, the hunt is on for people aged 18-30 to work as reporters, producers, camera/directors, editors, graphic artists, researchers and web content producers.

God bless Denton. Who else would have the foresight and might to make something like this happen? He has after all, already given us Enough Rope, The Gruen Transfer, signed The Chaser to the ABC and shaken up television with earlier projects. Denton even brought us House from Hell before the Dutch attempted Big Brother.

The ABC too put a string of young producers on both The Hack Half Hour and ABC News Breakfast, both on ABC2.

Project NEXT, will become a 10 x 30min programme on ABC1, ABC2, the web, mobile phones and online.

“We are looking for people keen to rattle some cages and receive mail beginning with the words ‘Dear Sir or Madam, I have never been so outraged in all my life’. It’s not just on-air talent we’re after. This is a great opportunity for a new and talented team, across several disciplines, to build a TV and web program from the ground up,” said Denton.

A lengthy application form is available at projectnext.au. It asks lots of questions about what you think of the state of our television (“What aggravates you about the media?” / “Provide an example of a factual show you think fails in its objectives and explain how and why it doesn’t work?” You’ll also need to submit a short video, though producers are more interested in your storytelling ability than technical quality. Interestingly, the rules and conditions don’t actually specify applicants need to be Australian citizens.

Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed in Sydney, Melbourne and Brissy, expected to be in April. Interstaters will be interviewed in one of those cities (presumably at ABC’s expense).The next stage begins in June.

Project NEXT is expected to air later in the year.

Visit: projectnext.au

Photo: stock image

12 Responses

  6. Anything that highlights the flaws of the news/current affairs related shows to the public can only be a good thing. Credit to the ABC for supporting fresh content like this. This sort of show would never make it to the drawing board on the risk-averse commercial TV channels…

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