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Film and television training body ScreenSkills is set to recruit 40 apprentices in a bid to meet the growing demands of the UK production boom.

The industry body has secured a grant from a £5m government programme and will place the new recruits with lead partner Amazon Prime Video, which is funding half the places, as well as Banijay UK, Lime Pictures and Sky with APX Content Ventures.

The apprentices will be hired as production assistants, assistant production accountants, production coordinators and production managers. Recruitment will start this month with the ambition of having the first apprentices in place by May, with a second cohort starting in September.

ScreenSkills will manage the group’s induction and initial training and support them through a series of placements which are expected to last between 13 and 20 months.

ScreenSkills CEO Seetha Kumar said: “Our apprenticeships will address serious skills shortages – benefiting the UK’s booming screen industries while opening up pathways, providing training and support and helping people earn as they learn on high-profile shows.”

It builds on ScreenSkills ongoing apprenticeship pilot, supported by the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) with match funding from partners WarnerMedia and Netflix.

Recent statistics from the BFI revealed that total spend in UK film and high-end TV (HETV) production reached £5.64bn in 2021, a new record.