We love making big plans for the festival each year, and assembling a great team to help us bring it all together is an absolute must.
Our team has grown so much since 2012 as we have gone from a couple of friends helping each other put on a show, to a team of nearly 30 people bringing the festival to life!
Included in this number are three awesome and very talented individuals, who we wish to give a special shout out to: Danielle Nguyen, Adyan Alsaboory and Darcy Carroll. All are students at Western Sydney University (WSU) who stepped up to the challenge of working with us in the lead up to our 12th annual festival.
Danielle joined us as our Publicity Intern this year and Darcy jumped on board to assist us as our Marketing Intern. We also created a new Production internship this year for up and coming producers to learn the ropes, and we were delighted to have Adyan in the role for 2023.
“I applied for the Made in the West internship because I was inspired by their mission to recognise and inspire Western Sydney filmmakers. I wanted to be in an environment where I could learn daily and gain professional experience” says Adyan.
All three worked on different tasks - from ensuring news about the festival was spread far and wide, to sending out email campaigns and creating content for our social media channels, and even producing and editing video content - and all three of them smashed their internships out of the park.
Darcy and Adyan both came to us here at Made in the West Film Festival with a clear cut passion for the film industry.
“I’ve wanted to be a filmmaker my whole life, originally I had no plans to go to any type of film school but I’m glad I did, otherwise I might not have had any drive to be where I am today” says Darcy.
While Adyan was inspired by family, “particularly my brothers who are directors and producers and run their own wedding photography company and my sister who is an accomplished actress” she says.
Meanwhile, Danielle came to us with no ties to film, but instead with a keen interest in communication - a perfect fit for our publicity internship.
“I actually really enjoy roles where you get to talk to a lot of people. I thought a Communications degree with WSU would give me some guidance on how to be better about communicating, brand management and networking. And I got to exercise those skills at the internship with Made in the West” says Danielle.
Internships are a learning opportunity that adds to professional development, so hopefully they are both challenging as well as a positive experience.
For Adyan, connecting with new people through Made in the West was exciting.
“My favourite part of the experience was the Western Sydney Film Online Networking Event, which allowed me to connect with new filmmakers, exchange ideas, and build valuable professional relationships," she says.
"The event's diversity of perspectives and backgrounds led to exciting collaborative opportunities and expanded my filmmaking network.”
Danielle loved when we gathered the whole team for our weekly Zoom meetings.
“It was a great learning experience,” she says, “and every time we met up I’d hear what everyone else was doing as part of the team to help pull the festival together. They were always preparing things I’d never thought would need preparing!”
For Darcy, the internship delivered a stronger sense of place and our regional identity.
“I feel like I have a clearer understanding of my role in the Western Sydney film industry, knowing that there’s so much passion and talent in my own backyard makes me feel a lot more excited about what we’re capable of.”.
All three have some new skills and life lessons to carry with them on their next professional adventures.
“I’ve learned how to be more confident in my work,” says Danielle. “Misty, Jay and Ross have been extremely encouraging towards me and have taught me to start trusting myself and my skills.”
“My experience this year has taught me that I derive a lot of comfort and happiness from the idea of working locally, creating great Australian films that will hopefully one day translate to a larger worldwide audience,” says Darcy.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship,” adds Adyan. “I viewed every challenge I encountered as a valuable opportunity for learning and growth."
BIG thank you to Danielle, Darcy and Adyan for all your hard work this season – we’re pleased you learned a few things and we were very impressed with the work and ideas you put forward.
We wish you all the best with the your future careers and look forward to seeing you graduate!
Made in the West is proud to work alongside WSU students each year – we remember what it was like to be studying at uni and super keen to connect with people in the industry! Actually, we wish we had something like Made in the West available to us when we were in our final year of uni!
WSU has been working with the team at Made in the West in recent years to provide industry experience and connections for students in their popular Creative Industries and Communication Arts degrees.
HUGE thanks again to WSU School of Humanities & Communication Arts for supporting our the festival as our Gold+ Screen Sponsor. We have been very happy to build upon our relationship with Western this year and develop new opportunities for WSU students to get experience in the creative industries.
Did you know that over the last three years more than 100 students have worked with us across our annual poster challenge with the Burrow Design Studio, Made in the West TV show, 10th anniversary Magazine, guest spots on the Pagey Train podcast and #WesternSydneyFilm Online Networking Events, as well as joining the festival crew in the role of photographers, volunteers or hosts.
The internships we have developed to offer WSU students first-hand experience working with a grassroots arts organisation in Western Sydney is really our favourite opportunity where we get to work one-on-one with students.
In 2020, we designed a new internship for WSU Creative Industries students. In 2021 we adapted the placement to welcome two Communications students in a digital publicity internship (and mark our 10th anniversary in style) and we created a new internship for an Associate Producer to join the team. In 2022 we finished our annual Made in the West TV project working with WSU students and continued our digital internships. Shout out to our previous interns Emily, Natasha, Elissa, Luke, Van & Alex!
We’ve got some great new internships coming up throughout 2024 that will put any student in good stead for a creative filmmaking career in the years ahead.
If you’re keen to work with us, feel free to contact us for some options.
See you soon, #filmfam.