It was a tough and stringent process.
We were based in Angels, candidates completed two practical exercises using costumes from stock and joined us for a 45 minute chat in order to clearly determine which two aspiring Costume Designers were the right applicants to gain a year long contract with the BBC.
I definitely learnt loads during the process, Alice Skidmore and Linda Mattock are both very experienced interviewers with a strong commitment to the responsibility of getting it right. We got down to the finer details of the applications, discussing the experiences and goals of the candidates and I think we were able to offer the places to those who were at just the right point in their career to benefit most and who also showed great potential to be interesting and original costume designers in the future.
The trainees will be supported by Alice throughout the year when she will co-ordinate placements on TV and film projects which will introduce them to every aspect of working in the costume department. It's interesting to note that Costume has the highest drop-out rate of all the apprenticeship schemes, the work is usually tougher and the hours far longer, than people expect.
This scheme is a brilliant opportunity but I think the timing of the application is crucial; applicants must be experienced enough to be able to do the job and yet inexperienced enough to benefit fully from the opportunity.
Huge congratulations to the successful candidates, their dressed stands from the practicals shown above.
They start in September.
