24m 1s

Everyone is an Apprentice: From Internship to Leadership in the Screen Industries

How do you move beyond just getting people a foot in the door in the Screen Industry to helping them build meaningful, lasting careers?

And how does a different attitude to lifelong learning help leadership to navigate changes in the industry?

In this episode, Arit Eminue, a talent and inclusion specialist and former founder of Diva Apprenticeships, joins Keith Arrowsmith and Tacita Small to talk about her journey from supporting over 2,000 individuals from underrepresented backgrounds into media roles, to now focusing on talent retention, development, and progression at leadership level.

Arit tells us about her experience at Diva Apprenticeships, including why she worked so hard to change perceptions around apprenticeships, and why she believes skills trump qualifications in recruitment. She also talks about why she chose to challenge the apprenticeship minimum wage, and how that can impact the talent pool available to recruiters.

Arit also shares insights from her current work, including why we shouldn’t be afraid of using AI, why learning agility matters more than traditional education, and how transparency and human connection remain crucial even as technology transforms how we work.

The WorkWise for Screen podcast is supported by the BFI, awarding National Lottery Funding.

This Episode Covers:

Breaking down biases around apprenticeships vs traditional education paths
Why skills and attitudes matter more than qualifications in recruitment
Fair pay for apprentices and why it matters for diversity
The role of AI in recruitment and seeing it as a tool, not a threat.
Learning agility as a lifelong skill for everyone to prepare teams for technological change and the future of work

Episode Topics

Introductions, the origins of DiVa Apprenticeships, and how the company broke barriers and stereotypes. (00:00 - 09:10)

The positives and negatives of using AI in recruitment and the connection between fair wages and attracting a more diverse workforce. (09:10 - 18:17)

The importance of continuous learning in the industry, for senior leaders as well as junior apprentices, and conclusions with Keith and Tacita. (18:17 - end)

Episode Highlights

"Graduating from the NFTS gave me a taste of nepotism. It was really sweet in the sense that it opened doors and got me into rooms that I would not have gotten into had I not gone to that school, if I'm honest... I recognized barriers people, especially from underrepresented groups... faced access into the industry and the ability to build meaningful careers." - Arit Eminue (02:00-03:00)

"People used to think, oh, well they must be school dropouts or not have the right kind of attitude... And it's like, well, no, people are just choosing to learn differently. Not everybody excels within that very traditional, very structured education environment." - Arit Eminue (06:00)

"We took a view that we wouldn't work with organizations that paid the apprenticeship minimum wage. We set a baseline salary because... you have to be able to earn a decent wage and it just never sat right with me... if you compromise on the people, you compromise on productivity and you compromise on performance and you compromise on profit." - Arit Eminue (15:30-16:30)

"It's not gonna take your job. Somebody who uses AI might come and take your job, but it's not gonna come and take your job. So you can stay there and that's a natural fear, or you can think, okay, so if I don't have to do this, what would it enable me to do?" - Arit Eminue (20:30)

"We are all apprentices, right? We are all apprentices. You can do an apprenticeship right up to master's level. But I think that learning agility and love of learning is a lifelong endeavor." - Arit Eminue (21:30-22:00)