London, 4th November 2021:  Firecracker Films and Mentorn Media (part of Tinopolis Group) have announced two Glasgow-based trainees, as a part of a 2021 outreach programme.

A jointly managed outreach programme in Scotland was first developed in 2019, but deferred last year during the pandemic.  It has been reinstated in 2021, offering traineeships in partnership with PACT and TRC.

Tiarna Armstrong, a screenwriter, musician and academic originally from Northern Ireland has joined as a trainee researcher, via TRC’s “rad” scheme (which receives funding from Screen Scotland, the BBC and Channel 4). During her placement, Tiarna has experienced different aspects of the TV industry, exploring development and production - as well as gaining an insight into factual programming.

Sunni Oon joined the programme as a trainee production coordinator through PACT’s diversity scheme (also partially funded by Screen Scotland).  Building on their previous experience in live sports programming, Sunni has gained an insight into all the elements that go into producing outstanding television  As well as the on-the-job training, Sunni benefits from the wealth of experience shared by their colleagues in Mentorn and Firecracker, enabling them to shape their ambitions and hopefully realise their dream of working in the industry full time.

Jill Greenwood, Production Executive commented; "We have long been committed to nurturing local talent and we are thrilled to be able to continue our partnership with some of the best organisations who help enable us to do so.  Sunni and Tiarna are both fantastic additions to our teams and we hope to see them take all of the knowledge they can from here into their future careers.  We look forward to seeing where their paths take them."

Tinopolis companies have been a consistent presence in the Scottish media sector for more than 18 years, with Mentorn Media first opening an office in Glasgow in 2002.

Led by Creative Director Elspeth O'Hare, Firecracker and Mentorn produce between them a variety of programming in Scotland, ranging from award winning news and current events shows, to hard hitting documentaries and fact-ent programmes.