Screenworks’ Screen Composing Mentorship is supported by APRA AMCOS and provides the opportunity for two regional composers to connect with an industry professional who will support them to develop their skills, build industry connections, showcase their talents and advance their careers.

Each of the selected participants will receive one-on-one mentoring from one of Australia’s most accomplished and respected screen composers to help them build confidence and capacity for composing music for screen content. Each participant will be granted $1750 to cover the costs of travel, accommodation and mentoring fees.

This is an outcome-focused mentoring program for two early-to-mid career screen composers, living in regional Australia. Mentors will assess the shortlist of applications and choose their mentee. The parties will then meet to discuss the needs and expectations around the mentorship.

Each of the two mentorship opportunities will be tailored to the specific needs of each mentee, and will revolve around the following framework:

  • 3 x 1-hour mentoring sessions according to the mentor’s schedule and availability. These can be online or in-person.
  • The mentor will provide the participant an optional assignment to complete, and will provide feedback and insights on presenting pieces of music to clients.
  • 1 x in-person meeting during one or more days to meet the mentor, subject to availability and workflow. 

At the completion of the program, participants will be required to deliver a short report about the opportunities the Screen Composing Mentorship has presented.

“As anticipated, the mentorship provided an invaluable opportunity to meet with industry professionals at the top of their game. Their extensive experience has provided nuance and insights into various aspects of the industry. I’ve learnt a lot, from industry terminology, big gig insights on pitching and ratifying a brief, to creative headspace tips. There has been space for reflection and reassessment and also, refreshingly at each session I’ve also had a lot confirmed about my own practice.”

Emma Waters, 2023/2024 Screen Composing Mentorship Mentee

Screenworks’ Screen Composing Mentorship program is made possible with the assistance of APRA AMCOS, and is supported by the Australian Guild Of Screen Composers.

Mentors

BRETT APLIN is an ARIA nominated, and AACTA/AFI and APRA Screen Music Award winning screen composer who won the 2000 Annual Pete Carpenter Fellowship (BMI Foundation, NYC), travelling to Los Angeles to work with Emmy and Grammy award-winning television composer Mike Post where he composed music for Law and Order: SVU and generally couldn’t believe his luck. 

Since then, he has co-composed 34 hours of internationally broadcast television drama, scored 48 documentary films or features, and composed or co-composed almost 50 hours of children’s television that have screened in over 170 countries worldwide.

He has worked with some of the very best screen practitioners writing across a variety of genres, his music having been broadcast locally on ABC1, SBS, Network Ten, Channel 7, STAN and internationally on Netflix, Disney+, STARZ, Acorn TV, BBC, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Animal Planet, The History Channel, ZDF, and Discovery among others.

ANGELA LITTLE is a multi-award-winning screen composer from Sydney, Australia. Her first break in screen scoring was on Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia”, for which she composed additional music. She was also the singer and co-writer of the film’s end credit song, “By The Boab Tree”, which earned her an AFI Award nomination and APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award nominations for Best Soundtrack Album and Best Original Song. In 2015, she featured as a vocal soloist on Marco Beltrami’s score for “Gods of Egypt”, and composed the score for the AACTA-nominated documentary “Zach’s Ceremony”.

Angela relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 to complete a Master of Music in Screen Scoring at the University of Southern California. There, she was mentored by world-renowned composer Thomas Newman, and was awarded both the Alan Silvestri scholarship and the Joe and Alice Harnell Award. While in Los Angeles after graduating, Little composed for LA-based Hexany Audio, working on AAA game titles such as Tencent’s “Honor of Kings”, which earned her a Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Award and two Hollywood Music in Media Award nominations. In 2021, Angela signed to the world’s largest independent music publisher, Peermusic, and in 2022 she took out the Hollywood Music In Media Award for Best Song/Score for a Commercial Advertisement for her trailer for Ausfilm, “The Australian Job”.

Some of Angela’s recent credits as composer include the AACTA-nominated documentary, “Everybody’s Oma”; feature films “Never Too Late”; “Take My Hand”; “Streamline”; “Mistletoe Ranch”; “Swimming for Gold”; “Back of the Net”; Hulu Limited Series “Faraway Downs” (additional music); “For The Girl In The Coffee Shop” (for which she won an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award); TV series “Dive Club” (for which she was nominated for an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award); and feature film “A Stitch in Time”, which won the 2022 AACTA Award for Best Independent Film, and for which Angela was nominated for both an AACTA Award for Best Original Score, and an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for Feature Film Score of the Year.

Screenworks’ Screen Composing Mentorship 2025 is a targeted mentorship program supported by APRA AMCOS.