From the streets to the film studio
Trent (centre wearing the hat) was one of the six young people who completed this year’s Oasis Foxtel StreetTV course. (Photo supplied by Oasis Youth Support Network)
The Salvation Army’s Oasis Youth Support Network and Foxtel celebrate a decade helping young film makers tell their stories.
In 2002 Oasis partnered with FOXTEL to create a community initiative “StreetTV”. The program sees Foxtel staff volunteer their time each year as mentors to seven young people from Oasis to train them in film making, building their work skills, self-esteem, confidence and a sense of responsibility.
Trent, from the North Coast, who has been working with Oasis for the past two years, not only knows the challenges of life on the street, but also the hope that this program has brought him.
“I had a normal childhood, went to school and played football. There was no real alcohol abuse or anything like that,” he says.
“My dad passed away when I was 18, and I made a few bad decisions and basically started drinking and using drugs. I got my dad’s inheritance, went to England for a year. When I came home I just got into the wrong crowd of people.”
At 21, Trent knew he’d hit rock bottom when he realised he had “nowhere to go”. He called the homeless persons helpline and was put in touch with The Salvation Army’s Oasis Youth Support Network.
A familiar figure in Oasis StreetMedia programs, he applied to and was accepted into the 2013 Oasis/Foxtel StreetTV program. The six-week program taught him many work skills and also built his self-confidence and helped him “grow as a person”.
“People would be screaming to get onto this course. You can’t pay to get the kind of intensive training that I got with this. These guys [Foxtel] have financed a short film for us young kids.”
Under the guidance of Foxtel mentors, Trent says: “I got some really helpful advice from the workers in there… they were really, really good.”
“The first part was learning camera angles, and script writing and we did story boards. It was trying to get our concepts out of our heads onto paper. Then we did filming and had some really long, hard days.”
Trent’s story, an interpretation of his own, premiered at the 2013 Graduation ceremony at Foxtel, alongside two other films from the program.
“I put a lot of heart and soul into my story, and it’s something I find I’m actually quite passionate about. I put all my time and effort into making sure this would work.”
Of the nine applicants this year, six young people completed the Foxtel StreetTV course. That’s more than 40 graduates over the past ten years, with a total of 30 films produced.
Recognising the quality of the StreetTV program, TAFE NSW has offered young graduates accreditation, accepting them directly into Certificate IV Screen and Media.
Thanks to these partnerships, Trent now has hope for the future. He says: “I want to go to TAFE and pursue film making as a career because I think it’s something I would find very worthwhile and rewarding.
“I’ve learnt a lot more about myself and I’ve learnt a lot more about the advocacy side of homelessness and how it actually does affect people.
“Homelessness can happen to anybody.”
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