Samantha Cable.
Emerging talent Samantha Cable has won the 2018 Foxtel Diversity Screenwriting Scholarship worth $20,000.
The award will enable her to complete the AFTRS Master of Arts Screen: Screenwriting degree, which she will begin this year.
Recipients of the scholarship, which launched last year, may also get the opportunity to undertake a work attachment at Foxtel.
It will be awarded annually for the next two years to develop Australian screenwriting talent with a focus on diversity.
Overcoming a mental health condition, she has amassed a body of which earned her the 2016 Australian Women in Media Award’s Rising Star of the Year, the New York Festival’s 2016 Young Global Award and place in the Top 10 Creatives in Australia for B&T’s 30 under 30.
In her application she expressed her interest in telling stories from diverse Australian communities to cultivate conversations and drive wider social change.
“I see my future leveraging the cinematic landscape to normalise the stigma around mental health on screen, as well as a process to support young people behind the camera. The Scholarship would open up opportunities to work with Foxtel and I would be humbled to learn from the Australian television network,” she said.
Foxtel group director – corporate affairs Bruce Meagher said: “At Foxtel we strongly believe that the rich diversity of Australian society should be represented on our screen. Our long-standing relationship with AFTRS allows us to support talented screenwriters through this new annual scholarship.”
AFTRS CEO Neil Peplow added: “Samantha is an outstanding recipient of the Foxtel diversity scholarship. Her application was exceptional. I am very excited to see what she produces here and the impact she’ll have at the School and in the industry.”