WIFT-T and Ubisoft Mentorship

Ubisoft is holding its mentorship program again this year.

Female producers who live in Canada with a media production background in film, television, digital media, or gaming are eligible to apply for the mentorship as long as they are WIFT-T(Women In Film & Television) members. The mentorship will take place from September 21 to 25 at Ubisoft’s Toronto location. It’s the second year this mentorship has been running, making it fairly new.

Basically, it’s a full access look at Ubisoft Toronto, and how they make their games. The recipient will be able to experience aspects like performance capture shooting, the process of making AAA games, and making contacts. She’ll have the chance to learn about how games are made from conception, development, production, and marketing.

According to the official page, the ideal mentee should be familiar with all sorts of videogames. They should be creative, organised, pays attention to detail, and wants to succeed in the industry.

I spoke to Heather Webb, the Executive Director of Women in Film and Television Toronto. The company was founded in 1984, and is open to men and women in screen-based media who support women in media. They offer a number of mentorships and internships to women in the industry with companies besides Ubisoft.

Webb said that the reason this mentorship started was because WIFT-T believes that, “equal representation is important in the industry.” At WIFT-T, they believe that diversity is a good thing, and that the mentorship will help with the Gamergate controversy.

When asked about if other Ubisoft locations would be available, Webb said she wasn’t sure. WIFT-T works with the Toronto location because WIFT-T is Toronto based, so they want to keep their mentorships within the GTA. The connection was originally established by Jade Raymond, the former managing director.

Katia Houde, Communications Manager at WIFT-T, told me what the process for selecting mentees is. “Similar to other WIFT-T mentorships, there is a selection committee put in place made up of industry professionals, including WIFT-T and Ubisoft representatives.”

I think it would be a pretty cool opportunity. Who wouldn’t want to go see the full process of making video games by a big name company and get to test them before they’re released? Ubisoft is known to make some good games like Assassin’s Creed Unity and Far Cry 4.

Other benefits include a WIFT-T programming pass and on stage recognition at the Crystal Awards Gala Luncheon on December 1.

The deadline to apply is July 24, at 5p.m. EDT and costs $20 plus HST. For more details check out the official page.