The Assembly on ABC and ABC iview S1E7 – In this special “behind the scenes” episode, Becoming The Assembly, Leigh Sales meets up with five of the students from The Assembly to reflect on their time together making the program.
This episode reveals what the audience didn’t see as the 15 students learnt their craft and interviewed celebrated Australians.
The five students, Abbey, Stephanie, Mitch, Silas and Angus, together with Leigh go behind the scenes with never-before-seen footage to reveal the challenges and celebrations of their studies while completing Australia’s first autism friendly journalism course at Macquarie University. They also share footage of their very first practice interview, with Leigh herself.
The students start by reflecting on some of their favourite personal moments from their celebrity interviews.
This leads them to share what has prevented them from following their dreams before now. They then take us on their insightful and inspirational journey as journalism students, watching and commenting on footage of themselves as they experience many firsts – conducting a short interview, discovering the sound of their own voice in the radio studio and presenting in the news studio.
All this training culminates in their practice interview with Leigh Sales. This is the first time they meet Leigh and their first time as a group doing an interview, so the students’ nerves are real. The interview with Leigh is moving, delightful and funny as Leigh gets to experience what it’s like in the hot seat on an Assembly interview and the students learn from her long history of professional interviewing.
The students finally reflect on their memorable graduation day from the Journalism Foundations course at Macquarie University. Leigh is moved to tears as she congratulates them on their achievement and the students share what this means to them.
Production Credit: Helium Pictures
The Assembly on ABC and ABC iview – Monday 30 September at 9:35pm
TV Central ABC content HERE
The Assembly on ABC and ABC iview S1E7
