The Assembly

Television ABC
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Leigh Sales is at the helm of a groundbreaking new factual series, The Assembly (6 x 1hr), focusing on a group of autistic student journalists as they prepare for and eventually interview Australia’s best-known personalities, including the Prime Minister. Sales will closely mentor and prepare the students for their encounter with each guest, as they learn how to get underneath spin and soundbites to get to the real person behind a public persona. With the students all undertaking a specifically designed journalism course delivered by Macquarie University, which is the first of its kind in Australia, The Assembly is being made with full support in place for the student journalists in partnership with: Aspect – Australia’s largest service for people on the autism spectrum, and Bus Stop Films - Australia’s leading social enterprise supporting people with disabilities in filmmaking.

Production Credit: A HELIUM Pictures production for the ABC with production funding from Screen NSW, from a format created by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, originally produced by KIOSCO.TV & QUAD+TEN, and distributed by CAN’T STOP Media. ABC Commissioning Editor Julie Hanna, ABC Head of Factual Susie Jones.

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Deadline has a brief interview with showrunner of the Australian version, Melissa Maclean, who revealed that autistic people have been hired for numerous off-camera roles. Julie Hanna and Mark Fennessy are also quoted in the article.

Helium began production yesterday, and will continue for six weeks with a potential network premiere date in Q3.

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ABC offers internships to cast of The Assembly

The ABC today announced cast members from the much-anticipated series The Assembly will be offered paid internships in the ABC Content and News divisions.

The Assembly is a six-part series produced by Helium Pictures for the ABC that follows a group of autistic student journalists as they prepare and interview six of the nation’s biggest names, including the Prime Minister.

The students are mentored by one of the most respected interviewers in the country, three-time Walkley Award winning ABC journalist Leigh Sales. At the completion of the series, the 15 cast members have an opportunity to continue their development through an ABC internship.

The Assembly premieres on ABC TV and ABC iview later this year.

“I’m so happy that the ABC is going beyond the filming of this TV show and taking the full step of offering our autistic media students paid internships,” Sales says.

“I’m confident that some of them are going to run with these opportunities and become terrific assets to our workplace and the industry.”

The Assembly features Sales mentoring the students as they learn their craft and prepare to interview an A-list celebrity. No subject is out of bounds, no question is off the table. The format is based on a French series Les Rencontres du Papotin and BBC series The Assembly, which have featured interviews with President Emmanuel Macron in France, Antonio Banderas in Spain, and Michael Sheen in England.

Students also undertake a specifically designed journalism course delivered by Macquarie University, the first of its kind in Australia.

“It’s hard to explain how rewarding participating in this program has been for me,” Sales continues. “I know the Australian public is going love this group of people and become as invested in their progress as I am.”

With the students all undertaking a specifically designed journalism course delivered by Macquarie University, which is the first of its kind in Australia, The Assembly is being made with full support in place for the student journalists in partnership with: Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia) – Australia’s largest service for people on the autism spectrum, and Bus Stop Films - Australia’s leading social enterprise supporting people with disabilities in film-making.

The ABC is committed to creating a diverse workforce that reflects modern Australia.

The Assembly is being produced by HELIUM Pictures for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, with production funding from Screen NSW. Executive produced by showrunner Melissa Maclean, executive produced by Therese Hegarty, HELIUM’s Mark Fennessy and ABC Commissioning Editor, Factual TV Julie Hanna, HELIUM has developed The Assembly for an Australian audience from a format created by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, originally produced by KIOSCO.TV & QUAD+TEN, and distributed by CAN’T STOP Media.

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Expect the unexpected as ABC series

The Assembly premieres in August

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The ABC is thrilled to announce the premiere of the ground-breaking factual series The Assembly on Tuesday, 20 August at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

Mentored by one of Australia’s most renowned interviewers, Leigh Sales, The Assembly follows autistic journalism students as they interview Australia’s biggest names including legendary actor Sam Neill, beloved radio and television personality Hamish Blake, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, award-winning singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem, sporting legend Adam Goodes and radio and television star Amanda Keller.

In each of the six episodes, The Assembly team of journalism students, taught by Macquarie University and mentored by Leigh, learn their craft, research their guest of the week and plan their questions, culminating in an interview with an A-lister that is disarming, surprising and engaging.

The Assembly offers an opportunity to include diverse voices and their perspectives in conversations of national interest, while providing audiences with a fresh, funny and poignant take on the traditional interview format to reveal the real person behind the public figure.

The Assembly is a HELIUM Pictures production for the ABC in partnership with Aspect, Australia’s largest service provider for people on the autism spectrum, Macquarie University, who developed and taught Australia’s first journalism course for Autistic people in their world leading facilities, and Bus Stop Films, Australia’s leading social enterprise supporting people with disabilities in film making.

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Production Credits: The Assembly is produced by HELIUM Pictures for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, financed with assistance from Screen NSW and financed with support from Screen Australia’s Skills Development Fund. The Assembly is an inclusive production proudly supported by Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia), Bus Stop Films and Macquarie University. Executive produced and directed by Melissa Maclean, executive produced by Mark Fennessy, Therese Hegarty, Vanessa Oxlad and ABC Commissioning Editor, Factual TV Julie Hanna. ABC Head of Factual Susie Jones. HELIUM has developed The Assembly for an Australian audience from a format created by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, originally produced by KIOSCO.TV & QUAD+TEN, and distributed by CAN’T STOP Media.

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The people in the photo in previous post

Back row: Dale, Bethany, Silas, Andrew, Dylan, Mitch, Leigh Sales (Mentor), Anastasia, Savannah, Jackson.
Front row: Evie, Flecther, Abbey, Angus, Stephanie, Chau.

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Episode 1

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Tuesday 20 August 8.30pm

Leigh Sales mentors a collective of Autistic journalism students on The Assembly, as they interview Australia’s biggest names starting with renowned actor Sam Neill.

Mentored by one of Australia’s most renowned interviewers, Leigh Sales, The Assembly follows autistic journalism students as they interview Australia’s biggest names including legendary actor Sam Neill, beloved radio and television personality Hamish Blake, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, award-winning singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem, sporting legend Adam Goodes and radio and television star Amanda Keller.

In the first episode of The Assembly, the student journalists meet Leigh and begin their preparation for their first celebrity interview with actor Sam Neill. The students are excited to ask him a variety of questions, including acting tips, his experiences on Jurassic Park and the details of the chickens on his farm.

During the preparation, we meet Dale, an 18-year-old student who was homeschooled for most his school life and Evie, a 20-year-old student who shares their ‘wonderland’ – a fascinating insight into what autism is like for them. All the students bring a fresh and engaging approach to preparing for their interview, while also offering unique insights into their lives on the autism spectrum.

During the interview, the Autistic journalism students ask whatever questions they want, nothing is off the table, and anything can happen. The questions are often unexpected, with the results ranging from hilarious to deeply moving. The interview gives a rare insight into a side of Sam Neill that we have never seen before.

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Episode 2

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Tuesday 27 August 8.30pm

Renowned interviewer, Leigh Sales mentors Autistic journalism students in The Assembly, and in this episode, the students interview comedian Hamish Blake, with hilarious and heart-warming results.

The Assembly follows Autistic journalism students as they are mentored by one of Australia’s most renowned journalist and interviewer, Leigh Sales, culminating in a fresh and engaging interview with comedic presenter, Hamish Blake.

When Leigh reveals their next celebrity guest is comedian Hamish Blake, a double Gold Logie winner and host of Lego Masters, there is much excitement amongst the students. Dylan shares that he is a huge Lego person and fellow classmate Angus is a big fan of Hamish. Meanwhile, Chau is concerned that he can’t connect with Hamish because he doesn’t understand his humour.

The students’ interview with Hamish is filled with laughter and heart. Savannah steals the show by asking what Hamish thinks of Leigh Sales, while Chau’s question about happiness and comedy elicits a deep and insightful answer from Hamish. Mitch shares his troubled past and is rewarded by Hamish opening up about his own teenage years. Evie struggles to get their question out, but the heart-felt answer they receive makes it all worthwhile.

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Episode 3

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Tuesday 3 September 8.30pm

Journalist and mentor Leigh Sales reveals to the students that this week’s guest is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. A nervous tension about meeting the most important man in the country starts to build, but 20-year-old Abbey has one question on her mind. She’s never had a job and wants to know if the Prime Minister can help her find one.

40-year-old Andrew discloses that people have often told him he can’t do things because of his autism, but that has never slowed him down. He provides an insight into life as an advocate for autism in a world that is built to work against him.

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It is interesting that Albanese is in episode 3. I thought the students would be looking to gathering experience by interviewing celebrities in the first five episodes, before the most important interview (the PM) in episode 6.

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Stream all episodes of The Assembly on Tuesday August 20 on ABC iview or watch on ABC TV at 8.30pm.

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All episodes of the show were posted to iView this afternoon. There are actually seven episodes.

The rest of the episode order is:
Episode 4 - Delta Goodrem
Episode 5 - Adam Goodes
Episode 6 - Amanda Keller
Episode 7 - Becoming the Assembly

In this special “behind the scenes” episode, renowned interviewer Leigh Sales meets up with five of the students to reflect on their time learning journalism and interviewing celebrated Australians.

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Episode 4

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Tuesday 10 September 8.30pm

Hosted by veteran ABC journalist, Leigh Sales, this week The Assembly sees the Autistic journalism students interview Australian music royalty, Delta Goodrem.

In Leigh Sales’ mentoring session with the students, we discover Abbey is a big fan of Delta and hopes Delta might be open to a duet. Bethany is hoping to discover how Delta has had the strength to overcome tough times in her life. With some potential curly questions, Leigh speculates whether the team can break the surface of Delta’s polished public persona.

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Hamish chatted with News Corp’s Bronte Coy about his upcoming episode.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/television/hamish-blake-reveals-alisters-lifechanging-interview-answer/news-story/e7593e9f5b08262dcae8b94ea2c65965

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Episode 5 Adam Goodes

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Tuesday 17 September 8.30pm

One of Australia’s most renowned interviewers, Leigh Sales, mentors Autistic journalism students as they interview famous Australians.

In this episode of The Assembly, mentor Leigh Sales reveals the next celebrity guest is Sydney Swans legend, and former Australian of the year, Adam Goodes. We learn Stephanie is a Swans fan, and fellow classmate Angus loves all types of football. But not all the students are interested in sports, so Leigh helps them see the person beyond the football field to encourage each of the students to find their own connection with Adam.

The result is a beautifully quirky collection of questions and a side of Adam Goodes we’ve rarely had the chance to see. His interview is warm and funny as he opens up about his football career, family, standing up against racism, his biggest regret and what he really thinks about swans, the birds, not the football team.

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Episode 6 Amanda Keller

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Tuesday 24 September 8.30pm

Leigh Sales is back with The Assembly, following Autistic journalism students as they interview Australia’s biggest names.

Leigh Sales mentors the students as they research and prep for their last celebrity interview with Amanda Keller, an Aussie broadcasting icon with a career spanning over 40 years. Of all her great work, the students are most interested in her time on Beyond 2000 and how she has managed to work with Jonesy on radio for 19 years.

Amanda is an exceptional anecdote teller whose interview is packed with humour and heart. With some true pearls of wisdom to pass onto our students, this is an interview to cherish.

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Will the ABC show episode 7 of The Assembly “Becoming the Assembly” on TV, given the new season of Take 5 with Zan Rowe takes over the Tuesday 8.30pm timeslot from October 1?

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The Behind The Scenes episode 7 is on Monday 30 September in place of Q+A.

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I notice in the end credits for tonight’s Delta Goodrem episode that there are songwriter credits for five songs. Apart from Delta’s performance of Born to Try and Sitting on Top of the World which is the most obvious, there were also Lionel Richie’s Hello, Joe Cocker’s Delta Lady and even the Sydney Swans club song which is based on Notre Dame Victory March. Delta only hummed a couple of lyrics for the latter two during the interview, and yet the producers had to apply to have them featured in the TV broadcast.

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The Assembly - Final Episode

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Monday 30 September 9.35pm

In this special “behind the scenes” episode, Becoming The Assembly, renowned interviewer Leigh Sales meets up with five of the students from The Assembly to reflect on their time learning journalism and interviewing celebrated Australians.

Becoming The Assembly
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.

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