Sarah Mak
Transcript: “Working Holiday = Passion (Sarah Mak)”
Video length: 2:12 minutes
Upbeat music plays throughout
The video fades in with a shot of a person looking at a city out of a window.
Sudden zoom in on this person.
Sarah Mak: Change is the only constant thing in our life.
Background changes to a busy city with cars, the go train and tall buildings.
Background changes to Sarah Mak drinking out of a cup and looking into the camera.
Sarah: I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t embraced change.
Sarah is seen laying down on a surfboard in the water, sitting on a couch, facing the camera, laughing with a laptop in her lap. There are two hands holding a clapperboard to the right of her.
Sarah: My name is Sarah Mak, and I’m the managing director of TheStoryBoxes.
Shot cut vertically into two different shots of Sarah.
Shot of Sarah in her office, where she is speaking and laughing with her colleagues.
Sarah: When I first came to Australia I was on a student visa. I swapped the snow and my skis for the sun, surf, and early morning classes. I met amazing people and had great experiences, but I thought it was all temporary – that my program would end and I’d have to leave this beautiful country.
Sarah is on a boat on the river looking at the view. She is then on a different boat on the ocean with snorkeling gear on.
Shot of Sarah walking in the street with a friend as it is snowing.
Shot of Sarah surfing.
Sarah is on her computer sitting on the grass with friends around her.
Shot of Sarah lying down on a boat in the ocean with friends.
Close up of an emu looking at the camera.
Sarah taking a picture of a city.
Shot of Sarah on a boat on the river.
Shot of a plane flying over the ocean.
Video of a kangaroo quickly crossing a road.
Sarah: Applying for a working holiday was the next logical decision. I’d fallen in love; I’d been offered a job. I had every reason to stay.
A person is typing on a laptop.
Shot of a poster of pancakes on a tree in a forest.
Sarah is sitting down on a bed with her husband and laughing as they look at the camera.
Sarah is explaining what is on a poster.
Sarah is reading a book.
Close up of Sarah’s blue name tag with someone in black in the distance.
Sarah: Now an entrepreneur, working alongside my life-business partner as the managing director of an award-winning filmmaking studio called TheStoryBoxes.
Shot of Sarah in the forest next to a fire.
Sarah: The studio is founded on the idea that you only get out of your experience what you give, and it’s up to us to decide the path and the journey for ourselves. We have our main studio space in Brisbane and we are planning to open another studio in Canada.
Shot of a man filming on a set.
A young boy holds the camera.
Close up of words on a wall that say “The story of making a story”. Shot of a camera.
Sarah is smiling in front of a funny quote on a wall. It says: “Ikigai: a reason for being the thing that gets you up in the morning”.
Sarah walks into the University of Waterloo.
Shot of the inside of a studio with a film light that a man is inspecting.
Sarah: My world exists in both Australia and Canada and I couldn’t imagine a better way of strengthening the connection between the two countries than through my passion for storytelling.
Sarah is in the city taking photos.
Shot cuts vertically into two panels. The left panel shows shots of Australia. The right panel shows shots of the Toronto skyline.
Sarah is holding a clipboard outside and talking to children.
She is in an airport talking on the phone and smiling.
Sarah: More young Canadians should do a working holiday. Initiatives like International Experience Canada exist for exactly that reason – to give young Canadians the opportunity to work through their uncertainties, to travel, and to stay curious about the world.
Shot of a busy road with the CN Tower ahead in Toronto, Canada.
Sarah and a man are working together in an office.
Sarah is walking in the streets with two friends. She is then on the train with her child.
Shot of a busy city intersection.
Sarah is smiling at the camera, she then is gone from the shot and there is a building behind a park with the words “You’ve changed” written on it. Shot of Sarah swimming in the ocean with snorkelling equipment.
Sarah: And if they feel like they’re lost, there’s a global community of Canadians who can offer their support. I had a great network of other Canadians in Australia and we’d always take the time to meet up and share our stories.
Scene changes to a close up of a coffee next to a box of mini doughnuts.
Sarah is walking in a park towards the camera.
Shot of a tram passing by at an intersection in Toronto followed by a shot of Sarah eating in a restaurant with her husband. The shot is cut vertically into two panels. Sarah is on the left eating with a spoon and her husband is eating on the right with chopsticks.
Sarah is on a boat on the ocean lying down next to four friends.
Sarah: I’m proud to call myself a global citizen; travelling, working, and sharing a little bit of Canada with the rest of the world.
A man and Sarah are shown. The man is filming something off screen.
Shot of Sarah standing and laughing in an office with a man sitting down next to her.
Sarah is carrying her baby in a park and waves hello to an emu.
Shot cut vertically into two separate panels. The panel on the left shows someone spreading vegemite on toast. The right panel shows somebody pouring maple syrup on pancakes.
Shot cut vertically into two different shots of Sarah, one she is indoors and the other outdoors. In both she is smiling and looking at the camera
Shot fades to a white background. The ‘International Experience Canada” logo appears on the white background. The logo fades out and is then replaced by the “Canada” logo, which is replaced by www.canada.ca/iec-eic.