Welcome to the Screen Alliance Wales April Newsletter. We have been super busy this month having got the chance to speak with dozens of people about careers in the industry as well as travelling to North Wales to meet with schools there. We’ve also welcomed new trainees and have some exciting free courses to share with you! Here’s a roundup of our month…

Firstly, if you haven’t done so already, we would like to encourage you to create a profile on our website (here). This is an incredible place to showcase any credits, skills and links to previous work. It also keeps you up to date with all vacancies that we advertise and automatically signs you up to our newsletter. If you already have an account on our directory, do make sure to keep all your details updated with you most up to date information

Vacancies

As always, we would like to start off by highlighting all the opportunities that are currently available over on our vacancies page. This is regularly updated, so make sure to keep checking the page on our website here. Now is such a great time to explore the varied roles that are on offer to join the booming Film and TV industry in Wales.

We have the following exciting opportunities available:

Bad Wolf are looking for:

- Personal Assistant to Executive Producer

- Trainee Studio Manager

- Experienced and Qualified Medics

Gems Agency are seeking a Casting Agent/Casting Assistant.

The Wales Millennium Centre are seeking:

- Bilingual Social Media Editor

- Stage Technician

- Assistant Producer – Productions

- Assistant Producer Digital Experiences

Boom Group are hiring a Social Media and Digital Communications Officer

Painting Practice are looking for a Junior Motion Graphics Designer

Sponsors and Supporters

The work we carry out is only made possible by the fantastic contributions from our wonderful Sponsors and Supporters. Here’s what they have been up to this month…

Bad Wolf have announced this month that they will soon be working on an adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s epic novel, The Winter King, a part of his Warlord Chronicles. The 10 part returning series will be shot in both Wales and the West Country and will follow Cornwell’s adaptation of the classic Arthurian Tale. The production will be the first major new drama commission since Bad Wolf has joined the Sony Pictures Television family and every at Wolf Studios Wales can’t wait to get started.

Facilities by ADF have launched their very first disabled Honey Wagon! The brand-new facility vehicle was used on its first production on the 25th of April. Facilities by ADF are supporting #UnderlyingHealthConditions, a new pressure group for disabled representation in the TV & Film Industry.

Newport City Council - Since launching the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) Employment and Skills Plan 2019-22 in 2019 there has been a huge change in the way people work and the types of jobs on offer. More importantly there has been a significant change in the skills now required by industry to drive forward their businesses in a post pandemic world. The turbulent times over the last two years has meant that many new skills have been identified as a key requirement for businesses. The link below takes you to the Employment & Skills survey, which will take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. The information gathered will help inform our new Employment and Skills Plan for 2022-2025. This plan is key to informing Welsh Government what skills and training are required in our region and where their funding needs to be allocated in order to fulfil these demands. Find the survey here.

The Cardiff Commitment and partners have started to develop Business Forum’s across a number of secondary schools in Cardiff to deliver an ‘Experiences of work’ programme which explores the impact of offering a full spectrum and package of ‘experiences of work’ to build sustainable good careers and work-related experiences within schools. They are currently looking for partners to support secondary schools across Cardiff, in particular from the Creative Industries as well as our other growth sectors. To find out more, please visit their website here. Their ‘What’s Next?’ platform continues to promote provision and opportunities for young people in Cardiff aged 16-24. The aim of ‘What’s Next?’ is to increase the visibility of the post-16 offer of education, employment and training within the city. If you have a creative sector opportunity that you would like to feature on ‘What’s Next?’, get in touch with the team via the “contact us” button here.

Coleg y Cymoedd – We shared the news in our last newsletter that the Year Two Prop Making students have constructed a Mascot for the 'Rhino Cup Champions League' being held across a number of countries in Africa, run by the 'Wild and Free Foundation'. The incredible prop is now all ready to go to cheer on this incredible conservation project. Read more here.

Bectu are advertising for two brand new courses! On the 5th of May, they have a Safeguarding Crew and Contributors/ Diogelu Criw a Chyfranogwyr at 10am – 1pm. All info can be found here. They also have a Bullying and Harassment/ Bwlio ac Aflonyddu course on the 18th of May at 10am-1pm, which you can find and apply for here.

Gorilla are currently in the final stages of colour grading and picture post for the second series of Bad Wolf’s “Industry”. Further afield, their new Bristol edit facility is due to open next month along with the expansion of our VFX division in Cardiff of which there’ll be more news later, as well as opportunities for internships and experience. They are always recruiting and are currently focussing on experienced coordinators/post producers and Avid technical operators. It’s going to be a very busy summer that they are looking forward to and hope to find more and more ways of collaborating with SAW to help grow our Industry here in Wales.

Sgil Cymru - A brand new 5 week online course: ‘An Introduction to Script Development: Script Editing Skills’ is launched by Sgil Cymru and BBC Writers Room. Participants will be mentored by a professional script and story editor and taken through the key skills of collaboratively writing and developing a screenplay. If you are a professional already working in related sectors and would like to step into script development in film or tv, please visit SgilCymru’s website. All participants will receive a weekly training allowance of £150. To apply, send your CV to [email protected] by 11th May, 12pm.

Mae cwrs ar-lein 5 wythnos newydd sbon: ‘Cyflwyniad i Ddatblygu Sgript: Sgiliau Golygu Sgript’ yn cael ei lansio gan Sgil Cymru a BBC WritersRoom. Bydd cyfranogwyr yn cael eu mentora gan olygydd sgript broffesiynol ac yn cael eu tywys trwy'r sgiliau allweddol o ysgrifennu ar y cyd a datblygu sgript. Os ydych chi’n weithiwr proffesiynol sydd eisoes yn gweithio mewn sectorau cysylltiedig ag yn awyddus i gamu i mewn i ddatblygu sgriptiau ffilm neu deledu, ewch i wefan Sgil Cymru. Bydd pawb sy'n cymryd rhan yn derbyn lwfans hyfforddi wythnosol o £150. I wneud cais, anfonwch eich CV at [email protected] erbyn 11eg Mai, 12pm. Sgil Cymru yn dechrau eu prentisiaethau cyfryngau CRIW 2022-2023. Unwaith eto, mae Sgil Cymru yn rhoi cyfle ymarferol i roi hwb i yrfaoedd yn y diwydiannau creadigol. Bydd y cynllun 12 mis hwn yn rhoi’r hyfforddiant sydd ei angen i bum prentis cyn cael eu paru’n ofalus â lleoliadau ar-set mewn teledu a ffilm. Os hoffech ddilyn hynt a helynt y prentisiaid neu os hoffech wybod mwy, ewch i wefan Sgil Cymru neu dilynwch Sgil Cymru ar y cyfryngau cymdeithasol.

Ffilm Cymru and Foot in the Door Event Days

This month, we were also invited to two careers days hosted by Ffilm Cymru as part of their Foot in the Door project in Newport. We got the chance to speak to a number of people across the two days about careers in the film and TV industry, and took with us lots of props, models and designs kindly donated by the art department to show our guests. We were so grateful to have been invited to take part in the project, and hope that we have provided useful advice about working within the media. Make sure to stay up to date on our social media channels for all updates regarding any future careers fairs!

2022 Trainee Training

This month, we had the pleasure of welcoming our new cohort of Trainees and Assistants for a day’s training. It was the first chance that they all had to meet each other and get over some of those first day nerves! They had some fantastic training in Mental Health Resilience from the lovely Michelle from 6 Foot from the Spotlight and then Fire Warden Training in the afternoon from Terry from Anchor Risk Management. A MASSIVE thank you to Michelle and Terry for a great day and welcome to the Wolf Pack everyone!

2 Weekend TV Writing Course with Zina Wegrzynski

We teamed up with Bad Wolf’s Writer in Residence Zina Wegrzynski once again to hold a virtual TV Drama Writing Course. The workshops covered a variety of Scriptwriting skills including Character, Plot and Structure as well as a whole host of other skills and advice from an industry expert! Our attendees came away from the course with a toolbox full of useful knowledge that they can now utilise in their own writing. The course was a great success and we hope to hold more courses like this in the future which will be shared across our social media channels.

Screen Alliance Wales 3 Free Courses!

Throughout May, Screen Alliance Wales will be hosting 3 free workshops! These will be held in different locations across south Wales and will be covering a variety of subjects including Carpentry, Health and Safety and Locations. They will be hands on, face-to-face sessions that will train and educate those who are looking for careers in these areas. For all information regarding the courses, including course eligibility details and location, head over to our events page here.

“All of Wales in 2022” starts

As part of Screen Alliance Wales’ ‘All of Wales in 2022’, SAW’s Rhys visited North Wales this month to deliver workshops in Marketing and Biomechanics to over 400 pupils across 6 different schools. This year, Rhys is aiming to deliver face-to-face workshop sessions to every Welsh Local Authority in 2022. It’s so great to be able to talk to people all over the country about the roles available within the Film and TV industry and especially encouraging young people to pursue careers in this area.

Pen-y-Bryn Films – World Premiere of Harry Potter and the Wand of Ariana

On Monday 25th May, Screen Alliance Wales’ Rhys was invited to Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn to school to see the launch for their latest Film Skill project ‘Harry Potter & The Wand of Ariana’. Rhys handed out certificates to the group for all their hard work on the Spring Term project. Pen-y-Bryn’s next project will star the schools Key Stage 5 learners and sees the return of The Doctor played by Sixth Form learner James. Pen-y-Bryn’s Harry Potter film is now available for free from their school YouTube account which you can view here.

Don’t forget to follow us on our social media channels to keep up to date on all the latest news and vacancies. 

Twitter: @ScreenAllianceW /@SAWeducation

Instagram & Facebook: @ScreenAllianceWales