February Newsletter

Welcome to the Screen Alliance Wales February Newsletter. It may be the shortest month of the year, but it has still been a jammed packed month for us and our sponsors and supporters. With St David’s Day just around the corner, we wish you a Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus and a great March ahead! Here’s our round up of February 2022.

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 and 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:

· The rad traineeship is accepting applications once again. There are eight positions available across three roles: Researcher, Edit Assistant and Production Assistant.

· Screen Alliance Wales and Bad Wolf currently have an exciting opportunity for an entry level Trainee Script Supervisor role.

· Painting Practice are looking for a Junior Motions Graphic Designer

· Wales Millennium Centre have multiple positions available including:

o   Technical Manager (stage)

o   Stage Technician

o   Casual Customer Assistants

o   Casual Duty Manager

· Boom Cymru are looking for

o   Drama Development Executive

o   Development Researcher

Real SFX are looking for a Finance Manager

· Any Effects are currently seeking a Senior SFX Technician

· The Kickstart Scheme have 2 great opportunities for people aged 16-24 and claiming Universal Credit (DEADLINE 25-2-22)

o   Catering Trainee

o   Technical Trainee

· Facilities by ADF require a Sales Administration Assistant

· Gorilla are looking for multiple roles for their new Bristol facility

o  Post Producer / Bookings co-ordinator.

o Avid Engineer

o  Technical Operator / Avid Assistant

o  Junior assistant/runner

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 been making costume donations to a number of charities and organisations in order to encourage and embrace sustainability. The costumes from all three series of the His Dark Materials have been distributed across Wales, not only to charities that provide clothing for people seeking asylum in Wales, but other organisations that help to strengthen community projects within Wales. You can read more about this wonderful cause here.

IJPR Cymru have been nominated for the Best Creative Business at the Cardiff Life Awards! We wish them the best of luck with the award and will be rooting for them on the 31st of March when the event takes place. 

Facilities by ADF currently have a number of roles available on the careers page of their website. If you are interested in exploring the opportunities the amazing facilities company are offering, please visit their careers page here.

Mad Dog 2020 Casting are delighted to announce that their company has been awarded Broadcast’s Best Places to Work in TV Award! CEO Graham Beswick has said “This is a great moment in our evolution for Mad Dog. We have all worked hard to achieve such recognition and create a Great Place to Work.  Special thanks and congratulations goes to our Managing Director Krissi Mcilquham who has lead us throughout and has been intrinsic to our success”. We want to send a massive congratulations to the team on their well deserved award!

BECTU are hosting some Health and Wellbeing courses to coincide with their WellBeing Facilitator training. The courses, funded by Creative Wales will run from the 28th Feb – 31st of March. For more information about these courses and how to book on, please click here.

BAFTA Cymru have announced that entries for the 2022 BAFTA Cymru Awards will be opening on Tuesday March the 1st. For more information about the awards, and for details about how to self-nominate for the awards, then visit their website here.

Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn’s Harry Potter film project almost ready to share with the world on the 29th of April. The film stars Pen-y-Bryn’s Key Stage 4 learners, with learner David Sullivan taking on the role of Harry Potter as they go on an exciting quest to discover the lost wand of Ariana! Check out their YouTube page for all of Pen-y-Bryn’s film projects here.  

Creative Wales will be funding a number of mental health courses, starting on Monday 28th of February. To see a list of all the available courses, and to book online, please click here.

4Wood have expanded their premises in Trident Park! The set construction company have tripled the amount of space they have, meaning the increased room can help continue their incredible work building amazing sets for film and TV shows.

Career’s Café

For this month’s Careers Café, we were joined by international Fashion Stylist Emma Pritchard. Although originally from Pontypool, Emma now lives and works in New York with her styling skills being used by some of the biggest names in Film, TV and Fashion not to mention multi-million-dollar companies. In her session, she talked about her degree that she studied in Wales, and how a chance meeting with a producer in Singapore ignited her passion and love for Fashion Styling. Emma’s work ranges so drastically that no two days are alike; one day she’ll be dressing celebrities for the red carpet and the next could be working for an advertising campaign. The fashion industry is incredibly fast paced, especially where Emma lives in New York, so she must ensure that she is always on the ball whilst being friendly and approachable to put clients at ease.

To work in this field, Emma suggested firstly really understanding what the job entails. Many people have a love for fashion without realising that a lot of work in this area involves scheduling, time management, planning and administration tasks. She also recommended reaching out to people that you admire and asking them for any advice or tips. This is easier than ever before with social media being a great tool to utilise and to build relationships with other members of the fashion community.  

A huge thank you to Emma for taking the time out of her busy schedule planning for London Fashion week to talk with us. We will soon be publishing an article about Emma’s story, so do make sure to keep up to date with us on our social media for more news. Stay tuned for our next Careers Café where we’ll be joined by another industry expert, giving their advice on a different area of the industry. 

Wales Documentary Support Network

The Wales Documentary Support got off to a fantastic start this month! The 8 week program, focussing on new female voices in documentary film making, has already seen a few stars of the future attend and we can’t wait to continue this venture with Wheesht Films. Later on in the month, we also held our first virtual session which was also a great success. To read more about this project, click here.

Health and Safety Course

Screen Alliance Wales will soon be hosting a face-to-face Health and Safety Course, led by leading experts in the field. The course is specifically aimed people who have previously worked in the armed forces or in the emergency services and who are interested in a career working within Health and Safety in the TV industry. This is a unique opportunity to hear from professionals working within Film and TV and a perfect opportunity to utilise pre existing skillsets and channel them into a different line of work. Numbers are limited for the event, so make sure to apply for your space soon.  

To learn more and book on to this free event, please visit our events page here.

We also have construction and locations courses coming up so follow us on our social media channels as these will soon be advertised.

Articles Round up

This month, we have had the chance to speak to a number of great people and organisations that have given up their time to tell us about the work they do in the film and TV industry. Matt Bowring from Good Body Stuff told us all about the services his company provide for cast and crew ensuring their physical and mental health is maintained (more here).

Script Supervisors Rebs and Edward spoke with us about how the SAW and Sgil Cymru course they attended last year helped them to find work in Script Supervision on TV productions (more here). We also shared the incredible work that Square Peg Studios do providing hair, make up and prosthetics services to TV and film productions, whilst also sharing exclusive behind the scenes pictures from Doctor Who: Flux (more here).

Our former trainees for #traineetuesday this month have been Razvan, Madison, Mike and Charlotte. You can read each of their unique stories and how they started work in the industry 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