Welcome to the Screen Alliance Wales March Newsletter. Spring is finally on the way! The colder months appear to be leaving us with the sun and warmer weather returning to Wales. Here’s what we’ve been up to in March.

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:

· Painting Practice are looking for:

o  Junior Motions Graphic Designer

o   Office Administrator

· Boom Cymru have two roles:

o  Assistant Producer

o  Researcher

· The Wales Millennium Centre are seeking:

o  Interim Head of Development

o Individual Giving Manager

o  IT Helpdesk Engineer

· Little Door Productions have two roles available:

o   In-house Drama Coordinator

o   Development Assistant

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

· Any Effects are currently seeking a Senior SFX Technician

· Real SFX are looking for a Finance Manager

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 this month received nominations for two prestigious awards: the Royal Television Society Cymru’s Drama award for 2020 with both Industry and His Dark Materials Season 2, and the Best Company for New Talent at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s New Voice Awards 2022! We wish them the best of luck with both of these awards!

BAFTA have announced that the entries for the British Cymru Awards 2022 are still open, but the deadlines for submission are approaching fast! These are:

Friday 1 April - Broadcaster entry and video upload Deadline (17.00 GMT) Friday 8 April - Production Company/Individual entry, video upload and Payment Deadline (17.00 GMT)

BAFTA Cymru are also back with another edition of Guru Live Online for 2022! Guru Live is BAFTA's flagship festival for emerging talent in film, games and television. BAFTA Cymru have teamed up again with BAFTA Scotland to bring you a week of online Q&As with creative talent, craftspeople and BAFTA nominees, including sessions on Casting, Directing and Screenwriting (to name a few!) All sessions are free, but you'll need to register first. Explore the programme here.

Facilities by ADF have made aid donations to help people in Ukraine, specifically, a church which has been turned into an orphanage for children who have lost their parents during the conflict. Their contributions will be vital to those who really need it at an incredibly difficult time.

Cardiff Commitment’s ‘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.

BECTU have a number of courses available, spanning a variety of subjects. These include a ‘Racially aware Creative Practice Workshop, Neurodiversity 4 Creatives, Creative Industries Safety Passport, 2 First aid courses (1 day each) and a 3 day First Aid Course. To learn more about each of these courses and to apply, please click here.

S4C is keen to support individuals who are interested in a career in Welsh language sports broadcasting, and who are from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background, by offering a bursary to study an MSc Sports Broadcasting course at Cardiff Metropolitan University. The bursary is in collaboration with Rondo and Media Atom. Further information and details on how to apply are available on S4C’s website. S4C is also hosting a Wales and Ukraine concert in response to the tragic situation in Ukraine. The concert will take place on Saturday 2 April in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre and will be broadcast on S4C at 20.30. The concert is in collaboration with DEC Cymru and will raise funds for the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, you can donate to the DEC appeal for Ukraine by clicking here.

Mae S4C yn awyddus i gefnogi unigolion sydd â diddordeb mewn gyrfa ym myd darlledu Chwaraeon Cymraeg, ac sy'n dod o gefndir Du, Asiaidd neu ethnig lleiafrifol, drwy gynnig bwrsariaeth i astudio ar gwrs MSc Darlledu Chwaraeon ym Mhrifysgol Fetropolitan Caerdydd. Mae'r fwrsariaeth yn gynllun ar y cyd â Rondo a Media Atom. Mae rhagor o wybodaeth a manylion am sut i wneud cais ar gael ar wefan S4C. Mae S4C yn cynnal Cyngerdd Cymru ac Wcrain mewn ymateb i’r sefyllfa ddychrynllyd yn Wcráin. Mi fydd y gyngerdd yn cael ei chynnal ar Nos Sadwrn 2 Ebrill yng Nghanolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth ac yn cael ei ddarlledu ar S4C am 20.30. Mae’r digwyddiad yma mewn cydweithrediad â DEC Cymru ac yn codi arian i’r Apêl Ddyngarol Wcráin, gallwch gyfrannu i gronfa DEC ar gyfer Wcráin yma.

Bad Wolf and Screen Alliance Wales Industry Day

Earlier in the month, we welcomed a number of groups from educational organisations across Wales for an incredibly special Industry Day! We welcomed over 120 students from the University of South Wales, Coleg y Cymoedd, The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Coleg Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil College, Cardiff and Vale College, Cardiff University and Cardiff Met as well as members from the Wales Documentary Support Network to join us for a morning of education and networking.

The day was designed to encourage those thinking about a career within the Film and TV industry to explore the vast number of roles that are available. We ran a ‘carousel’ style day giving small groups the chance to speak personally with a number of departments that work at Wolf Studios Wales. Each department from the production company, including Producers, Script, make up, VFX, Production, Design, Catering, Construction, Camera, Grips, Locations and Costume all gave up their time to speak with the students and our other guests about their work, and we are so grateful to all of them.

We were also excited to welcome Russell T Davies to open the event for us where he spoke to our attendees about his revival of Doctor Who in 2005, alongside Jane Tranter and Julie Gardener, and how Wales has now become one of the leading countries for creating film and television shows. The day was a huge success with the students coming away from it with useful advice and ideas about their potential future careers. The day could not have gone ahead without the incredible support we received from each department, and we are ever so grateful to each for taking the time out of their busy schedules to talk with our attendees. At the end of the session, our guests were each given a bespoke Bad Wolf/SAW T shirt as well as a reusable, sustainable tote bag. Thanks to all involved for making it a memorable day!

Coleg y Cymoedd fabric donations

One of our valued sponsors Coleg y Cymoedd have been repurposing fabrics donated to them from the Bad Wolf production of His Dark Materials. Students from the BA Costume Construction course have been utilising a number of skills including laser cutting, printing techniques, tailoring and other fabric work to create these brand-new costumes, styled from designs by designers such as Sandy Powell and Michael O’Conner. The ‘Historical Costume for Screen’ module gave the students the chance to demonstrate the range of their creativity and enabled them to showcase the creations to a live industry panel.

Bad Wolf has been actively embracing sustainability by donating costumes, shoes, accessories, and fabrics to various organisations across Wales. This wonderful venture has already assisted a number of educational establishments and sporting clubs, but also charities that use the donations to help refugees and other communities who have been displaced throughout the country. To read more about some of Bad Wolf’s sustainability activities, please click here.

Coleg y Cymoedd have also been involved with the ‘Horns to Africa’ project. Prop Making Students from further education college Coleg y Cymoedd have designed and built the official mascot for the 2022 Rhino Champions League Cup.  Valleys boy and film professional, William Todd-Jones was contacted by the US based Wild and Free Foundation to supply a mascot for their Rhino Cup Champions League. Having a significant association with Coleg y Cymoedd, Todd worked with Prop Making lecturers Richard Embling and Alistair Aston, and their students to develop concept designs. From these, the students produced three fully working prototypes which were put through their paces and tested by Performing Arts and Sports students at the college.  Wild and Free founder Matt Bracken and his African associates then chose the one they felt would best suit the conditions. It needed to be lightweight - for dancing and playing football, durable - to withstand the extreme heat and dust, and evocative - rhinoceros being the spirit of the continent. 

SAW Visits Dragon

Also this month, we visited our friends at Dragon Studios in Bridgend for an event created by EESW Stem Cymru as part of their Connecting Teachers with Industry Project.  We received a warm welcome from Gaz Skelding and Tom Guy (pictured alongside Allison) and it was wonderful to see them both again. This event gave us the opportunity to speak with local educators about the vast number of roles available within the Film and TV industry, as well as other opportunities available in the sector which they will be able to disseminate back to their learners.

We are so pleased to have made multiple contacts who we look forward to working with in the future! 

Wales Documentary Support Network

The Wales Documentary Support Network held another session on Thursday the 31st of March. Make sure to find the group on Facebook in order to stay up to date with all the latest information and updates regarding the network. To apply to the next Virtual Cafe, and all other upcoming sessions, head over to our events page here.

Ysgol Pen y Bryn Harry Potter project

Things are quickly ramping up for the Pen-y-Bryn fan film ‘Harry Potter & The Wand of Ariana’! On Thursday 17th March, Ysgol Pen y Bryn’s Key Stage 4 learners made their first location filming visit for their Harry Potter film project (the first visit in over 2 years!). The group used one of our local parks, Morriston Park, to film some additional scenes for their latest project. The group enjoyed the morning visit and utilised the parks trees and scenery to add to the scope of this terms film, which we will be launching after Easter. The group recently unveiled their first trailer for the project which can be seen viewed 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

Stay tuned for April's Newsletter later this month