May Newsletter

A very warm welcome to the Screen Alliance Wales May Newsletter. We have had yet another jam-packed month, as have our wonderful sponsors and supporters! Here’s a roundup of our May.

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:

Mad Dog 2020 Casting are looking for:

- Casting Assistant Freelancer (deadline 31-05-22)

- Casting Assistant/Project Manager (deadline 31-05-22)

Gorilla are currently seeking:

- Junior Online Editor (Bristol)

- Receptionist (Cardiff)

- Post Producer for Social Media (Cardiff)

Gems Agency are looking for an Administrative Assistant

Bad Wolf are looking for Experienced and Qualified Medics

Gems Agency are seeking a Casting Agent/Casting Assistant.

The Wales Millennium Centre are seeking:

- IT Helpdesk Engineer

- Senior Communications Manager

BAFTA Cymru are looking for a new Head of BAFTA

Bang Post-Production have a role for a Data I/O Technician

Dreamachine require Duty Technicians to support the running of their new immersive experience in Cardiff.

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 visited the Hay Festival this month for a special `His Dark Materials’ panel featuring Bad Wolf CEO Jane Tranter, Simone Kirby who plays Mary Malone and Amir Wilson, who plays Will, as well as a number of Daemons and their puppeteers who went along to meet the festival goers. Everyone enjoyed the May sunshine and got to hear exclusive details about the brand new series of `His Dark Materials’ coming later this year.

University of South Wales have worked with Screen Alliance Wales and Cardiff Commitment

on the Screen 4 School project (see below). We also welcomed the MA Film Students for a special Virtual 3-day TV Drama Masterclass with Bad Wolf’s Writer in Residence, Zina Wegrzynski. This gave the students a deeper understanding of the scripting process from an industry professional and we are so glad they got so much out of it.

IJPR and Bad Wolf were invited to a special event at the BFI in London dedicated to the incredible work that went into creating the character ‘Mrs Coulter’ from `His Dark Materials’. Actress Ruth Wilson (Mrs Coulter herself), Kit Connor (who voices Pantalaimon), lead puppeteer Brian Fisher, Russell Dodgson, the VFX Supervisor and Costume Designer, Caroline McCall all made up a panel to discuss the incredible work that goes into the show. A number of Mrs Coulter’s gorgeous costumes made by the incredible costume team were also on display for attendees to view.

Movietech are thrilled to announce this month that they have been acquired by Sunbelt Rentals! Based in Great Point Seren Studios, the UK’s leading independent camera, lens and grip rental specialist will be joining the North American business which will only help to further the booming industry here in the UK. Congratulations from all of us here at SAW!

Facilities by ADF The amazing team at ADF currently have a number of roles at their company. They are one of the leading suppliers of rental vehicles for use on films and TV shows, and often have a wide number of roles available to work with them. To find out more, visit their careers page (here) and follow them on social media.

Mad Dog 2020 Casting CEO Graham has recently attended this year’s Cannes Film Festival, representing Mad Dog along with Chairman Rick, and Director James. At Cannes, Rick, James and Graham continued their pursuit of funding for Mad Dog 2020s new projects and also had interesting meetings with PACT and Screen Scotland. More news to come... 

Gorilla are as busy as ever with their new facility opening this month in Bristol and more and more new projects starting. With their continued expansion comes the need to find new and experienced talent to join their growing team. While they regularly take on industry starters and trainees, they are currently focussed on recruiting more experienced roles. To view these roles, please click here.

BECTU - Poor mental health has been recognised as a serious problem across the creative industries for many years.  A strong desire to do something positive to support the current workforce and to make the industry safer for those entering the industry led to CULT Cymru and 6ft from the Spotlight  to commit to working together in piloting the Wellbeing Facilitator role in Wales’ burgeoning screen sector.CULT Cymru are pleased to announce that a grant is to be launched shortly for production companies to take on a Wellbeing Facilitator on their productions. In the meantime, you can read about this exciting new pilot on the CULT Cymru website where you will see a detailed breakdown of the role and also an Expression of Interest form for you to complete. We are pleased to announce that our highly successful programme Mentoring 4 Screen is back for its third round, whereby 25 successful applicants will have access to free mentoring from an experienced mentor within their field of work in scripted and unscripted film and television in Wales. We are currently looking for a new cohort of Mentees, so if you’re interested and want to learn more go to our website to read more!

Mae iechyd meddwl gwael wedi cael ei gydnabod fel problem ddifrifol ar draws y diwydiannau creadigol ers blynyddoedd lawer.  Arweiniodd awydd cryf i wneud rhywbeth cadarnhaol i gefnogi’r gweithlu presennol a gwneud y diwydiant yn fwy diogel i’r rhai sy’n ymuno â’r diwydiant at CULT Cymru a 6ft from the Spotlight i ymrwymo i gydweithio i dreialu rôl yr Hwylusydd Lles yn sector sgrîn gynyddol Cymru.Mae CULT Cymru yn falch o gyhoeddi y bydd grant yn cael ei lansio'n fuan i gwmnïau cynhyrchu ymgymryd â Hwylusydd Lles ar eu cynyrchiadau. Yn y cyfamser, gallwch ddarllen am y peilot newydd cyffrous hwn ar wefan CULT Cymru lle byddwch yn gweld dadansoddiad manwl o'r rôl a hefyd Ffurflen Mynegi diddordeb i chi ei llenwi. Mae'n bleser gennym gyhoeddi bod ein rhaglen hynod lwyddiannus Mentora i’r Sgrîn yn ôl am y trydydd tro, ble bydd 25 o ymgeiswyr llwyddiannus yn cael mynediad at fentora am ddim gan fentor profiadol yn eu maes gwaith yng Nghymru – naill ai mewn ffilm a theledu wedi'u sgriptio neu heb eu sgriptio. Ar hyn o bryd rydym ni’n edrych am garfan newydd i fentora felly pe bai gennych ddiddordeb ewch draw at ein gwefan i ddarllen mwy!

Sgil Cymru have had another busy month. Trainee Script Editors have been immersing themselves in film and TV scripts via Sgil Cymru and BBC Writersroom’s course ‘An introduction to Script Editing’ with Anna Seifert Speck and Kate Leys. And recruitment has begun to find the latest group of media apprentices to become part of Sgil Cymru’s ever-popular CRIW scheme. Successful applicants will gain hands on experience, on set, right here in Wales with a paid salary to support you as you learn. If you’d like to know more head to sgilcymru.com or follow Sgil Cymru on social media.

Mae Sgil Cymru wedi cael mis prysur arall. Mae’r sawl ar y cwrs golygu scriptiau a redir gan Sgil Cymru a BBC Writersroom wedi ymgolli yn llwyr mewn sgriptiau ffilm a theledu, gyda Anna Seifert Speck a Kate Leys wrth y llyw. Ac mae recriwtio wedi dechrau unwaith eto i ddod o hyd i’r grwp diweddaraf o brentisiaid ar gyfer cynllun llwyddiannus CRIW Sgil Cymru. Cyfle i gael profiad ymarferol gyda chyflog ar set yma yng Nghymru. Os hoffech wybod mwy ewch i sgilcymru.com neu dilynwch Sgil Cymru ar y cyfryngau cymdeithasol. 

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 has launched the 2022-2023 News Scholarship for a student wishing to pursue a postgraduate course at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture. The Scholarship, worth £6,500, is to be given towards tuition fees, and following the course the successful candidate will receive a three month contract in S4C's digital news department. The aim of the scholarship is to nurture and develop new voices interested in pursuing a career in Welsh language journalism. Those interested should contact Nia Edwards-Behi for further information.

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 wedi lansio Ysgoloriaeth Newyddion 2022-2023 heddiw ar gyfer myfyriwr sydd am ddilyn cwrs ôl-raddedig yn Ysgol Newyddiaduraeth, y Cyfryngau a Diwylliant Prifysgol Caerdydd. Mae'r Ysgoloriaeth sy'n werth £6,500 yn cael ei glustnodi tuag at ffioedd dysgu, ac yn dilyn y cwrs bydd yr ymgeisydd llwyddiannus yn cael cytundeb tri mis yn adran newyddion digidol S4C. Bwriad yr ysgoloriaeth yw meithrin a datblygu lleisiau newydd sydd â diddordeb mewn dilyn gyrfa mewn newyddiaduraeth yn yr iaith Gymraeg. Dylai unrhyw un sydd â diddordeb cysylltu â Nia Edwards-Behi am ragor o wybodaeth.

Screen Alliance Wales Courses

Throughout May, Screen Alliance Wales have hosted one-to-one courses designed to create opportunities for work within the industry. With funding from the British Film Commission, each course focussed on a different skills gap in the Film and TV industry. We started with a Carpentry workshops delivered by our lovely sponsors, 4Wood and held at Great Point Seren Studios and saw our participants partaking in a number of practical activities to get a flavour of what working in this department entails.

In the second workshop, we welcomed John and Terry from Anchor Risk Management to host a Health and Safety workshop in our classroom at Wolf Studios Wales. In this session, we particularly welcomed applicants with former experience from the armed forces and emergency services who were looking to transition to Health and Safety departments.

In the third and final workshop, we headed over to Dragon Studios where Gareth and Tom from Local Solutions Wales delivered a Locations Manager workshop. Our attendees had already worked in locations departments but wanted to know more about progressing to become a Locations Manager in the future. They were also provided with a session on the importance of Asbestos by First Option Safety as this knowledge is vital when working in Locations.

We are SO grateful for everyone involved for giving up their Saturdays and are thrilled that we could host these amazing sessions. Thank you also to everyone who delivered them for us and, of course, a BIG thank you to the British Film Commission for funding them all. We hope to do more in the future, so keep an eye on our vacancies and events pages, as well as our social media channels.

St Alban’s Digital Equipment Donation

This month, we visited our partner school for the year, St Alban’s Primary school in Tremorfa, to donate some equipment designed to encourage the pupils to pursue a career within the media. The kit, including green screens, tripods and other IT and VFX equipment will help the pupils to strengthen not only their media knowledge, but other transferable skills such as coding and IT. St Alban’s have been a wonderful partner school this year and we have enjoyed every workshop and session that we have done together. To read more about this donation, click here.

Screen4Schools Project

It has been so great to be involved with the Screen 4 Schools Live Stream project this month alongside University of South Wales and Cardiff Commitment. Over the 6-week project, hundreds of pupils from Cathays, Willows and their feeder schools across Cardiff and also Ty-Sign from Newport have been given the opportunity to create their own films which will then be screened later on this year at the University of South Wales. Through this scheme, pupils will learn about how to create their own film as well as sound and camera skills to support the new curriculum in Wales. They were also treated to a Live Stream, practical work shop from our friends at Squarepeg, the hair, make up and prosthetic design company. It was very gory! We can’t wait to see what other exciting projects are to come!

Scenic Painting at Fitzalan High School

Later on in the month, we visited the Year 9 Art GCSE pupils at Fitzalan High School to put on a Scenic Painting Workshop. This gave them the opportunity to try their hand at scenic painting whilst also learning about potential career opportunities working in the art department of film and TV shows. We could definitely spot some scenic painters of the future! Pupils also got to ask questions about this avenue of work as they will soon be considering career paths once they have completed their GCSEs. We wish them all the best of luck with their exams.

Pen-y-Bryn: Doctor Who ‘Curse of the Mummy’

And finally, this term sees the turn of Pen-y-Bryn’s Stage 5 (Sixth Form) learners taking on the main roles in their Film Skills project. Key Stage 5 learner, James, returns to the main role of Doctor Who, and is this time pitted against ‘The Curse of The Mummy’. As with their previous projects this year, the Film Skills project will see involvement from learners throughout the school, creating costumes, music, special effects and more. Check out Pen-y-Bryn Film’s YouTube channel where we will be launching the film during the summer term 2022.

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

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