Welcome to the Screen Alliance Wales September Newsletter!

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 seeking an Experienced Travel & Accommodation Coordinator

Gritty Talent require a Project Manager

Welsh National Opera have roles for a Touring Stage Technician, a Stage Electrician and a Deputy Head of Construction.

Painting Practice are looking for a Compositing Artist.

Boom Cymru are seeking a Production Manager to work within the production office.

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’s incredible show Industry has returned to TV screens with season 2 now available to watch on BBC iPlayer! It has already received outstanding reviews from a number of sources, with its sharp take on the world of finance lighting up UK drama. Bad Wolf have also released exclusive pictures from the upcoming series of His Dark Materials (more here).

University of South Wales have welcomed returning students and freshers alike this month. The University have also released their brochure for their screen courses that they offer (more below)

Facilities by ADF this month celebrated their 30th Anniversary in business! (more below)

BECTU have a number of new courses available, including Setting Up as a Freelancerand Networking skills for Freelancers.

Creative Wales have a new Creative Skills Action Plan focusing on the short and long-term skills needs of our three main sectors: music, digital content and screen (more here). They have also announced a new Creative Skills fund, aiming to assist these forms of media content too (more here).

Painting Practice have been sharing the amazing Pre-vis work they have been involved with on the Paramount+ TV show, Halo. To read the full interview with Yassmine, producer at Painting Practice, amount this interesting area of the industry please click here.

SAW total outreach reaches 30,000!

The end of the month saw Screen Alliance Wales reach a total of 30,000 people who we have interacted with since our inception! This figure is an amalgamation of the people we have had on tours, face to face outreach, digital outreach, work shadowing, trainees and those we have helped into paid employment. We are thrilled that we have managed to reach this milestone, and will continue in providing educating and opportunities within the media industry.

Screen Alliance Wales awards nominations

We are thrilled to announce that our Online Content & Administration Assistant Sam has been shortlisted for the ‘Young Person of the Year Award’ at this year’s Investors in People Awards! “Sam joined Screen Alliance Wales initially on a three month contract May 2021, its testament to Sam that not only has he made himself indispensable to our organisation, he has become a valued member of the SAW team. Sam embraced our ethos and supported us initially with his writing skills and social media expertise” – Allison Dowzell, Managing Director of SAW. To read more about this, please click here.

As well as this, SAW’s Welsh Language Education and training manager Rhys has been shortlisted for a Careers Wales Valued Partner Award “…for the work [he does] in partnership with Careers Wales to inform, inspire, and motivate young people about career opportunities”. Congratulations Rhys!

It’s a hattrick for SAW for nominations this month. We have also been selected as a finalist for the Third Sector Business of the Year category at this year’s Cardiff Business Awards! We are delighted with all our nominations and want to say thank you to everyone involved for shortlisting us for these incredible awards.

Careers advisors’ course & Dragon Studios tour

Earlier on in the month, we headed over to Merthyr Tydfil to lead a session on the different career pathways available within the Film and TV industry as part of the Creu Cyffro project. We were joined by careers advisors from Careers Wales who got the chance to learn more about different areas of the industry, as well as tips and advice for those looking within this area of work. We were also given a tour of the incredible facilities at Dragon Studios in Bridgend, giving the attendees a first-hand look at how a high-end tv & film production studio operates. A huge thank you to everyone from Careers Wales who joined us on the two days as well as Tom and Hollie for the brilliant tour!

Careers fairs with RCT Council & Capitol Shopping Centre

We have been out and about throughout September attending various careers fairs, chatting with members of the public about the opportunities available within the film and TV industry here in Wales. We were invited to attend the Rhonnda Cynon Taf and Partners careers fair, and then just a few weeks later, we set our stall up again in the Capitol Shopping Centre in Cardiff city centre. Overall, we spoke to 150 people about roles and opportunities within the industry over both events!

University of South Wales

One of our most valued sponsors, the University of South Wales, have included Screen Alliance Wales in their Screen Business 2022 Brochure! SAW’s Allison has written a piece about the special relationship between SAW and USW, and the importance that education has on encouraging young people to pursue a career within the Film and TV industry. The brochure also contains details about the university’s state of the art facilities, the courses they offer and testimonies from media course alumnus. Please head over to the University of South Wales website to learn more about all the amazing courses they have (here).

Facilities by ADF are celebrating 30 years!

Another one of our dearest sponsors, Facilities by ADF are celebrating their 30th year in business! Celebrations so far include their new Blue Pearl logo (the Pearl symbolic of 30 years), a special edition cake for each depot, Pearl Edition Diaries for staff, clients and business partners, a photo montage and a Family Fun Day involving garden games, face painting and a magician! As well as becoming a PLC in January 2022, it has certainly been a year to celebrate! Marsden Proctor, CEO comments: “It is a significant milestone in this, our 30th year as a Company, and the enthusiasm to invest reflects what an exciting time this is for our industry, as well as the quality of the work we do. On behalf of everybody at ADF, a huge thanks to everybody who has supported us on our journey so far and we look forward to continuing to work together long into the future.” Congratulations from all of us at SAW for this magnificent milestone.

The Institute of Directors visit SAW

Later on in the month, we welcomed the Institute of Directors to the Screen Alliance Wales classroom for a round table chat. We were also joined by Steffan Morris, Production Executive of Bad Wolf to talk more about his work on productions at Bad Wolf. Thank you to everyone for coming, we have loved having you in and hope to work with you all in the future.

Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn T shirts

We visited our partner schools Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn to donate some bespoke t-shirts. Every year, Pen-y-Bryn create incredible fan films through their ‘Pen-y-Bryn Films’ production units. We love to get involved with the work they do however we can, and hope they enjoy the t shirts. We can’t wait to see them in action on future projects! We also took along Steff Morris from Bad Wolf to see the filming in action!

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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