News and Features

June Newsletter - start of article

June Newsletter

It's been a busy month here at Screen Alliance Wales,  so welcome to our newsletter where we give you a roundup up of what has been going on this month and what is still to come here at Screen Alliance Wales.

Vacancies

We have many opportunities available on our website for you to check out:

ADF Facilities are looking for:

- HGV/C+E (Class 1) Drivers, Tech Driver, Base Staff

The Wales Millennium Centre are looking for several positions:

- Bilingual Digital Media Officer, Casual Head Dresser, Casual Stage Technician, Customer Assistants, Designer, Event Security Commissionaire.

Bright Branch are seeking a Production Assistant and Shooting Research through the Kickstarter programme.

Showreel We'd like to encourage you to check out Bad Wolf’s new showreel below (or here if it doesn't play in the e-mail https://vimeo.com/539229614)

BADWOLF_SHOWREEL from Bad Wolf on Vimeo.

At Screen Alliance Wales, we are proud to have contributed 60 Trainees and 204 work shadowing placements to fantastic productions such as `His Dark Materials', `A Discovery of Witches’ and `Industry’.

Its been a busy month for SAW
We have many opportunities over on our vacancies page

Careers Cafe 

In Last Month’s Careers’ Café, we welcomed the very talented, Cardiff based, Costume Maker, Hazel Jewkes.  Hazel imparted her knowledge from years of working in costume making on productions such as `Murder on the Orient Express’, `Pirates of the Caribbean’, `Downton Abbey’ and `His Dark Materials’.  Hazel talked us through the many costumes she has made and the process behind making them from start to finish. This month, we are very lucky to be able to welcome the fantastic Sue Jeffries from Sgil Cymru who will be offering tips and advice from her years of experience within the media industry. It can sometimes feel difficult getting your foot in the door, but this is a must for anyone looking for a career in the TV industry. Do make sure to come along to our next Careers Café on the 30th June at 5pm  (Tonight! - sign up at https://bit.ly/SAW_CC8)

Training

Script Supervisor Course: On the 24th May, Sgil Cymru’s very own Sue Jeffries teamed up with us at Screen Alliance Wales for the online Script Supervisor course. In each session, Sue went through the different aspects of what the important role entails on a production - from ensuring continuity is maintained to logging shots and everything in-between, nothing was left uncovered. A Script Supervisor has many responsibilities and duties, so this was a fantastic course to get to grips with the basics and be able to learn all the secrets of the job! After the four-day course, the participants left with vital knowledge about this area of work as well a certificate.

We are hoping to host similar courses in the future, so if this is something you would be interested in, make sure to follow us on social media where we regularly post similar opportunities and keep checking our vacancies page on our website.

New resources testers required!
His Dark Materials series 3 has begun filming

New resources testers required!   Over the last few months we’ve been busy behind the scenes planning our new set of online learning resources.  We are excited about what these are going to allow us to cover, and are confident that they will tie in very well with the upcoming changes in the curriculum here in Wales. However, we don’t just want them to be something to occupy learners’ time, we want to make sure they suit the needs of educations in both informing about the TV and Film industry as Careers, but also support existing learning.  If you would be interested in testing out any of these as they come online, then do drop us an e-mail at [email protected].

Bad Wolf News!!! His Dark Materials Series 3 Social media has gone crazy this month with the exciting news that His Dark Materials series 3 has begun filming! The HDM saga continues for Lyra, Will (and Pan of course) as Phillip Pullmans’ excellent ‘The Amber Spyglass’ story is being brought to life for TV screens as we speak. We’re thrilled to say that many of the trainees that came through Screen Alliance Wales are involved with the production in several departments and we’re so proud to see our trainees becoming professional crew members.

True Crime This month we welcomed US based producer, Tracy Ullman who shared her wealth of knowledge of producing factual crime series for television. With a host of credits to her name, Tracy put on an excellent session for the MA film students from the University of South Wales who took part in the course found it incredibly informative. Tom Ware, Director of Production and Performance from USW, said “She was brilliant! The students really loved her honesty and had only excellent feedback for the whole course”. We are looking forward to a further session targeted at producers looking to find out more about working with the US based broadcasters and streamers next month, so watch this space and make sure to follow us on social media!

Upcoming Showreel

We are very excited to be sharing with you our brand new showreel soon where we catch up with several of our former trainees and crew members to see what it is they’re currently up to. We pride ourselves on staying in contact with our former trainees, and love to watch them progress in their careers. Watch this space…

Our Sponsors

SAW are very fortunate to have many sponsors and supporters that work with us in creating a stronger film and TV industry within Wales. Here’s what some of them have been up to…

HBO has proudly been a sponsor of ours for a number of years. We are currently looking at ways we can develop new initiatives with HBO and are excited about future projects that we will work on together. On top of this, HBO are excited to announce that the 3rd series of His Dark Materials has begun filming!

4Wood are currently working super hard to create sets for several shows that will soon be going into production. Although some of their current projects are top secret, they have recently revealed that a show they built sets for earlier this year, Sex Education, will begin its 3rd series this October on Netflix.

Mad Dog 2020 have recently launched a new feature on their Twitter page called FAQ Friday, where each week at 12pm they answer questions regarding acting work in film and TV. This is a great chance to get those answers you’ve always wanted to know about working as a supporting actor.

Gorilla Group TV are continuing with post-production work for legendary BBC daytime show ‘Bargain Hunt’ which will soon be entering its 60th season! They have also been thrilled by the success of the fantastic crime drama ‘The Pact’, which has picked up a host of excellent reviews and something they were proud to be a part of. 

Facilities by ADF are hiring for several positions! If you are interested in becoming a member of their team head over to the vacancies page on our website or follow them on social media.

Panalux still lead the way for lighting equipment for productions and are currently involved with multiple projects. Although a lot of their work is still very hush hush, you can see some of the work that they’re carrying out on their Twitter page.

Movietech are also working flat out, still incredibly busy with their excellent camera rental services being used by some of the biggest productions in the country; His Dark Materials series 3 being just one of them. They continue to ensure that TV shows and films look incredible using only the very best camera equipment.

SAW Trainee Meet and Greet

Lastly, Screen Alliance Wales held a ‘Meet and Greet’ event bringing many of our current trainees together for a fun and informal gathering on June 24th. This has been the first time since the pandemic started that we’ve been able to put on an event like this, so it was lovely to see so many faces there. Each invitee was given a goody bag (above) courtesy of @Llenstudios and got the chance to meet with other trainees from different areas of production; in some cases, for the very first time! Everybody had a wonderful time, and we hope to do similar events like this in the future! Pictures of the event to come soon, so make sure to keep up to date with us on our website and social media.

Our trainees were each given a goody bag...
Bespoke gifts for our brilliant trainees!

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

LinkedIn: @Screen Alliance Wales

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