Mark Milsome Foundation Newsletter - September 2023

Latest news from The Mark Milsome Foundation

Welcome back to our first newsletter after the summer. We realise these are challenging times with the strike action and are wishing everyone the best.

Foot in the Door

Our new Foot in the Door Trainees, Lily Coney, Louie Walters and Stephanie Chao have just finished their first week as MMF trainees, and it's been quite an eventful one. Things kicked things off with an excellent first aid course led by Suzanne Stickley from First Aid Matters, followed by a two-day film workshop facilitated by Phil Sindall and Dermot Hickey. We'd like to extend our thanks to Suzanne for her invaluable first aid training as well as the additional camera crew, Dean Murray, Dean Southan, and Matt Wilson for their contributions. Additionally, a big thank you goes out to the entire team at Panavision for hosting and assisting us throughout this week, with a special mention to Raj, Reshma, Andrew, and Charlie.

Level II Production Safety Passport

The Foundation is excited to announce the launch of a campaign, led by our patron Rory Kinnear, urging colleges and universities offering film courses, to include a production safety passport course in their curriculum. Our aim is to promote accessibility to the MMF course by offering it at a discounted rate to educational institutions. We are now offering them competitive group rates along with a feature providing access to a specially designed dashboard for tracking progress and monitoring course completion. The course grants a Skillset level II Production Safety Passport, valid for 5 years, and is aimed at ensuring the safety of all cast and crew and preventing future accidents and injuries.

Supporting MMF

In further news, we are delighted that various individuals and organisations will be participating in or holding fundraising events and activities on behalf of the Foundation in the upcoming year. Andy ‘Elvis’ McGovern is running at the London Marathon in April 2024, Jack Mealing and Seb Barraclough are participating in the London to Brighton Bike ride this weekend, Mad Dog Casting are hiking in the Forest of Dean in November and Pinewood Studios is organising the Santa Fun Run in December. All proceeds will go towards funding our effort to advocate for better health and safety practices across all sets and help young people get a foot in the door of the film & TV industry. Stay tuned as we'll be posting more information on how you can donate to the different fundraisers in the coming weeks.

Mark's Gift

Finally, calling for all last minute applications for Mark’s Gift! The application period will be drawing to a close on 30th September. To qualify, applicants must be aspiring filmmakers with a strong passion for the camera department and have a specific film project in need of funding. If you are interested and think that you might meet the application criteria, please email contact@markmilsomefoundation.com for an application form.

As always, thank you for your support.

With warmest regards from all of us at the Foundation

Visit The Mark Milsom Foundation Website: www.markmilsomefoundation.com