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Mark Milsome Foundation

This foundation was inspired by the achievements, character and unique nature of our respected friend and colleague, Mark Milsome

News

The Mark Milsome Memorial Cup

⁣Thank you to @markmilsomememorialcup for organising such a fantastic event on Sunday 22nd May.⠀⠀
We saw the Ted Lasso crew go head to head with the Heart of Stone. In a thrilling penalty shootout Heart of Stone won the Mark Milsome Memorial Cup!
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The event raised an amazing sum of money which will help fund our aim to make the Film & TV industry a safer place to work. ⠀
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Thank you to everyone who organised, played, watched and took part! The Foundation appreciate all of your endless support.

 

We are at this year’s BSC Expo!

We are delighted that, thanks to the support of the British Society of Cinematographer’s and Mission Digital, the Mark Milsome Foundation will be at this year’s BSC Expo.

 

We are particularly pleased to be participating in a BSC panel, discussing what needs to be done urgently to keep everyone safe when working on productions. Please join us at 10.15am Friday April 8th in the BSC Main Seminar Room, for “Protect & Empower: Mental & Physical Safety On Set”

 

Panelists include:

Samantha Wainstein – Mark Milsome Foundation,

Leo Anna Thomas – 6ft From the Spotlight,

Tracy Riddell – Film and TV Charity,

Kate Wilson – Call It App and panel chair,

Kate Rolfe – Digital Orchard Foundation,

And find us on our stand, situated between Movietech Camera Rentals (310) and RED (022).

 

The BSC Expo provides an opportunity for crew and production members to learn more about our Mark Milsome Foundation Film & TV Online Safety Passport Course, of which BSC President Christopher Ross, says.

“This is the first H&S course I have seen that understands and conveys the importance of collaboration, collective responsibility and looking out for fellow crew members. I would encourage everyone in the Film, TV and Commercial Production industries to take this course and to uphold the values that it represents.”

Details of the course can be found here https://www.mmfonlinetraining.com/

 

Announcing the New MMF Chair

We are thrilled to report that the Board of Trustees have appointed Samantha Wainstein as its new Chair. Samantha will replace Kirk Jones who has worked for four and a half years setting up the Foundation and guiding it through the early years. Samantha and the board asked Kirk to consider staying on as a Patron and we are glad to say that he has accepted so although stepping away from the daily business he will join Rory Kinnear as Patron and will be present whenever needed.

 

Kirk comments “I could not be more thrilled to see Samantha take on the role of chair. Thanks to the Founding members of the MMF, the trustees and the support of crew and production, we have made great progress in the first few years and Sam is well placed to build on those foundations and take the charity to the next level”.

Sam has a strong track record of leadership and delivery across the charity, business, film education and culture sectors.

She was part of the founding team of FilmClub, established in 2008 by Director Beeban Kidron. By 2013 the project, now known as Into Film had grown from a pilot of 25 schools to over 7,000.  Samantha played a lead role in securing £26 million of funding from the BFI and £2.8 million from the cinema industry.  Into Film is the UK’s leading charity for film in education. In 2016 Sam founded a not-for-profit, ‘Film Literacy Europe’ which delivered film education projects across 8 European countries, and in 2017 working for the BFI, she launched their 2022 Future Films Strategy with an action plan to build skills for the future of film, tackling diversity and inclusion, so those from all backgrounds can have a future in the industry.

 

Message from Samantha

I am incredibly excited to take on the position of Mark Milsome Foundation Chair. My gratitude goes to Kirk, who has done the most amazing job of founding and leading the Foundation, and who has been a fantastic support in the last few weeks of hand over. In recognition of all that he has done including developing the Health & Safety Online Passport, it was important to me that Kirk be invited to become a Patron. I am delighted he agreed to the role, joining the wonderful Rory Kinnear.  I’m aware of how vital the film and tv community is to the success of the Foundation, and I hope we get the chance to meet soon. Until that day, please do let me have your thoughts, suggestions and feedback including if you would like to be more involved in anyway; my email is chair@markmilsomefoundation.com

War Cameraman Killed in Ukraine

The Foundation would like to acknowledge the deaths this week of Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski (55) along with Journalist Oleksandra Kuvshinova (24). At a time when the Film and Television Industry are doing their best to remove crew, production and cast from dangerous working environments, we should remember that for some crew, it is necessary to place themselves directly in the way of harm in order to truthfully record the atrocities of war and human suffering. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60756503

Mark Milsome awarded Posthumous BSC Honour

To acknowledge the exceptional talent and dedication of the late camera operator Mark Milsome, the BSC have awarded him an Honorary Associate Membership. Milsome was killed in 2017 while filming a stunt in Ghana.

Speaking emotionally at the 2022 BSC awards, Mark’s wife, Andra said: “Mark would be truly honoured, humbled and touched to receive this accolade from his colleagues who he held in such high esteem. Mark will never be able to show his full creative potential to the world. He started, but had his life cut off in his prime, by such an avoidable tragedy.

It is vital that more accountability and better health and safety practices are put into place and that these become not only standardised, but mandatory. No more cost cutting. No more cutting corners. Every single person should come home safely at the end of each working day.”

Mark’s father, Doug Milsome – BSC ASC said “We are incredibly proud to learn that the BSC has awarded Mark ‘An Honorary Associate of the Society’ especially following on from the BSC ‘Special Achievement Award’ to the MMF. Myself and Mark’s mother, Debbie, are overwhelmed and comforted that Mark’s talent has been recognised in this way”.

Newly appointed BSC President, Christopher Ross, said “Mark was a camera operator of the highest calibre, having been a similar skilled focus puller and clapper loader, but more significantly, he was a human being of the highest calibre and embodied everything that is great about the camera department -warmth, compassion, and determination. I urge you all to ‘Be More Mark’.”

Chris urged the audience to follow and support the work of the Mark Milsome Foundation and to take their recently launched  ‘Film and TV Online Safety Passport’ course (HERE) developed to ‘Build an industry that prides itself on mutual collective responsibility, and respect for everybody’s wellbeing.”

Read all about the #BSCAwards night and find out to what the winners had to say, and see more photos from the evening.

First Trainee becomes Trustee

The Foundation are proud to announce the appointment of their most recent Trustee. Daisy Allen was the first ‘Foot In The Door’ Trainee to be selected in 2019. Chairman Kirk Jones comments “We have monitored Daisy’s progress since helping her establish contacts and employment in the industry in 2019 and were thrilled when she accepted an invitation to join the board. Daisy is perfectly placed to help oversee the development of the ‘Foot In The Door’ training and mentorship programme having experienced it herself first hand. We are already seeing early trainees supporting and mentoring students from more recent intakes and hope to see this level of support continue in the future.”

 

If you are looking for a trainee or can offer mentorship then please see details of ALL past and Present Trainees HERE.

 

If you are an industry based company who feel you have something to offer our students that would help their understanding of the film and TV industry then please get in touch. This could include anything anything from a few days work experience to courses in understanding equipment or bespoke tours to expose them to new technology.

The Foundation Film and TV Online Safety Passport now fully launched

After the first few weeks the course has been embraced by the National Film and Television School and has received the following reviews from people who have taken the course:
“A very important course for experienced crew and producers, as well as new entrants to the industry also.”
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“A tremendous refresher before any production.”
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Mark Milsome Foundation Film and TV Online safety passport, excellent thorough course. Essential knowledge for anyone working on a film set. Relevant and accessible for all levels from new entrant to Producer. It would be amazing to see this course becoming a mandatory requirement for on set working.”
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“Absolutely amazing course. Very engaging, informative and well presented.”
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“Excellent level of training and should be mandatory for all cast & crew working in the industry.”
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Watch the four trailers for the course now by following the links below!

The Sunday Times – Baldwin shooting haunts widow of TV cameraman

Please see a link to The Sunday Times article that featured an interview with Andra, Mark’s wife last week.

The Sunday Times PDF

The Sunday Times direct link.

“The widow of a cameraman who died during a stunt on the set of a BBC TV series has told how she had warned the industry of further “inevitable” tragedies years before the fatal shooting in America by Alec Baldwin.

Andra Levinson Milsome, who lives in Scotland, said “haunting images” returned after she heard that the actor had accidentally shot dead the Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, with a prop gun loaded with live ammunition on the set in New Mexico of Rust, a low-budget independent film.”

Foundation Health and Safety film wraps with the support of the National Film and Television school.

The chairmans’s health and safety, online training project completed filming on Sunday 24th October. Kirk would like to extend a huge thank you to Jon Wardle and the students (past and present) of the NFTS for giving studios, equipment, crew, pre and post production facilities. We hope to have a teaser for the project soon and to deliver the the online programme before the end of the year.

MMF Health & Safety Research Findings Are Published

The results from the Mark Milsome Foundation, industry wide, Health and Safety survey are published today. With 2,000 surveys and a further 3,000 comments and concerns relating to Health and Safety in the modern Film and Television industry these results help understand the views of crew and production at a time when the spotlight is rightly on Health and Safety once again. Crucially 75% of respondent said they would welcome a Foundation, online Health and Safety course and would voluntarily take it, rising to 93% agreeing to take the course if it was recognised within the industry.

Here is a link directly to the summarised results:

https://www.markmilsomefoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Quantitative-data.pdf

 

Cinematography Is The Deadliest Job In Hollywood: Death Of ‘Rust’ Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Puts Spotlight On Safety For Camera Crews

We wanted to share this important article with you from Deadline discussing the risks that Cinematographers take whilst doing their job. Mark’s death is marked in 2017.

Cinematography Is The Deadliest Job In Hollywood: Death Of ‘Rust’ Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Puts Spotlight On Safety For Camera Crews

 

Halyna Hutchins’ Death

The Foundation extends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Halyna Hutchins following the tragic shooting on the set of RUST. Kirk Jones, chairman comments “Injury and death in the film and television industry are not freak accidents, they are consequences of employing inexperienced crew to save money, of pressurised schedules, ignoring rules, regulations and laws, long working hours and a failure to uphold the most basic of principle, to put the health and safety of crew first.”
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