As the 5th anniversary of the tragic on-set death of respected British cameraman Mark Milsome approaches on 18th November 2022, Samantha Wainstein, Chair of MMF, the charitable foundation set up in his name, has called for long overdue cultural change to protect crews working in the British film and television industry:
“Mark was unnecessarily killed whilst filming a car stunt on location in Ghana in 2017. Five years have passed during which time nothing has changed to improve crew safety - we are marking this tragic date by demanding mandatory health and safety education for all crew working in Film and TV.”
The Foundation is asking for the industry establishment, including BECTU, PACT, PGGB, and all industry guilds, to unite to create lasting change. Since its inception, MMF has had continual dialogue with crew. In 2020, it commissioned a detailed survey to gauge opinion on their working conditions and then created a Health and Safety Passport course in 2021. Whilst individual crew have responded positively to the course, as far as the established industry goes, nothing has changed.
“The powers that be can’t just treat policy on health and safety along with the wellbeing of their crews as a box-ticking exercise,” says Mark Milsome’s widow Andra. “The overall culture on sets needs to change for good. We are using the 5th anniversary as a call to action and I would like to echo the wise words of our esteemed patron, Rory Kinnear, whose own father Roy died on set: ‘No-one should die for the sake of a shot.’”
MMF will launch Black T-Week on 18th November, when film and television crews across the UK will honour their late colleague by wearing black T-shirts exclusively designed by celebrated cinematographer Benoit Delhomme. Benoit and Mark worked together on The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Theory of Everything and he has kindly lent his passion and talent to this important MMF initiative, creating a design with the simple yet powerful words, “Because Mark” and “Inspire Change”.
