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About us

Focus Marine offers a range of marine and diving support services for media production and live events.

What services do we offer?

Risk management:
 ✓ Activity/sequence-specific risk assessments
 ✓ Safety planning and monitoring
 ✓ Marine stunts safety / action coordination

Specialist crew: 
 ✓ Boat captains 
 ✓ Lifeguards and safety boat crews
 ✓ Safety/standby divers and in-water support crew
 ✓ Swift-water rescue technicians
 ✓ Safety kayakers and whitewater raft guides
 ✓ Accredited instructors and artiste training 
 ✓ Action doubles 

Technical consultancy:
 ✓ Location/technical recces and advice
 ✓ Water sampling and lab analysis against Bathing Water standards
 ✓ Tidal forecasting and modelling 
 ✓ Hero/picture boat charter and management
 ✓ Custom marine engineering and naval architecture

Marine fleet: 
 ✓ Camera boats
 ✓ Chase boats
 ✓ Safety boats
 ✓ Support/service boats and water taxis
 ✓ SFX/lighting barges
 ✓ Floating pontoons, camera platforms and floating access
 ✓ Inflatable platforms and rafts

Marine PPE rental:
 ✓ Lifejackets
 ✓ Drysuits
 ✓ Waders
 ✓ Hidden buoyancy devices (for costume use)

020 4538 2999
[email protected]

Our crew

We bring together a broad network of experienced marine specialists from a variety of backgrounds, with a brilliant team of 58 accredited maritime professionals on our crew roster. 

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Our roster of crew benefits from a wealth of maritime experience spanning ocean yacht racing, dive instruction and coordination, expedition kayaking, RNLI lifeguarding, swift water rescue, marine engineering, naval architecture, and specialist military/police tactical boat operations. We have medics with marine experience (to HCPC-registered paramedic level), and accredited instructors who coach at both national and international levels across a range of disciplines. 

This diversity within the team enables us to tailor our crew provision to suit the requirements of each individual project. From surfing to superyachts, within our network we have access to some of the best people in the industry. 

With in-house marine engineering capabilities, and experience collaborating with SFX, stunts, art, camera, and grips, we can help bring concepts to life in a repeatable way that meets the creative vision – whether the subject needs to float, sink, swim, surf, or sail. 

Qualifications

All of our marine crew undergo regular maritime safety and first-aid training, with many holding team medic (FREC3) or higher. Amongst our team, we have crew who hold the following commercial marine certifications:

✓ MCA/RYA Advanced Powerboat Certificate of Competence 
✓ MCA/RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence
✓ RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructors and Yachtmaster instructors
✓ STCW Personal Survival Techniques
✓ Marine VHF SRC Radio Operator
✓ HSE SCUBA / Surface-supplied / Saturation Divers
✓ IMCA Dive Medical Technicians
✓ SLSGB/NVBLQ/NPLQ Lifeguards
✓ British Canoeing Advanced Whitewater Safety & Rescue
✓ DEFRA MOD2 / MOD3 Swift-water Rescue Technicians

Steffan Ciccotti leads the company, working as a Marine Coordinator across feature films, television, and commercials in the UK and abroad. His first introduction to the industry was as a powerboat instructor moving boats on night shoots at one of the marine bases for Spectre (2015) on the River Thames, and he’s never looked back.

Steffan Ciccotti

Lead Marine Coordinator

Since then, Steffan has built the company around a broad base of experience in marine safety, risk management, and coastal operations – building a trusted network of crew and specialists drawn from across the industry. That network has been shaped by his time working with the RNLI (Ops & HQ), Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, commercial diving and special effects teams, and delivering accredited marine training both commercially and within the Royal Navy.

He has coordinated everything from complex stunt sequences and marine action to more unusual briefs – diving support for underwater dancing, preparing locations to crash vehicles into water, and managing picture vessels on shoots in central London. That experience now feeds directly into how the company operates: bringing together the right people, disciplines, and thinking to deliver safe, practical solutions to ambitious ideas on the water.

Steffan works as a commercially endorsed MCA/RYA Yachtmaster and RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor, and holds additional qualifications in whitewater rescue and HSE commercial diving. He also holds a filming-endorsed Local Knowledge Endorsement (full area) for the Port of London Authority, allowing him to coordinate commercial filming activity across central London.

Outside of work, he can usually be found racing sailing yachts or SCUBA diving around the UK coastline.

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Marine Environments

Locations we work at include:

✓ beaches
✓ ports and harbours
✓ tidal estuaries and causeways
✓ canals and inland waterways
✓ rivers, lakes, and reservoirs
✓ coastal waters to open ocean
✓ swimming pools, lidos, tidal pools
✓ studios, tanks, and indoor sets

We have a proven track record of planning and delivering marine operations in challenging environments. From our base in London, we regularly operate on the River Thames – one of Europe’s busiest waterways. We are licenced/accredited by: 

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Training delivery

Our team hold top-tier instructor accreditation and affiliation with national awarding bodies and training organisations, including:

✓ Royal Yachting Association (RYA)
✓ British Canoeing / TeamGB 
✓ Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)
✓ British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC)
✓ Global Underwater Explorers (GUE)
✓ Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS)
✓ RNLI (Lifeboats & Lifeguards)

We have a vast network of instructors across disciplines ranging from swimming to tall-ship sailing, kayaking to kitesurfing. We additionally hold accreditation and insurance for advanced speedboat instruction as an RYA recognised training centre for powerboat and specialist training courses.

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Water Safety

Whether you’re shooting on a canal towpath, river embankment, or on the shoreline at a pond, lake, or beach – we can advise, implement, and monitor safety measures to ensure your working environment remains safe and controlled.

If you’d like to discuss your requirements in detail, please feel free to get in touch: 

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Filming On WATER

If you’re looking to shoot on/from the water, we can facilitate getting your camera department afloat, coordinate water action and reset between takes in order to get the shots you need.

From static camera positions to tracking vessels, crane platforms, lighting barges and SFX setups – we can tailor a support package to fit your requirements. 

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Floating Stage

Introducing the latest innovation in floating marine platforms...
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IN-WATER SUPPORT

If you’re looking to put cast or camera in the water, we have the capabilities to provide artist training, in-water support, and safety cover you’ll need to keep things running smoothly and safely on the day.
Amongst our team we have experienced operators and instructors with accreditations/affiliations with the following bodies:

If you’d like to discuss your requirements in detail, please feel free to get in touch: 

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planning / concepts

From testing concepts and ideas, to planning and consultancy throughout the production schedule, we can offer a range of services to guide marine filming projects from start to finish. 

Our planning and consultancy services include: 

  • Risk assessments and Method Statements
  • Location feasibility studies and tidal access reports
  • Advising on technical accuracy of scripted action
  • Arranging artist training 
  • Finding doubles / supporting artists with special skills
  • Sourcing hero/picture boats 

If you’d like to discuss your requirements in detail, please feel free to get in touch: 

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Licences & Permits

If you’re looking to film on managed waterways in the UK, you will need to ensure that the correct licences and permits are in place. We’ve included some preliminary information below about some of the most common licencing authorities and their requirements:

The Port of London Authority manages all commercial activity on the tidal Thames (from Southend to Teddington).

A filming licence is required for all commercial photography and filming, which is granted subject to the approval of the harbourmaster upon receipt of detailed navigational risk assessments and safety plans.

As one of Europe’s busiest ports, it comes as no surprise that there are a number of stringent requirements that commercial operations (including media/filming) on the tidal Thames must adhere to, and vessels operating commercially within central London require qualified skippers with Local Knowledge Endorsements due to the density of navigational hazards and boat traffic within this busy tidal port. 

For the use of picture boats (where these are not already licensed to operate commercially within the Port), there are additional vessel survey and licensing requirements, to ensure craft are fit for purpose and safe for use within the Port.

We have a proven track record of working closely with the PLA Corporate Affairs, Harbourmasters and Marine Services teams to safely facilitate the filming of boat-to-boat, boat-to-shore, action and stunts sequences within the Port.

https://www.pla.co.uk/Media-Centre/Filming-and-Promotions-on-the-Thames 

For filming activities on rivers owned/managed by the Environment Agency (EA), risk assessments, method statements and safety plans must be submitted in advance of an application for a filming licence. Any boats or craft used on EA waterways also require a vessel licence – this can be usually be achieved within 10 working days.

During/after periods of heavy rain, additional safety measures may be required to ensure that filming operations can proceed safely. In extreme circumstances, boat operations may have to be constrained/suspended where river flow rates exceed safe parameters for the proposed scope of operations.

Some sections of the river embankments and footpaths are owned by the EA. For filming activities where access is required to/from these areas, a separate locations agreement may be required.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency/about/media-enquiries

The Canal and River Trust (CRT) manage over 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales.

For filming locations within their managed waterways, risk assessments and works permits may be required, depending on the nature of the production requirements.

Access and egress can also pose a logistical challenge, and in some locations it may be necessary to utilise the waterways in order to transit large/heavy equipment or props by boat.

We have worked with CRT on several productions to provide coordination, safety, and specialist logistics solutions to facilitate safe and efficient filming operations in locations with restricted landside access.

For any activities involving swimming/immersion in stagnant or slow-moving water, we recommend that the water quality is sampled and tested in advance of filming operations to minimise risk of infection or illness. Sample analysis has a lead time of c. 1-2 weeks.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/media-centre/filming-and-photography/filming-location-fees

Construction activities that anchor or fix items to the seabed or riverbed require a permit from the Marine Management Organisation. Activities with a possible impact to local wildlife or ecosystems may require an Environmental Impact Assessment to be undertaken and submitted to the Environment Agency. In some circumstances, a Flood Risk Activity Permit may also be required.

These permits, licences, and assessments are primarily required for activities involving construction (including temporary works) and do not apply to most boat- or bank-based filming operations. Where filming activities involve construction, sufficient forward planning is required to ascertain the level of permissions required for the scope of operations. 

If you’d like to discuss your requirements in detail, please feel free to get in touch with us.

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