Northumbria graduates celebrate success at Royal Television Society Awards

Graduates from Northumbria University were recognised for their gold standard achievements in TV and film production after winning two awards at the prestigious Royal TV Society (RTS) regional awards.

The RTS awards, hosted at the Hilton, Gateshead, celebrates some of the best talent from the region’s television and media industry, attracting over 400 guests at a star-studded red-carpet ceremony.

‘The Sycamore Gap’ was written, directed and produced by Northumbria Film and TV Production graduates Lucy Wilson-Green and Sarah Talbot in their final year of study. The film won student categories for Best Drama and Best Writing, whilst another film ‘Secretion’, also written and directed by Sarah Talbot, was shortlisted in the top three for the Best Drama award.  

The short film follows the affair of a maid, the lady of the house and her husband, focusing on the power dynamic between the characters.

Speaking of their win, Lucy said: “We were very overwhelmed to have been nominated for the awards, let alone to come away having won two. It was so humbling to be recognised amongst such an esteemed group of individuals for our hard work.

“The university were really supportive throughout the process of making the film and were always available to offer critical feedback when needed, as well as their resources with regards to kit.

“The film was made on an incredibly low budget. We stitched some of costumes ourselves, props were bought from charity shops and so we were really overwhelmed when our work was recognised by the RTS because their organisation is so highly thought of.”

Neil Percival, Director of Placements and Employability for the Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences at Northumbria, said: “A period drama is a very brave undertaking, calling for a high level of commitment on everything from costumes to locations, but Lucy and Sarah really went the extra mile in their production, and it shows on screen. They are now going from strength to strength with their production company, Cool Girl Pictures, since graduating, and their latest film Peak has already started screening at film festivals.”

Presenting the awards was North East comedian and writer Jason Cook, with a host of famous faces in attendance including Kristel Buckley, Brenda Blethyn and Bill Ward along with TV presenters Pam Royle, Jeff Brown, Ian Payne and Simon McCoy.

James MacDonald, Programme Leader in Film and TV Production at Northumbria University said: “We were really pleased to see all three Northumbria Film and TV Production films nominated for RTS awards this year. Students who have really engaged with both their modules and the staff were able to produce some very strong and distinctive projects last year. It’s always encouraging to see very good creative and technical work with high production values being produced by graduating students. As a university the focus is to help students develop their critical, creative and imaginative skills so that they’re able to produce really high quality work, as evidenced by our success!”

For more information about Film and TV Production BA (Hons) course visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/film-and-tv-production-ba-hons-uusfvp1/