As well as writing, I’m also a freelance filmmaker, mostly as a video editor, and mostly for documentary. Over the years I’ve found that writing and filmmaking are perfect partners, with each medium generating new perspectives and ideas in the other; ultimately this is all about stories and storytelling, whether I’m working with paper and pen or Avid and Premiere. Being a man of many hats, I also make films as a screenwriter, script editor, producer and occasionally director.
MA Film Production (Distinction) | University of Bristol
John Yorke Story Advanced Structure
Maggie – writer
Thrilled with this – I’m the writer of multi-award-winning short horror Maggie, now hosted on Youtube by horror channel Alter. Director James Kennedy did an incredible job with this – keep it quiet, but we might well be cooking up something else together…
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Red Needle – editor, writer, co-director
Ultra-runner Sarah Gerrish lost an ovary to cancer at 15 and the second to a cyst at 36. Red Needle maps her road to recovery through surgical menopause, asking what she’s running from – and where she’s running to. Commissioned by Run the Alps and On. Supported by OMM.
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Impact rebrand – editor, writer, co-producer
Editor and writer for Impact’s rebranding film, working with director Dom Bush at Land & Sky. This was a complex brief and a huge creative challenge – I’m really proud of what we made.
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Hand To God | RCS BA Acting showcase 2023 – editor
Hand To God is one of 25 scenes I cut for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s annual BA Acting showcase. Taken from the play of the same name by Robert Askins, starring Tucker St Ivany, directed by Finn Den Hertog and David Hayman Jr.
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Propellor presents FLIGHT – editor
Soaring and sublime, Propellor’s sonic exploration of birds and sound takes in climate change, fatherhood and flight – an otherworldly audio-visual experience.
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The Potter’s Field – writer, director, editor, producer
The Potter’s Field: a place of betrayal, belonging and mercy. When itinerant worker Mish brings her young son to meet his father for the first time, she finds a dying man begging for forgiveness. As her son settles into the routines of life with his estranged family, Mish is forced to question her pride, her anger and her guilt. When at last she has to choose, will she stay — or will she go?
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Blackthorn – editor
For father, poet and dry stone waller Sam Robinson, resistance is the honesty of work and words. Sam plies the thousand-year-old craft of dry stone walling in Cumbria, working in all weathers to make and maintain the lie of the land. His philosophy is one of protest, pride and authenticity — the counter-vision to a Britain bound in consumerism, the people removed from the work that once grounded their communities.
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Nowt But A Fleeting Thing – editor
Nowt but a fleeting thing: a film about a young farmer’s connection to the land, his animals and a changing world in the north of England. Battling against unsustainable farming methods and an unenthusiastic market, Adam Crowe continues to work on two neighbouring farms while fighting to launch his own business and breed a flock of sheep. In rural Britain, the threat of poverty is often frighteningly close.
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Take Me Back To Manchester – editor, writer, co-director
Take Me Back To Manchester is a short documentary about elephants, comics and walking. In April 1872, a lion tamer called Lorenzo Lawrence bought an elephant called Maharajah at an auction in Edinburgh, Scotland. He then spent 10 days walking it more than 200 miles to Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester, England. In April 2015, cartoonist Oliver East set out to recreate the journey, walking more than 20 miles a day along the exact same route and drawing as he walked, to research his new graphic novel about Lorenzo and Maharajah. This film tells both their stories, exploring dyslexia, history, shin splints and some of the UK’s most striking landscapes along the way.
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Kendal Mountain Festival- 2020 Trailer ‘Only Weather’ – editor, writer, co-director
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Countless Connections – Kendal Mountain Festival – editor, writer, co-director
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A Spark In The Dark – Kendal Mountain Festival 2017 – editor, script editor
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Journey Man – editor
A journeyman is a craftsman that takes to the road to ply their craft in exchange for board and lodgings. This film for Champ De Manoeuvres documents Ted’s story, as he found out if this thousand year old tradition could still be done in 2016.
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The Ant & The Whale – An ALPKIT Mountain Journal Short – editor
Based on a conversation between Dom Bush and Ian Almond about mountains and identity. Filmed in Torridon on Fionn Buttress and An Teallach.
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Rising — a film about flooding – editor
Storm Desmond devastated the land and communities of Glenridding and Patterdale. This short documentary explores the human cost of flooding.
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BOSSYKING – Colours – editor
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Seven Seals – Plan of Salvation – director, editor
Plan of Salvation is the second marathon video taken from the As Above So Below EP by ludicrously talented seditious Cumbrian psychedelic synth punks Seven Seals. We filmed it over 18 months – EIGHTEEN MONTHS – in a variety of locations across Cumbria and the Lake District. It was shot on Canon 550d with about a million vintage lenses (I spent a lot of that year buying and selling my way towards some Pentax beauties). The animation is by Martyn Gutteridge. The film burns are from Gorilla Grains.
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Handbrake Shirley | Sun Comes Up – editor
Loved cutting this live video of Handbrake Shirley doing their thing at a mini-festival deep in rural Cumbria.
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Dan Haywood — I’ve Got Heaven At My Door – editor
I’ve been wanting to cut something with archive footage for a while, then happened upon The Plow That Broke The Plains. Add in some A-bomb footage, and bingo. I’m lucky to have a friend in nu-folk maestro Dan Haywood, who let me play with his song I’ve Got Heaven At My Door. It comes from his gorgeous record Dapple. Check it out on http://www.danhaywood.net/
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ALPKIT 55 Hours – Hurly Burly
An ALPKIT short in association with The Outdoor Swimming Society
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The Creative Connection
The colour and creativity of Staveley Carnival, the Bridge Opening and Wearable Arts show featuring carnival co-creator Shelley Barlow.
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Simon Sylvester 