Prestigious television awards recognise Leeds Beckett filmmaking talent

Former student and part-time Lecturer Sue Everett, has been shortlisted in the Writer category for BBC detective drama series, Hinterland; whilst documentary series, India’s Frontier Railways, which features the work of several Leeds Beckett graduates and staff, has received three nominations: for Factual Series, Professional Excellence: Post-Production, and for Director-Factual for the programme, The Last Train in Nepal.

India’s Frontier Railways was produced by Gerry Troyna, who studied Film at Leeds Beckett’s predecessor institution, Leeds College of Art and then Leeds Polytechnic, graduating in 1971. Associate Producer, Jenny Troyna, was a Leeds Polytechnic Illustration student also graduating in 1971. The series was recently broadcast as part of the BBC India season.

Gerry Troyna is an award-winning filmmaker who has been making films and documentaries for over 30 years for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and broadcasters around the world. These include two award-winning investigations for Panorama – Secrets of Seroxat and The Corruption of Racing.

Speaking about the nominations, Gerry said: “India’s Frontier Railways has been very well-received and it’s really great to receive these nominations. In the last month, one of our cameramen, Apal Singh, won an Award of Excellence from the UK Guild of Television Cameramen for his work on the series which was fantastic news and I am delighted that we now also have three nominations in the RTS awards.”

The list of Leeds Beckett graduates working on the series is extensive: two of the three films in the series were edited by Martin John Harris, Head of Documentary at the Northern Film School; and Director and Cameraman, Rajesh Shinde, is a 2012 MA Filmmaking graduate. The editor of the Pakistan film, Stephen Shone, graduated in 1987 with a degree in Film; and both the Producer of the Pakistan film, Shamraiz Younis, and Post-Production Supervisor, Ian Pinder, graduated with a BA (Hons) Film and Moving Image Production in 2004 and 2010 respectively. Two current students at the time, who graduated last year, Ben Perez (BA (Hons) Filmmaking) and Ben Sayers (MA Filmmaking), also worked as Assistant Editors on the series.

Gerry explained: “I’ve known Martin since we worked at the BBC together many years ago and I’ve edited several documentaries with Martin and with Stephen Shone. Rajesh has worked with me for over a decade on my films in India and I was delighted when he came to Leeds Becket University to do his MA.

“Ian came recommended by Martin and we subsequently travelled across the USA in a Winnebago for the award-winning documentary, American Nomads. On India’s Frontier Railways, Ian was in charge of post-production. Ben Perez and Ben Sayers were both looking for work experience and were also recruited through Martin. Working on a documentary series such as this involves a lot of editing time: with crews in four countries, there were a thousand hours of rushes! Ben and Ben were initially taking shifts to work through the night – but getting some great experience of what it’s like to work in this industry. It took over three months to edit each programme.”

Martin Harris added: “Ben Perez and Ben Sayers have now finished their courses and both got full-time editing jobs straight away. Working on Gerry’s series helped this as we used the Avid editing system favoured by industry. In fact, when Ben Sayers got his first job at Envy, a large post-production company in Soho, he was told that he was chosen out of 200 applicants because of his knowledge of Avid software. Similarly, Ben Perez impressed the company he now works for, Love Productions (who make The Great British Bake-Off), with his knowledge of Avid.”

Speaking about his time working on India’s Frontier Railways, Gerry said: “It was a very difficult series because borders, such as the India/Pakistan border, are very sensitive areas. We had to deal with various departments including the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Border Security Force, and many more, to gain permissions in all countries. We had to persuade them that our intentions were honourable and, with all the rules and regulations – such as not being able to film on bridges in India – it was touch-and-go; but finally everything came together. There is a large investment in making a series like this in terms of time and money – we had 100 people working in teams in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, but if you can’t get the permissions you need it’s a major problem. So…..when I could say ‘It’s a wrap’ …….that was a real highlight - and a relief!”

Sue Everett, Part-time Lecturer in Screenwriting at the Northern Film School and a graduate from Leeds Beckett University with a BA (Hons) Illustration degree from 1987 and an MA in Screenwriting from 1991, wrote a 90-minute episode of the BBC One series, Hinterland, which stars Richard Harrington as tortured DCI Tom Mathias.

Sue explained: “I was really excited to be working on Hinterland, as it gave me the chance to write a 90-minute film for television, and see it shooting within the same year. That was also the biggest challenge - coming up with the crime idea and making that work within the structure of a TV series, with a production deadline looming before the script was written. It was an intense process, and I lived with Welsh accents in my head for over a year!

“The highlights for me were all my trips to Wales - particularly when we were location scouting, as that then fed into the work, by writing scenes set in real places that I had seen. Actually being at my desk writing was the work part - going on mini-adventures, and then to the shoot, was the fun of it.”

Speaking about the award nomination, Sue said: “I'm delighted to have been nominated for an RTS Yorkshire Award. The quality of nominees, including one of my favourite writers, Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley), made me go ‘wow’. I still can't quite believe it, and am thrilled that Hinterland has been so well-received.”

Sue is now working on a true crime project for television: “It's a case that changed legal history in the UK, and covers a 17 year period. I've been in research and development with it since last August - and am about to start writing the scripts. Because of the way that I work, which is pretty intense, I normally only work on one writing project at a time - though I have other projects on the back-burner, including a couple of feature film scripts and a novel.”

The RTS Yorkshire Awards celebrate excellence in production across all platforms. From traditional television output such as documentary and drama, through to news and current affairs, and the latest cutting edge formats, animation and multi-platform. The awards will take place at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Friday 24 June.

Andrew Fryer, Head of the School of Film, Music & Performing Arts at Leeds Beckett University, said: “This recognition of the achievements of our extraordinarily talented staff and students, both in our Northern Film School and across the wider School of Film, Music and Performing Arts, continues to celebrate our impact nationally and internationally. We will be cheering them on at the award ceremony on the 24th of June.”

Additionally, BBC drama, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, has received several nominations. Dance students, Alex Mettam and Jemma Broomhead appeared in the series, with Phoenix Dance Theatre, in the dream sequences of Lady Pole. The series has been nominated in the categories of Drama (an awarded sponsored by our University), Filmed in Yorkshire, Professional Excellence in Production, Professional Excellence in Post-Production, and Animation and/or Special Effects.

Top image l-r: Suraj Singh, Assistant Cameraman, Apal Singh, Director of Photography, Rajesh Shinde, Director.