Film & TV Consultants
As with all WW editors, our film and TV consultants are chosen for their range and depth of industry experience. Our script consultants have worked for - among others - the BBC, ITV, Working Title, the Film Council, ABC, CBS, Miramax, Icon, Film4, Channel4, Media Europe and many others. They've won and been shortlisted for major awards and have taught at Birkbeck College, the Open University, the University of East Anglia and elsewhere.
They trust us to write scripts for them. You can trust us to take care of yours.
Georgie Baker
Georgie was previously Head of Development at Lynda La Plante's eponymous film company. Before that she was Development Executive at Cougar Films.
Georgie has worked for the BBC, ITV and Kudos - and has also worked as a literary agent and in publishing. Also, we're assured, she's the spitting image of Meryl Streep.
Favourite script: The West Wing (pilot) Favourite Film: Tell No One Favourite Actress: Emma Thompson / Meryl Streep Favourite Actor: Tom Hollander / Daniel Auteuil.
Daniel Cormack
Daniel was born in Lewisham, south east London and educated at Oxford University where he won an Academic Scholarship to study English. After graduating he trained at The Script Factory and the New Producers Alliance and worked as a script reader for, among others, the UK Film Council, Working Title Films, Sarah Radclyffe Productions, Ruby Films and Little Bird Films as well as in cinema exhibition at a number of independent, repertory and multiplex cinemas.
In 2004, he established Actaeon Films and went on to direct, produce and script edit three award-winning shorts which screened at major international film festivals and garnered critical acclaim in publications such as Hotdog and Time Out: his directorial debut Amelia and Michael (2007) starring Anthony Head which won the Tiscali Award at the Raindance Film Festival; A Fitting Tribute (2007) starring Sally Bretton which won a UK Film Council Completion Fund Award and premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival; and Nightwalking (2008) starring Raquel Cassidy.
Daniel made his broadcast and documentary debut for Channel 4 with Make Me a Tory (2007) which led the trade paper Broadcast to name him a Hot Shot in the directing category and he was subsequently selected for the London Film Festival's elite talent development initiative Think-Shoot-Distribute. Daniel is on the board of the Directors Guild of Great Britain is a former board member of the New Producers Alliance and the Writers, Producers and Directors Branch of the union BECTU.
Favourite script: Memento Favourite Film: The Graduate Favourite Actress: Marlene Dietrich Favourite Actor: Jack Nicholson
Erin Cramer
Erin is a screenwriter who has had projects in development with Working Title, BBC Films, Celador, Ecosse, Hart Sharp, Wildgaze Films, Finola Dwyer Productions, Wall to Wall, and other companies. Her short film, Bad Bosses Go to Hell, was produced by Killer Films and has sold widely. She teaches screenwriting at Met Film School and London Film School.
Erin’s background is in documentaries, and she has been a producer and/or writer for programs on Adolf Hitler, The Black Panthers, Groucho Marx, the Watergate break-in, Brigitte Bardot, and George Wallace for ABC, the Arts and Entertainment Network and CBS. She also wrote and produced Cokie Roberts’ I is for Italy segment for ABC’s Emmy award-winning Millennium broadcast. For many years, Erin was also a member of The V-Girls, a New York-based comic performance group. The V-Girls performed at universities, museums, and galleries across the U.S. and in Europe. In addition, she wrote and directed four plays and several award-winning art videos.
Favourite script: Sideways Favourite Film: Umbrellas of Cherbourg Favourite Actress: Barbara Stanwyck Favourite Actor: James Stewart.
Sian Evans
Sian began her career as a literary translator and then moved into writing original drama. Her plays and translations have been produced at many of the most important venues in the UK, including The National Theatre, Britain's most prestigious theatre.
She now concentrates on film and television, and has written over thirty hours of broadcast network TV, including episodes of the major UK dramas, Touching Evil, Peak Practice, Where The Heart Is, Casualty etc. She has also written & sold her own one-off dramas and a series, Hereafter for the largest commercial network in the UK, involving major British TV stars. She's currently writing a new series based on the Irish community in Cape Town.
She also lectures on screenwriting at Britain's leading creative writing school, the University of East Anglia. She currently lives in Norwich, England with her two children and an assortment of pets.
Favourite script: Don't Look Now or Ma Nuit Chez Maude Favourite Film: The Piano Teacher or Hidden or The Sweet Hereafter Favourite Actress: Isabelle Huppert or Laura Linney Favourite Actor: Bruno Ganz or Philip Seymour Hoffman Biggest Character Flaw: Having Things Both Ways or Indecision.
Liz Garner
Liz has worked on the scriptreading board at Miramax in London, and subsequently was Head of Development at Gorgeous, an independent film production company. She now freelances for a number of outfits, including the Irish Film Development Board.
Liz is also a prize-winning writer in her own right. Her first novel Nightdancing (from Hodder Headline) was short-listed for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award and also for the Pendleton May First Novel Award. Her second novel, Edgar Jones, is forthcoming from the same publishers.
She is currently writing a screenplay for a noted UK features director, with production scheduled for 2009.
Favourite script: Memento or Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind Favourite Film: The Conversation or 2001 or American Beauty Favourite Actress: Cate Blanchett Favourite Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Pauline Kiernan
Pauline is a commisioned screenwriter, award-winning playright and Shakespear scholar. Her latest feature screenplay, an epic love story commisioned by an independent Hollywood producer, is now in development. She is the author of Screenwriting They Can't Resist.
Favourite scripts: A Streetcar Named Desire and All About My Mother Favourite Films: Brokeback Mountain for visuals and character; Pulp Fiction for dialogue; The Lives of Others for structure; Some Like it Hot for Everything! Favourite Actress: Jeanne Moreau Favourite Actor: Javier Bardem
Jane Purcell (radio drama & comedy)
Jane used to work in children’s books at Random House, but left to travel the world. Since then she has written sketch comedy for radio (The Way It Is on Radio 4) and television, (Smack the Pony for Channel 4 and The Sketch Show for ITV/Baby Cow).
She has written several plays and series for BBC Radio 4, including Beryl du Jour, Whoosh! and a five-part Woman’s Hour series for Radio 4, Cooking for Michael Collins. The Guardian described it as 'gripping’, and the Financial Times said 'Jane Purcell's retelling of the story of Pidgie Rigney ... is immediately gripping... Riveting.' Her next Woman’s Hour series was about the history of girls comics, 43 Years in the Third Form. The Telegraph said it was 'funny, ingenious and evocative.'
Jane has a comedy series optioned by ITV and is currently rewriting it for the ten millionth time while her producer stands over her with a big stick. She is also an Associate Lecturer with the Open University, and tutor on its Advanced Creative Writing Course. Her mother says her tea towels are ‘an absolute disgrace.’
Favourite script: Fargo Favourite Film: Trading Places Favourite Actress: Kathy Bates Favourite Actor: William H Macy
Jeremy Sheldon
Jeremy is an experienced film consultant, writing tutor and novelist. In addition to writing two books, The Comfort Zone and The Smiling Affair (both Jonathan Cape), Jeremy has seven years experience as a consultant for a number of film production companies including Miramax, Working Title, Film Four, Icon Entertainment and Material Entertainment. In addition to this, he has worked as a script editor for the Irish Filmboard and a number of other clients and is currently (co)writing his first screenplay as well as completing his third novel, a thriller titled The Stars of Kashmir.
Jeremy is also a regular tutor for the Arvon Foundation and teaches both at Imperial College and on the MA in Creative Writing program at Birkbeck College, University of London where he runs a workshop specifically focused on Narrative & Genre. He doesn't really look like Robert de Niro, and he isn't a vicar.
Favourite script: The Usual Suspects Favourite Film: Taxi Driver Favourite Actor: Robert de Niro Favourite Actress: Meryl Streep
Jon Spira
Jon graduated from the Scottish Film School in Edinburgh in 1999 and went on to spend several years working as a jobbing screenwriter. He was a staff writer on cult Canadian sci-fi show LEXX and went on to write various shows for Thames TV and the BBC.
He has written feature film scripts for Manga Live, Palm Pictures and a multitude of shady independent producers. He has taught the UK Film Council Screenwriting course since 2004 in Oxford where he also owns a chain of independent DVD rental stores, an independent DVD label and a production company. Anyone Can Play Guitar (directed by Jon Spira) was released on 4th Octobe 2011.
Favourite script: The Graduate Favourite Film: Midnight Run Favourite Actor: Young Dustin Hoffman Favourite Actress: Dustin Hoffman (in Tootsie, obviously).
Amber Trentham
Amber graduated from Oxford University in 1998 where she read Greats. She worked as a fiction editor for a few years before focusing on freelance script reading and editing for Working Title Films, ICM, UK Film Council and Gorgeous Films. In 2004-5 she completed the screenwriting MA at LCP and then began her career as a screenwriter.
Her commissioned feature scripts include: DEAD DEVIL DONKEY, Produced by Alan Moloney, executive producer Steve Golin, To be directed by Tom Carty. THE MADOLESCENTS, Adapted from the novel The Madolescents by Chrissie Glazebrook, Produced by David Barron and Stevie Lee, To be directed by Aisling Walsh, Commissioned by The Film Council Development Fund AVAILABLE LIGHT Produced by Altered Image, To be directed by Tom Carty, Media Europe development award. UFO Produced by Gorgeous Films and Chris Clark, To be directed by Chris Palmer FUTURE PERFECT Produced by Gorgeous Films, To be directed by Chris Palmer
Amber has also run two screenwriting festivals in Marrakech as part of the Arts in Marrakech Festival, and children’s screenwriting workshops for the House of Fairy Tales traveling art circus. Amber is represented by Jodi Shields at Casarotto Ramsay and Associates.
Favourite script: Chinatown or Amores Perros Favourite Film: Bladerunner or Paris texas or Badlands Favourite Actor: Harry Dean Stanton Favourite Actress: Julie Christie
