After a competitive assessment process, ten talented Midlands-based writers were selected to develop their short film scripts as part of our Stories to Shorts Programme.
The lab led by BIFA and BAFTA-nominated writer and Script Editor Laura Tunbridge took place at the end of 2024 and has led to ten diverse and brilliant screenplays from exciting new Midlands talent.
The cohort received guidance on refining concepts, structure, character development, writing dialogue, creating treatments and pitching documents for short films before each working one-on-one with their designated Script Editor to develop and finalise their screenplay over several weeks.
Stories to Shorts is ran in partnership with BFI Film Academy.
Many of these projects are still looking for the rest of their creative team, and so if you are interested in connecting with these writers please contact us at BFINETWORK@filmhubmidlands.org
Read on to learn more about the talent and their exciting projects.
Noor Sobka
USdiqa means friends
A young North African girl realising her mum is just a girl. This short follows the journeys of mother and daughter Najla and Duaa through the mending and rebuilding of a seemingly unrepairable relationship resulting in mutual love and respect.
Noor is a Screen and Theatre writer with a particular interest in Comedy. Noor's work centres around telling stories about people from the MENA region. Noor is supported artist at Sheffield Theatres and has been a part of various programmes including Soho Theatre’s writing programme and The Old Vic Theatre Makers programme. Noor is also a trained Dramaturg and script reader.
Rosie Blackadder
The Pit
When self-hating music producer Greg micro-doses a strong batch of magic mushrooms, his coal miner grandfather materialises to take him down The Pit, forcing him to confront the painful relationship with his Dad and accept his working class ancestors
Rosie Blackadder is an emerging female writer from Northamptonshire. After training at the University of Birmingham, her comedic and often female-led work has been long-listed for national Sitcom Awards. performed live and described as “Over-the-top, sharp, timely and non-stop funny” (Tulpa). Her comedy play Higher Ups recently received funding from Arts Council England and was described as “A laugh-out-loud hilarious and brilliant take on the entertainment industry, influence and power" by the Papatango Prize 2024. It debuts at the Old Red Lion Theatre in January 2025.
Her short film project The Pit is written for animation.
Elisabeth Saysell Hughes
The Bard
A middling murderer begins to experience impostor syndrome when a more successful serial-killer moves into his area.
Elisabeth Saysell Hughes is a screenwriter and director based in the UK. She has worked with the BFI several times, making her directorial debut with the 2021 short film Paper Trails, which was fully funded by BFI Film Academy in Nottingham. Later, Elisabeth went on to win a place in the competitive BFI Screenwriting Residential, where her monologue Do Lovers Dream As Lovers Do? was written and then filmed in collaboration with CTVC. In 2024, Elisabeth attended Aesthetica Film Festival as part of her role in the BFI Network ‘Stories to Shorts Midlands’ cohort, where the creation of her short film screenplay The Bard has been overseen by BAFTA – and BIFA – nominated industry professionals.
Currently, Elisabeth is working on her feature length play Dirty Business, which explores the depths and negative moral consequences of paparazzi culture. At the weekends, she also gives tours of the set of Coronation Street, and still has never quite found the right footwear to battle the cobbles.
Francesca Millican Slater
Floating Gold
A landlocked girl who loves water but cannot swim takes a trip to a
fishery and falls for a carp.
Francesca is a writer, performer & dramaturg/ director. Her shows have been co- produced and commissioned by Birmingham Rep (Forensics of a Flat, Stories to Tell in the Middle of the Night) New Vic Stoke (Gold!) & HLF Funding Bid Pity of War (My Dearest Girls. Stories to Tell played to critical acclaim at Edinburgh Fringe ('* * * * The Stage & The Scotsman) playing across the West Midlands on the Sir Barry Jackson Tour. Stories To Tell was developed into a series of BSL videos, bookwork and podcast with over 11,000 downloads to date. Francesca has been commissioned by Duckie & Fierce Festival (Princess Promenade) The National Trust (Blossom in Birmingham, 2022) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (The Visited Orchard) Wiltshire Creative (Imber: You Walk Through, 2018) & Penned in the Margins. She has been artist in residence at The National Waterways Museum and Warwickshire Archives. She was director and co-writer on The Trauma Show and Life is No Laughing Matter by Demi Nandhra. She has toured nationally with her critically acclaimed show 'Me, Myself & Miss Gibbs' ('Beguiling'-The Observer). She is usually somewhere trying to get in water (puddle, stream or pool).
Owain Paciuszko
Ellipsis
Refusing to accept the loss of her best friend, Carly's grip on reality begins to shake as a message from the beyond makes her question whether there's life after death.
Owain Paciuszko is a writer and filmmaker who grew up in Cornwall and now lives in Derbyshire.
In 2024 his micro-short film ‘My Place’ was voted ‘Best Film’ by the judges at the 2024 O-Region Roughcut 60 Second Filmmaking Challenge, won Best Micro Short Comedy at the Folkestone Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Micro Short at the Wolverhampton Film Festival.
His short film ‘Revenger’ – shot on a 20 year old camcorder - screened at festivals around the Greater Manchester area, and he completed the Super 8 short 'North Western Blood' for the annual Straight 8 filmmaking contest.
Prior to this he has created visuals for the Longdendale Tales podcast series, assembled a three hour experimental film for the live music performance 'As Below So Above' performed at The Festival Sessions in Hayfield, directed the short film 'Adam Meet Eve' in 2017, and music videos for acts such as Los Campesinos!, Oxygen Thief, Aidan Smith & His Indulgent Friends, Attack + Defend, and Non Canon.
He also runs the cult film night Glossop Cinema Club and is part of the events collective The Black Circle.
He used to play in the punk bands Baaneex and Giant Burger, and performed stand-up comedy - often pretending to be a cat.
Ryan Gilmartin
Where The Buffalo Went
Jack is determined to catch a local flytipper before Big School Starts, and like all good sheriffs capture them “Dead or Alive”. "Where the Buffalo Went" is a hopeful take on working class agency, parenthood & empowerment within the climate crisis.
Ryan Gilmartin is a proud Yellowbelly from South Lincolnshire and award-winning writer & actor.
First winning the 2019 Boundless Theatre Accelerator Award for the play “This is Not London” & then awarded four grants by Arts Council England plus commissions from the likes of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
His Dad worked nights in a food factory & his uncle is a tractor mechanic, so he’s grown up immersed in rural working class life & eating lots of free coleslaw.
Ryan himself has been a security officer at Manchester Airport & a Youth Worker.
His first short, St.Nowhere, filmed & set on-location in a marsh in South Lincolnshire, has been selected for 5 film festivals including Manchester Film Festival.
Alongside “Where The Buffalo Went”, Ryan is developing a gig-theatre play about Lincolnshire football clubs soundtracked by nostalgic FIFA songs.
Rebecca Farmer
Red
The Red Thread of Fate, known as Red, guides a girl along her journey to meet her soulmate; with a few challenges on the way.
Having a background in Animation Production for most of Rebecca’s professional career, this is her first foray into the world of writing and production of short films.
Rebecca studied Animation at Norwich University of the Arts, and, in the last 5 years, moved into Animation Production, where she is currently at Production Coordinator level.
She has experience within the VFX industry, Feature Film Animation and Animated Children Series.
Zhané Pryce
Check In
A hotel employee who suspects a guest is being trafficked must decide whether to act and risk everything, or stay silent for the sake of her job
Zhané is a Midlands-based writer and director passionate about telling stories that spotlight underrepresented characters. She gained experience t writing and directing Midday as part of the BBC New Creatives scheme and is now developing a slate of shorts.
Nathan Ivery
Scum
Earnie Fintch says goodbye to his friend Samantha for the last time, who lives beneath a swimming pool, but Samantha has other plans.
My name is Nathan, a lover of all things strange and weird and love to write things that reflect that, in my spare time you can often find me down at the cinema or with my nose in a good book. Being a part of the Stories to Shorts cohort has been an amazing opportunity for me to get back into writing and learn from industry professionals. Thanks to the BFI's Script to Stories programme I have rediscovered my confidence in writing along with my passion.
Sam Reynolds
Do Not Go Gentle
The Grim Reaper meets its match in a cantankerous slob.
Still limited by the need for a live audience, Sam purchased a camcorder and transitioned into filmmaking. Budget was no cap on ambition, and under the banner of Minty Badger Productions, over 50 shorts and a feature-length spy thriller were released.
Upon finishing school, Sam set his sights on working in film and television. Through stacking shelves and making puddings, he bought his own equipment and taught himself the craft of filmmaking. By 19, Sam was making content for Coventry Rugby Club and soon after would start his own videography and photography business, suitably titled: Minty Badger Productions.
Sam ultimately achieved his goal of working in television, initially as a runner and later as a camera assistant. However, he has since stepped back from the long hours and unpredictable lifestyle of television work in order to refocus on writing and directing.
