BARNEY PELL SCHOLES

Bio

Barney Pell Scholes is a writer and filmmaker from Liverpool. He co-wrote the script for GROWN IN THE DARK, an animated short film that has been selected for funding through the BFI 2022 Short Film Fund. He wrote and co-directed OURSELVES ALONE, a live-action short film that was selected for multiple international film festivals, and has been nominated in two categories at The 2022 British Short Film Awards.

His script THE HAUNTED VIOLIN was a short screenplay finalist at the 2021 Waterford International Film Festival. He also has a feature script in development with a major production company. Alongside his scriptwriting and filmmaking, he works as a freelance script and book reader for several television production companies. Before becoming a scriptwriter, Barney had a career working in politics for pro-European campaigns, a Labour MP, and a green energy consultancy.

Ben Norris

Bio

Ben is a writer and performer from Nottingham. His first short film, SEND HER VICTORIOUS, was made for Channel 4’s Random Acts ‘First Acts’ stream in 2015. It saw Ben nominated for Best New Talent at the 2016 Midlands Royal Television Society Awards.

His most recent poetry pamphlet ‘Some Ending’ was published by Verve Poetry Press in 2019 and he was a UK National Poetry Slam Champion in 2013 and 2017.

His debut one-man show, ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Family’, won the IdeasTap Underbelly Award at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, before touring the UK in 2016, including a sell-out run at the Southbank Centre, and finishing at the Adelaide Fringe in 2018. He wrote the monologues for the Olivier-nominated hit musical ‘Choir of Man’, and originated the main role at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 and on the West End in 2021. He is a former Writer-in-Residence at Theatr Clwyd (2017) and Nottinghamshire Libraries (2018-19), and former Creative Associate at Nottingham Playhouse (2018-2021). He currently has two plays in development, ‘The Distance’ and ‘Autopilot’, which have respectively been supported by the Roundhouse, Nottingham Playhouse, In Good Company, Theatr Clwyd, the Yard Theatre and the Bush Theatre.

BFI NETWORK short: GIRL ON GIRL

Based in: Nottingham, London Contact: chloeculpin2@gmail.com Producer

BFI NETWORK short: NOT DARK YET

Based in: London Contact: darta.vijgrieze@gmail.com