Creative Writer graduate gets award for first film
4 January 2017
One year after completing the Creative Writing Masters, a Cardiff University graduate wins prestigious award for first short film.
In a busy year following her graduation, young scriptwriter Jodie Kay Ashdown has gained a coveted place on a leading TV industry workshop and collected Best Film for her first short film.
Jodie, 31, completed her MA in Creative Writing at the University in 2015. In the 12 months since graduation, she successfully pitched a haunting drama as part of It’s My Shout, a series of short films made by up-and-coming Welsh film-makers, supported by BBC Wales and S4C and sponsored by the Arts Council of Wales.
The resulting short film Leonard’s Neighbours went on to take Best Film in the 2016 It’s My Shout Awards.
In the same year the young trail-blazer was chosen from over a thousand people to gain on one of the 50 places on The Network, the free intensive introduction to working in the TV industry, run by the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
“2016 has turned my path in a completely different direction, one which I had not anticipated: scripts. After rewriting one of the short stories from my MA thesis as a script on the off-chance it might be long listed, I spent a few days last summer watching it being filmed and produced by the BBC” explains Jodie.
“Since then, I’ve started work on my first full length script (a TV drama pilot about surfing) and found work as a script editor. I also have a few more projects on the go and some exciting plans for 2017. Hopefully this year will bring back more awards for Leonard’s Neighbours and perhaps more of my work being produced.”
A published poet and short story writer, alumna Jodie Kay Ashdown has also seen her work performed on stage and radio. Currently Script Editor with Tree Top Films, Jodie is one of four writers across Wales to be involved with the cARTrefu arts project in association with Age Cymru.
Award-winning short film Leonard’s Neighbours about a recluse and the traumatic childhood events stirred up by noisy tenants aired on BBC 2 Wales in December 2016.