Estuary On Film – Introducing our Filmmakers

Estuary on Film

The Winners Announced

The winners of the inaugural Estuary on Film – a regional talent development opportunity delivered by Screen South in partnership with Creative Estuary – can now be revealed.

Charlie Tidmas, George Morgan, Natalie Mitchell & Vickie Donoghue and Yero Timi-Biu will now see their creative and thought-provoking proposals for short films be realised thanks to a £20,000 fund from Creative Estuary.

The initiative is designed to further strengthen partnerships and connections across the Estuary, demonstrating its growth as a creative industries cluster and the wealth of talent in the region amongst our emerging and established filmmakers. The opportunity to make a short film which presents unique stories and diverse perspectives from the area will also act as a showcase of the breadth of the Estuary’s creative potential.

"This project really showcases the Thames Estuary’s growth as a nationally significant creative industries cluster and celebrates the abundance of talent we have here. It also exemplifies our vision for the Creative Estuary co-commissioning programme, to enable bold, ambitious work to be made with and for the communities of the Estuary."
Emma Wilcox
Creative Estuary’s Director

Introducing the Estuary On Film Commissions

Given a brief of putting forward fresh and innovative proposals for an equal share of the funding, the emerging Estuary-based filmmakers, writers, actors, and directors were tasked with reflecting core characteristics of the Thames Estuary region; diversity, ideas, and themes that really matter to local communities and originality. The winning entries certainly hit the mark.

“The four commissions represent a chance for audiences to hear from new voices, as well as more experienced filmmakers who have compelling ideas with visual storytelling, which is exciting and memorable. We came across a lot of very good filmmaking talent the area. Some of them are already making films, while others have yet to reach their full creative potential yet but now, with Creative Estuary’s funding and encouragement these talented local filmmakers can develop their ideas and start their creative journey in a supportive and nurturing environment.”
Jo Nolan
Screen South MD

Charlie Tidmas - Ceremony

Charlie received the first MA Distinction grade in MetFilm School history in his specialism of Screenwriting; his graduation feature film script placed in international competitions including the Academy Nicholl Fellowship. He works as a script reader for BBC Writersroom Open Call & BFI NETWORK's film funds. He has been selected for the BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew talent development programme for 2021 as a BAFTA Mentee and has recently finished shooting a short film as writer-director which was commissioned by BFI NETWORK.

Writer/director Charlie Tidmas’ Ceremony is about a young trans man, who is hounded by a gang of men seemingly out for his blood in an unusual ceremony of acceptance, masculinity, and integration into their tribe.

George Morgan - The Red Ball

George Morgan is an Essex-based artist-filmmaker who has worked with RADA, BBC Arts, Screen South and on numerous Arts Council England-funded projects. George has recently written and directed an animated, semi-autobiographical short film called ‘The Red Ball” as well as being in the process of developing video art projects and horror films with other creatives. George tends to gravitate towards stories that unapologetically explore the intersectionality of marginalised experiences through historical and contemporary narratives. The growing exploration of my ancestral roots uncovers an influx of hidden stories, people and places that will inevitably bring previous empires and current institutions into a dramatic form with an investigative exploration at the heart of it.

The Red Ball, by writer/director George Morgan revolves around the story of a second-generation Black British teen who is forced to migrate from Brixton across the Estuary towards Essex and subsequently confront his attitude towards grief following a family tragedy.

Natalie Mitchell & Vickie Donoghue -
Halfway Between the Land and Sea

Vickie Donoghue and Natalie Mitchell are a writing partnership from Kent and Essex. Their recent joint projects include the Tinniswood Award nominated audio drama The Piper and a TV adaptation of the novel the Emergency Zoo for Red Planet Pictures. Vickie’s other credits include the Evening Standard Award nominated play Mudlarks; an adaptation of The Witchfinders Sister for the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch; and The Gift for Radio 4. Natalie’s other credits include the Writer’s Guild Award nominated play Germ Free Adolescent; When They Go Low for the National Theatre Connections programme; and over thirty episodes of BBC EastEnders.

In Halfway Between the Land and Sea we meet Unworldly Shaun, who has never left Essex before; but when an unexpected trip on the Tilbury-Gravesend Ferry opens up his mind and viewpoint, he begins to see more clearly where he’s from, and more importantly, where he could go. The script is the work of the writers Vickie Donoghue and Natalie Mitchell, working with director Scott Hurran.

Yero Timi-Biu - Essex Girls

Yero Timi-Biu is a writer-director for TV and film with projects for BBC, Channel 4, BFI, Audible, and has been a staff writer on original shows for Sky One and Netflix (US). Her award-winning short films SIGNS and BENEATH THE SURFACE have played at international festivals such as Encounters, Aesthetica, Animation Block Party. Yero's film '0.5%' was commissioned by Screen South/BBC Arts and was released on iPlayer in 2022. Continuing her BBC Arts relationship, Yero directed the first one-hour episode of THE READ released in April 2022. Yero has original shows in development with various independent companies including a semi-autobiographical ten-parter drama with BBC Three and was one of Edinburgh TV Festival's prestigious 'Ones to Watch' for 2020/2021.

Busayo Ige is a British actress and writer of Nigerian heritage based in Essex. She graduated from the Birmingham City University with a degree in English and Drama, and trained at the Identity School of Acting. Her experience on screen includes two Screen Nation Award nominated series, and she won ‘Favourite Actress’ for the web series SUFFERING in 2020. Busayo has also featured as the lead in multiple short films and her recent stage credits include playing Jasmine in the sold out play ‘Wright Brothers’ at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, and ‘That Face’ at Oxford House. Based on her real life adolescence, ESSEX GIRLS is Busayo's screenwriting debut.

Completing the quartet of new films is Essex Girls which flips the popular stereotype of young women from the county, instead taking the viewer on an exploration of Black British girlhood and magical female friendships in 2009 Essex. It is the work of writer-director Yero Timi-Biu and writer and actress Busayo Ige.

Each individual and team will now be given £5000 each to transform their script concepts into a fully-realised short features, on the basis that they must be made in the Thames Estuary region as far as possible, drawing on local crew and talent.

In addition to the £5000, the filmmakers will also be supported at every stage of the production process by Screen South and industry professionals, encouraging their artistic ambitions and helping them to excellence across all areas of activity. Once the films have been made, Creative Estuary and its partners will help the filmmakers with their distribution plans and assist in getting their work placed on Estuary-based festivals and cinemas, seeking high profile promotion opportunities for the film screenings to various audiences in diverse locations.

The completed films will be shown for the first time at a world premiere screening at a major venue in the Estuary area.

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