University News Last updated 24 September 2013
Tom Green, who graduated from Birmingham School of Media in 2008, has earned a Welsh BAFTA nomination for his self-funded debut short film, which he wrote and directed last year.
With the film already receiving critical acclaim at the San Jose International Short Film Festival, Tom Green, 27 from Essex, has been nominated alongside two other films at the prestigious event due to take place on Sunday 29 September.
The 10-minute film 'The Ref', which was filmed in Cardiff, tells the story of a devil-like character, The Ref who takes a sinful boxer back through his heinous past before offering his final judgement. Green says, "Really, it's a story about revenge, justice and comeuppance. It has a powerful message that's really close to my heart - it's about people paying for the bad things they do in life."
It's all the more special for the young director as the film was entirely self-funded. "I basically begged, stole and borrowed to try to make it as cheaply as possible. Between my girlfriend and I we managed to get together enough money to pay for actors and locations but I had to call on lots of favours from the crew I'd been working with over the previous years."
Green had written the script a year before he finally begun filming. "There's nothing worse than a script sat on your table that you're desperate to make without the means to do it. After six months had passed I'd had enough of waiting and I knew I had to do something about it."
Green, originally from Essex and now based in London has enjoyed a fruitful career since graduating with a 1st in Media and Communication. He spent four years in Cardiff working at independent television company Wild Dream Films, where he was responsible for pitching and producing international documentaries for major international broadcasters including Discovery and National Geographic.
He has since gone on to work as a producer on various projects in Qatar before being hired to head up the development team at London based BriteSpark Films working alongside award-winning producer Nick Godwin.
But despite his career in documentary on the rise he still harbours hopes of directing feature films in the future. He also credits Professor Phil Thickett, Head of Birmingham School of Media for inspiring him to have the confidence to pursue his chosen profession.
"For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to make films and during my time at the University Phil offered so much in terms of his knowledge, experience, encouragement and support. He always told me that the sky is the limit and I really am doing everything that I can to go as far as possible."
Looking to the future, Tom says: "I'm now working with a great writer developing my next film. Hopefully there's someone out there who will have enough faith in me to invest in the project."
Green hopes that his nomination can provide encouragement for current University students who are hoping to get there visions out there. "At the end of the day, there's nothing stopping us. You just have to work really hard, be really determined and have plenty of charm!"
You can watch Tom Green's Welsh BAFTA nominated film on Vimeo.