Photograph - Elene Hadjidaniel
Neil Monaghan - Writer and Director
Neil is an award-winning writer and director, working in both theatre and film. As a playwright, he was commissioned by Alan Ayckbourn four times for plays staged at his theatre, the Stephen Joseph. His play ‘100’ won a fringe first before a sell-out West End run. It is published by Nick Hern Books. His controversial play ‘Eye Contact’ starred Kelly Brook and made front page news with its uncompromising look at the lap dancing industry.
Neil wrote the film ‘Made in Romania’ starring Jason Flemyng, Jennifer Tilly, Danny Huston and Elizabeth Hurley. He has directed a number of award winning shorts. Election Night, his debut feature is currently winning awards on the festival circuit and is scheduled for general release later this year.
Neil also has experience in politics, having worked on three general election campaigns. He worked aboard John Prescott’s battle bus making short films and writing a blog about the campaign trail. He was even there for the famous punch up in Rhyl.
Ben Pickering - Producer
Born in London to Welsh parents, Ben’s film career spans three decades. Starting with his first feature-film Backstreet in 1995 – when he was just sixteen and studying for his GCSEs – he has since produced over a dozen features ranging from micro-budget to multi-million pound projects.
He directed his first feature Two Days in the Smoke, starring Matt di Angelo (Borgia), Lili Bordán (Battlestar Galactica) and Alan Ford (Snatch). The London- and Paris-set feature was released in the UK in October 2014 and internationally throughout 2015 as London Payback. It has recently been available on Netflix.
After co-producing Isle of Man heist caper Longtails starring Vas Blackwood (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and associate producing The Stranger starring Rachel McDowell (Mamma Mia!), he returned to the director’s chair for the Cornwall-set psychological thriller Welcome to Curiosity.
The world’s first wholly equity crowd-funded feature-film (which he also produced), it starred Amrita Acharia (Game of Thrones), Jack Ashton (Call the Midwife), Richard Blackwood (Eastenders) and Stephen Marcus (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). After a limited North American theatrical run, it was released in the UK in June 2018.
In 2019 he produced or co-produced four features including the political thriller Election Night and Give Them Wings, the 1980s-set true story of a disabled man growing up in northern England. He also published his award-winning debut novel Freiheit, a dystopian alternative history exploring what Britain would have looked like today if the Nazis has won the Battle of Britain.
He is currently developing a slate of features and TV projects for production, including directing duties on the Irish-set psychological thriller Cage and marine bio-terror actioner The Dead Sea alongside producing duties on political thriller Operation Clockwork Orange. His projects Local Boys and The Copper Kings were finalists and semi-finalists respectively in the 2020 Filmarkethub UK Online Pitchbox, while in 2021 he was a double-finalist with the projects Hostage and Let It Go.