BFI Film Classics: The Empire Strikes Back, 2020. (Cover: Audrey Estok).
|
I'm a freelance researcher and creative practitioner based in the UK, having previously worked in higher education for over a decade. I lead a major research project on the ecological impacts of film and television production. I also have experience writing grant proposals, managing budgets, shaping policy, designing courses, and communicating with audiences via live events, print, broadcast, and social media. Beyond research, I'm a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, and a member of the Critics' Circle Film Section. I publish regularly in Sight & Sound and have appeared across a range of podcasts and BBC radio shows. My creative portfolio includes filmmaking, writing, and festival curating.
To contact me about collaborations of consultancy work, please use the contact form. |
CONSULTANCY
I am especially interested in projects serving marginalised communities and/or addressing environmental issues. I can provide:
Research support (e.g., grant writing, archival research, interviews, ethics)
Communications (blog posts, features and reviews, etc.)
Educational materials (including online) for a diverse range of learners
Advice on policy development (especially trauma-informed and survivor-centred work)
Outreach and public engagement strategies
Curating and programming
FURTHER INFO
My most recent book, BFI Film Classics: The Empire Strikes Back (2020), is available from Bloomsbury. You can find links to my print, online, video, radio and other work on Star Wars - including a project to determine women's screen time in the films - on the Media: Star Wars page of this site.
From October 2022 to March 2025, I was an AHRC Research, Development and Engagement fellow as lead for 'The Environmental Impact of Filmmaking project.' The project has generated important new data about the ecological harms caused by various production activities--for example, revealing that digital animation often has a higher carbon footprint that practical prop making--and I continue to engage with film and television creatives to identify more sustainable practices. Currently, I'm making a short documentary about field trips that I made to Star Wars production sites across Scotland, Wales, and England. The film aims to explore the impacts of location shoots on wild lives (that is, animals and plants) in the context of biodiversity loss and climate change. You can find out more about the work, and the case studies, findings, calculators that the project has produced, at eifproject.com.
In the past, I have worked as a film programmer and events organiser. I've also been involved in activist spaces that focus on workers' rights and ending cultures of gender-based violence in universities. In 2018, I founded and directed the Glasgow Feminist Arts Festival, which took place at the Centre for Contemporary Arts and showcased international filmmakers, creative writers, spoken word artists, performers and musicians who are marginalised because of their gender.
I am especially interested in projects serving marginalised communities and/or addressing environmental issues. I can provide:
Research support (e.g., grant writing, archival research, interviews, ethics)
Communications (blog posts, features and reviews, etc.)
Educational materials (including online) for a diverse range of learners
Advice on policy development (especially trauma-informed and survivor-centred work)
Outreach and public engagement strategies
Curating and programming
FURTHER INFO
My most recent book, BFI Film Classics: The Empire Strikes Back (2020), is available from Bloomsbury. You can find links to my print, online, video, radio and other work on Star Wars - including a project to determine women's screen time in the films - on the Media: Star Wars page of this site.
From October 2022 to March 2025, I was an AHRC Research, Development and Engagement fellow as lead for 'The Environmental Impact of Filmmaking project.' The project has generated important new data about the ecological harms caused by various production activities--for example, revealing that digital animation often has a higher carbon footprint that practical prop making--and I continue to engage with film and television creatives to identify more sustainable practices. Currently, I'm making a short documentary about field trips that I made to Star Wars production sites across Scotland, Wales, and England. The film aims to explore the impacts of location shoots on wild lives (that is, animals and plants) in the context of biodiversity loss and climate change. You can find out more about the work, and the case studies, findings, calculators that the project has produced, at eifproject.com.
In the past, I have worked as a film programmer and events organiser. I've also been involved in activist spaces that focus on workers' rights and ending cultures of gender-based violence in universities. In 2018, I founded and directed the Glasgow Feminist Arts Festival, which took place at the Centre for Contemporary Arts and showcased international filmmakers, creative writers, spoken word artists, performers and musicians who are marginalised because of their gender.