News and Events

BU graduate wins RTS award

15 May 2009

A “funny, focused and ambitious film” made by a BU graduate has scooped a prestigious award from the Royal Television Society.

BU graduate Christopher Poole has won the Best Entertainment award at this year’s Royal Television Society (RTS) Student Television Awards.

The creative 22-year-old, who gained a First Class Honours degree from BU in Television Production last year, was honoured during a ceremony at RTS headquarters in London for his film Give Us A Break .

Christopher’s original film, available to view on the YouTube link below, shows the rise and fall of a typical family due to over-spending and excessive use of credit.

The film parodies a series of well-known advertisements – including a very clever price comparison website pastiche – and was actually produced before the recent credit crunch began to take its toll.

RTS judges commented that Christopher’s film was “funny, focused and ambitious, and showed great attention to detail throughout. Great performances helped to provide some laugh out loud moments along with an interesting afterthought about today’s consumerist culture.”

Christopher, who works with independent television production company North One Television, said: “I feel very honoured to be winning an RTS award. Ideally, I want to become a film director but I've got a long way to go yet.

“The concept behind Give Us A Break was to ridicule the contradictions and conventions found within a lot of TV advertising today,” he continued.

“The film was shot within 48 hours and cost me around £170 to produce. I did everything from the logos, graphics and editing to the filming, writing and directing. All the speech in the film was re-dubbed in a recording studio in Soho to give the film that manufactured false feel of cheap advertisements.”

Christopher’s success at the national RTS Student Television Awards follows his regional triumph at the RTS Southern Centre awards in February. Fellow BU graduate Hayley Reynolds was also nominated regionally this year for Best Student Documentary for her film Slaughterman.

Christopher joins former BU students Natalie Berry (2003) and Louise Palmer (2007) in winning both RTS national and regional honours. BU graduates have now brought home at least one RTS southern regional award every year since 2003.