THESE are exciting times for a Denbighshire film producer.
Gina Carter, who hails from Llandegla, has been nominated for a BAFTA award and she is also collaborating with Idris Elba on a new production!
Gina, whose mum Margaret Carter, her partner Jenny and younger brother Rufus run Patchwork Traditional Foods out of Ruthin, helped to produce See How They Run, which is one of the nominees for outstanding British film at this year's EE BAFTA Film Awards.
She has been nominated alongside director Tom George, fellow producer Damian Jones and writer Mark Chappell.
On her reaction to the nomination, Gina said: "Super excited, of course for myself, but also for the film.
"Every film is a labour of love, so it’s always lovely when a film is recognised not only by the public but by our peers."
See How They Run stars Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody and Ruth Wilson and it is a comedy mystery film that was released last September.
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"The film was developed at Searchlight Pictures / Disney from an idea that Damian Jones had when he learned that Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap couldn’t legally be made into a film until it came off the stage," said Gina.
"As you may know, the Mousetrap is now in its 68th year in London’s West End.
"Mark Chappell came on to write the script and then the director, Tom George, joined.
"Filming started on February 1, 2021 for nine weeks, wrapping on April 2."
As with other initiatives, the Covid-19 pandemic made sure the promotion wasn't a straight-forward one.
"The film had a tricky prep period and we filmed during full Covid lockdown, so not much was straight-forward," added Gina.
"We needed more crew than usual to manage keeping everyone as safe as possible and we had to open many buildings that had been closed due to the lockdown.
"But on the upside, we gained access to a whole host of locations we would not normally have free run of, like The Old Vic and The Savoy Hotel, so along with all the many challenges we had some fun along the way."
For Gina, her initial plan was to work in the theatre.
She did a performing arts degree at Leicester Polytechnic with that in mind and she got a job at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre when she graduated.
One phone call then changed her career direction.
"Soon after I got a call from my great friend, Jon Finn, who was on the same course as me, and as it happens is also now a film producer," recalled Gina.
"Jon was in London at Working Title Films, he said they were looking for an assistant.
"I remember saying to him that I didn’t want to work in film and TV and he said I could use the job to move to London and look for work in a theatre in the West End.
"Good idea I thought! So, I took the job and ended up staying at Working Title for four years.
"I left to work in the production office of the feature film Let Him Have It and that was me.
"I’ve been working in film ever since and loving every minute of it."
In a quirk of fate, Gina and Jon are nominated in the same category at this month's BAFTAs.
While Gina is there for See How They Run, Jon's nomination is for Matilda The Musical.
"It’s going to be so much fun being there together," added Gina ahead of the awards ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, February 19.
It continues to be busy for Gina, who is now working on her next project.
"I’m collaborating again with Idris Elba on the next feature he is directing," she added.
"We made Yardie together. The film is still to be announced, so watch this space!"
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