PRODUCER

PAUL ASHBY

Paul has been involved in drama for over twenty years. He was a professional actor for eight years, culminating in a one year stint at the National Theatre in Sir Peter Hall's company.

On leaving the theatre, he set up and ran two companies, one property related, the other a publishing venture, whilst acting and directing in his spare time at The Questors Theatre, Ealing (the oldest, biggest and best amateur theatre in Britain) for whom he also assessed new play scripts. During this period he cross-trained into film and television production, taking such courses as studio TV production, single-camera drama directing, writing for TV, acting for the camera, Panico Film Production course, Drama Production Managing at the NSCTP (NFTS) and eventually Producing at the NFTS (as an external student), as well as story/script development, legal, business, finance, distribution and other events/seminars at Arista Development, PACT, BAFTA, NPA, Raindance and elsewhere.

Closing down the property and publishing companies over seven years ago, Paul moved full time into film production and quickly became a first assistant director on many short and low budget feature films. With his business and organizational acumen, he moved up to production manager / line producer roles. Working in both film and TV, he has production managed for most UK broadcasters (BBC, Carlton, C4, five, Discovery, UKTV) and has never gone over-budget.

Paul's drama background has given him a keen eye for a good story, the ability to recognize and develop a good script, an understanding of direction and the importance of casting. His organizational and financial skills as line producer / production manager mean that he can oversee any film project from the page to the screen.

Paul Ashby is a member of BAFTA.

Executive Committee member of The Production Managers' Association