Luke Walton
Director of The Pitch Film Fund, Luke has produced more than 15 short films with RIF (Reel Issues Films). Since 2008 The Pitch has focused on developing emerging talent, adding additional benefits for participants including residential film study courses. Luke’s background is in acting and he was the voice of Hugglegrabber in Early Man, directed by Nick Park. He has degrees in both law and theology.
Peter Sinclair
Associate producer for The Pitch Film Fund, Pete joined the team in November 2019. Before working for The Pitch he worked in content creation for a charity as well as working as a freelance runner on short films and TV series such as Netflix’s The Crown. He also has experience in Arts development and Theatre touring.
Hatty Haines
Production Manager for RIF (Reel Issues Films). Since 2023 Hatty has focused on the development & production of The Pitch winning films. She has experience as Production Manager in Independent Film & TV. From 2019-22 Hatty worked as a Conference Producer, then landed her first role in the industry; Events & Awards Administrator for the 2022 British Independent Film Awards.
Lydia Taylor
Lydia joined the team as an Associate Producer in 2024. Alongside previous work with The Pitch as a creative consultant, Lydia has worked as a freelance runner and Assistant Director on TV series such as Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, and two seasons of The Crown.
Consultants
Footprint Films
Mark Blaney and Jackie Sheppard
UK feature film production company Footprint Films is owned and run by producing partners Mark Blaney and Jackie Sheppard.
Since its inception in 1994, Footprint has worked exclusively with emerging filmmakers, giving feature directorial debuts to, among others, Slumdog Millionaire screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Darkest Light), Bille Eltringham (This is Not a Love Song), Debs Paterson (Africa United) and Francis Annan (Escape from Pretoria). Footprint was also proud to work with Kurdish writer/director Kae Bahar for his international, multi-award winning short I Am Sami, shot on location in Kurdistan, Iraq.
Underlining Footprint’s commitment to nurturing new talent, Mark and Jackie are long-standing consultants for The Pitch film fund, for which they have produced numerous short films, including the BAFTA Cymru nominated Only Child. It was through the 2012 edition of The Pitch that Mark and Jackie forged a partnership with Pitch entrant Francis Annan, which led to the feature Escape from Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe.
They have various features and TV series in development and will produce the forthcoming Pitch winner alongside Luke Walton and Reel Issues Films.
Nev Pierce
An award-winning filmmaker, Pierce’s shorts have been selected for festivals worldwide including Fantasia, FrightFest and the London Short Film Festival.
While editor of Total Film and then editor at large for Empire, the world’s biggest movie magazine, he served as a judge for The Pitch for nine years, before joining as a consultant.
He was so taken with Pitch runner-up Promise – written by Hannah Lee – that he raised additional finance in order to produce (alongside Luke Walton) and direct it. Mark Romanek described the result as 'superbly done', following praise from David Fincher for his debut short Bricks, a 'classy take on a morbid classic'.
Pierce has various feature films in development as director and/or writer, still writes for Empire and conducts online masterclasses with A-list filmmakers for the National Film and Television School.
