The Sunderland producer looking to bring Hollywood to the North East

When you conjure images of the North East, one of the last things to come to mind would be the glitz and glamour of a booming TV and film industry.

For many years, the entertainment industry in the North East has been underfunded and almost non-existent with the lack of opportunities.

However, Sunderland-born script supervisor and producer Carley Armstrong is looking to turn the tide with her production True Moon Pictures, which looks to bring jobs and opportunities to the North East.

Carley believes it is her “destiny” to work in the TV and film industry and grew up fascinated with how films were produced. However, due to the lack of opportunities in the region, she had to take the scenic route to achieve her goals.

“Being from the North East, it was really difficult to get opportunities because we only had a couple of productions at the time. If you wanted to work in film you would have to go away and move to London. It seemed so out of reach.”

She started out in theatre and learned the craft of script writing before getting invaluable experience in seeing how things were produced behind the scenes.

When Carley was 18 she fell pregnant with her son but was still determined to pursue her career aspirations. She enrolled at Sunderland University to study ‘Media Production’ where she networked and got work experience at MTV doing admin and promo for various shows.

It was a step in the right direction, but she still had lofty ambitions to work in the film industry so she took unpaid jobs on low-budget film sets to sweep the floors and also worked as a runner for CBBC.

She said, “I just knew this was where I was meant to be and everything started to come together. As soon as I left university it was just one thing after another and it was getting bigger and building.

“It wasn’t just on the set work I was doing, I had to put in a lot of other work. It’s not just a job, It’s everything. It’s all or nothing.”

Carley is currently a script supervisor and has built up an impressive list of credits, including ‘Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning’, ‘Black Adam’, ‘Ferrari’, ‘Boiling Point’ and ‘Coronation Street.’

She describes the role as almost being like a “mini producer” as script supervisors have to look after the continuity and quality of the script, making sure the actors are reading the correct lines and helping the director by making notes for the edit.

She is currently in London working on the TV Series ‘Whitstable Pearl‘ – starring Howard Charles and Frances Barber. Carley works long hours on set but also has to balance her long-term ambitions of producing, with three projects coming out this month.

She has a clear vision for her future and has laid down the foundation to make this dream a reality, asserting that, “in the next couple of years, I won’t be on set as a script supervisor but rather I’ll be producing.”

When she was coming through, a career in TV and Film in the North East was virtually unthinkable and even today it is still incredibly difficult to get off the mark without moving to London.

However, during the Spring Budget, the Government promised to deliver funding to “turn the North East into a TV and film powerhouse.” They aim to achieve this by giving local authorities powers to retain 100% of business rates for the next 25 years and have allocated £37m of flexible funding – which the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) aims to use some of this to green-light plans for Crown Works Studios.

The prospective Crown Works Studios will be set on the banks of the River Wear and will become one of Europe’s largest studio complexes.

In a statement following the announcement, Leo Pearlman, Managing Partner of production company Fulwell 73, said:

“Crown Works Studios will help transform Sunderland into a global hub for big-budget film and TV production – and enable the North East to play a leading role in our most exciting sector.  This funding will kick start a project that will eventually bring an annual economic boost of £336m to the North East – while also enhancing the UK’s studio capacity to help us remain globally competitive.”

Carley is positive about the prospective boom and would love to be involved in the growth of the industry in the region and provide opportunities for local workers.

“I’m so passionate about the North East and that’s why I’m keen on being an independent producer in [the region] because growing up there were no opportunities – I want to be one of the people to bring opportunities to the North. It’s a lifelong commitment.”

One way that she will look to leave her mark on the North East industry is through her production company, True Moon Pictures.

She is currently building her slate with True Moon Pictures by producing and co-directing film projects where she has used local crews from the North East to provide those much-needed opportunities and hopefully inspire the filmmakers of the future.

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