LUCY LUMSDEN - MD
Lucy started her career at The Comic Strip in the early 90s. She worked at the BBC for 11 years becoming the first Controller of Comedy Commissioning for the BBC and then Head of Comedy for Sky for 6 years. She was responsible for commissioning shows such as Outnumbered, Miranda, Gavin and Stacey, The Thick of It, The Trip, Nighty Night, Stella, Mount Pleasant, A Young Doctor’s Notebook starring Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm, Yonderland, Spy, Little Crackers, Charlie Brooker’s A Touch of Cloth, Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters Doll and Em and Hunderby.
As a director her first film Honeysuckle (password: EmuFilmsHoneysuckle1) starring Miriam Margolyes won the Jury Prize at Montreal World Film Festival. Lucy also directed a docudrama called The Fashion Show and Nish Kumar and Trygve Wakenshaw’s Christmas Comedies for Sky.
Lucy has chaired the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards, The Funny Women Awards, The David Nobbs Memorial Trust Comedy Writing Comedy Competition, she has judged the Bafta Rocliffe New Writing Showcase and is a mentor for the National Film and TV School. Yellow Door Productions is an alumni of IndieLab.
Lucy also works as a personal coach and a creative consultant, working for a number of companies including Beano Studios and Tiger Aspect. She regularly runs workshops and mentors new writers.
JOHN RUSHTON - HEAD OF PRODUCTION
John began his career at BBC working in Drama and Films on Screen 2 strand and The Railway Station Man (Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland), The Trial (Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins) and Nic Roeg’s Two Deaths (Michael Gambon, Sonia Braga). He then worked for various independent production companies before joining Granada studios in Manchester working as Production Manager on Cracker (Robbie Coltrane).
John then went on to work on The Royle Family beginning a long-standing relationship with the team producing many of the Christmas specials for the series which received a BAFTA and an RTS award for best situation comedy.
John’s career has continued to span drama and comedy, credits include Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, Early Doors, Vincent (Ray Winstone and Suranne Jones), Sunshine (Steve Coogan, Bernard Hill), Chickens, Hunderby (awarded Best Sitcom and Best New Comedy Programme at the Comedy Awards), In The Flesh and Ripper Street.
