Yarmouth film to go into production

A Norfolk writer who has scooped an award for a short script set in Great Yarmouth will now see her film go into production.

Georgina Kuna, 45, from Norwich, beat 11 other finalists to win Best Short Film Script at the End of the Pier International Film Festival in Worthing last week.

The winning script, called Penny Falls, will be made into a film and will premier at next year's festival.

The “bittersweet drama” about an unexpected friendship between two lonely people, will go into production later this year, and Georgina may also take the director's chair.

She said: “Penny Falls is about a down-on-his-luck amusement arcade owner in Great Yarmouth and a plucky pensioner with a taste for small time gambling and playing the lottery, and how that changes both of their lives in the most unexpected way."

Georgina knows the town well because she studied at Yarmouth College of Art and Design in the 1980s.

“I was interested in the evocative atmosphere that surrounds an out of season seaside town - the combination of optimism and hope mixed with the feeling of being washed up on the shore yet literally facing a huge new horizon,” she said.

The freelance film and music tutor at Community Music East said she has been writing on and off for years, but started script writing more seriously three years ago.

She enrolled on short scriptwriting courses at the University of East Anglia before studying a Diploma in Scriptwriting.

“I am relieved and delighted that my hard work and efforts are now paying off.

“The End of the Pier offers a unique and rare opportunity to new writers to experience pitching ideas to a professional panel of judges who offer advice, constructive criticism and encouragement.

“Competitions like this give new writers a chance to test and prove their ability, and provide them with a great start in a competitive industry,” she said.