Luke Snellin
Luke Snellin (born 9 March 1986) is an English screenwriter and director working in film, television, music videos and commercials. According to Idol Magazine,[1] he is known for his distinctive use of cinematography and music as well as often employing light hearted themes, romance and nostalgia.
He has been featured as a new director in Shots,[2] called "Markedly Talented" by The Telegraph,[3] and nominated by Jonas Mekas for V magazine.[4] He was named as one of Screen International's "Stars of Tomorrow" in 2010.[5] and one of Broadcast's "Hot Shots" in 2013.[6]
Short films
His 2009 short film Mixtape (2 mins) starring Bill Milner was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Film and won the Virgin Media Shorts competition. The film features music from The Kinks and Heart.
Jason Solomons singled out the film in his Trailer Trash column for The Guardian in the build up to the BAFTA Awards in 2010. He stated that he was "Immediately charmed by its retro story of a boy who makes a cassette of songs for the girl next door".[7]
In honour of Mixtape's BAFTA nomination, BBC 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne invited Snellin on her show to share a mixtape from when he was 11 years old in the memory tapes segment.
Snellin's 2010 follow up, Disco (15 mins), once again starring Milner and featuring a soundtrack from Britpop bands Cast and Suede, played at several Oscar qualifying film festivals and was long listed for a BAFTA for Best Short Film.
He has since directed several other short films including the first ever Old Vic 24-hour short film JESS//JIM (6 mins) starring Toby Kebbell which was conceived, written, shot, edited and finished in 24 hours. He also wrote and directed Charlie (2 mins), a short film made to commemorate the anniversary of Charlie Chaplin's birth.
Music videos
He has directed music videos for notable artists such as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler, Young Rebel Set and Australian Music Prize Winners Cloud Control, the latter starring British actors Alexander Arnold and Sam Palladio.
His video for Emmy The Great and Tim Wheeler's Christmas single 'Home for the Holidays' was called a "Richard Curtis style pub-bound love fest" by the Telegraph.[8]
Television
He was selected as one of seven directors, from nearly a thousand applicants, to direct an episode of original drama for Channel 4 through the broadcaster's "Coming Up" scheme.[9] This led to him directing episodes of BAFTA and Emmy-nominated My Mad Fat Diary, Russell T Davies' Banana, Pete Bowker's The A Word and lead directing the BBC/Netflix coproduction Wanderlust, written by Nick Payne and starring Toni Collette. He was also the lead director on Temple, written by Mark O'Rowe and starring Mark Strong for Sky.
Feature films
Snellin directed the feature film adaptation of John Green, Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson's young adult novel, Let It Snow, released by Netflix on 8 November 2019.
Awards
- Won – Virgin Media Shorts 2009 Grand Prize for Mixtape
- Nominated – BAFTA Short Film Award for Mixtape
- Nominated – Best Newcomer Rushes Soho Shorts for Patrick
- Nominated – British Airways Great Britons 2011
- Won – Purbeck Film Festival Best Film for Mixtape
- Won – Landcrab Film Festival Best Film for Mixtape
- Won – LA New Wave IFF Best Screenplay for Disco
- Longlisted – BAFTA Short Film Award for Disco
- Won – NFFTY Seattle Best International Film for Patrick
- Won – Current TV/VCAM – Sony PS3 Ad competition
Filmography
Short films
- Patrick (2008)
- Mixtape (2009)
- Disco (2010)
- Charlie (2011)
- JESS//JIM (2011)
- FIRST (2016)
Television
- Sink or Swim (Coming Up)
- My Mad Fat Diary – Series 2 Episode 3 – Girls
- My Mad Fat Diary – Series 2 Episode 4 – Friday
- The Job Lot – Series 2
- Banana
- The A Word
- Wanderlust
- Temple
Feature films
- Let It Snow (2019) [10]
Music videos
- Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Collapsing Cities Feat. Shy FX
- Young Rebel Set - Red Bricks
- Cloud Control - Death Cloud
- Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler - Home for the Holidays
- Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Real McCoy
- Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler - Zombie Christmas
- Summer Camp - Bad Love
References
- "Idol Magazine, The Future Issue" (JPG). Payload84.cargocollective.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "Shoots Magazine" (PNG). Payload84.cargocollective.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Nina Caplan (16 April 2010). "Virgin Media Shorts: The winners". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "Luke Snellin / Mixtape" (PNG). Payload79.cargocollective.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "UK Stars of Tomorrow" (JPG). Discofilm.wordpress.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "Idol Magazine, The Future Issue" (JPG). Payload84.cargocollective.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Jason Solomons. "Trailer Trash | Film". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "Home For The Holidays" (JPG). Payload.cargocollective.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- "Coming Up - Channel 4 - Info - Press". Channel 4. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- Justin Kroll (23 March 2016). "John Green's 'Let It Snow' Finds Director". Variety. Retrieved 15 September 2016.