AJ Sykes
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
AJ Sykes is a writer/director with a Masters in directing and screenwriting and an MFA in advanced film practice from Screen Academy Scotland. AJ also holds a DSMS in Stage Management and Television Production from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Since graduating from Screen Academy she has been working on her first feature and two television series pitches. After attending the Edinburgh Television Festival one of her pitches was chosen as one of four to go forward to Sky. She has run screen writing workshops for Film Festivals in Milan, London, Nice and Amsterdam from which she was commissioned to write the feature script 'Dandelion'. In 2018 she was shortlisted for the BBC Directors Scheme and she shadowed her mentor, Director Douglas Mackinnon, on Good Omens. She has also shadowed directors on STV's Shetland. She is working on a new feature script 'The Cushion Room'. During lock-down she filmed remotely 'P19' with actors in America, Spain, Finland, England, Scotland and Switzerland. AJ's short films have screened global at over 30 festivals, including BAFTA accredited film festivals, receiving over 50 nominations and gaining 10 awards. As a theatre actress/writer/director AJ has won Fringe Firsts for Messengers and Dreamstate and won the first Scottish Screenwriters Pitching Competition. Her latest short film 'The Biscuit Tin' has just started an already successful festival run screening at four festivals and been nominated for several awards winning her Best Director at the Monza Film Festival.