Olivia Murray - Reuben Scholarship

Olivia Murray - Reuben Scholarship

Olivia fell in love with creative writing at an early age, whilst growing up she spent many weekends and evenings developing and creating stories, before quickly falling into screenwriting through a love for television.

The scholarship is truly helping to close the gap within the industry, and without the funding I would most likely be unable to pursue my dreams of studying screenwriting at the NFTS. To have the backing of BAFTA and their belief in me at such an early stage in my career is an immense feeling, and one I’ve been struggling to put into words. I’m truly thankful.

Olivia grew up in Wigan, a northern, working class town and oftentimes found herself turning to film and television in order to find representation and people who looked like her and identified the same way she does. This encouraged a want and need to tell stories about minorities and underrepresented groups of people, with a particular focus on women and people of colour.

She studied Digital Media at the University of Leeds which enabled her to grow creatively despite it being a different discipline. Most recently Olivia has been studying toward the Screenwriting: Finding Your Voice certificate at the National Film & Television School, studying on this course has reaffirmed her desire to study toward the Screenwriting MA full time at NFTS.