Pippa Cross (born 13 March 1956) is an English

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

. Since 1980 she has overseen the production of numerous films for Granada Media and her independent production company, CrossDay Productions.

Life and career

Cross was born and raised in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. Her father, Robert Cross, was an executive on the

Ipswich Borough Council Ipswich Borough Council is the local authority for Ipswich, a non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Suffolk, England. It is the second tier of a two-tier system, fulfilling functions such as refuse ...

and played a part in creating the Ipswich Film Theatre. She began a degree at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in English literature in 1974, and upon graduating in 1977 she took on a job at the newly opened

Wembley Conference Centre Wembley Conference Centre was a conference centre in Wembley Park, London, England, that existed from 1977 to 2006, located next to Wembley Arena. History In the later 1970s, modern multi-purpose halls began opening in British towns and citie ...

. As part of her role she organised a

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best Cinema of the United Kingdom, British and Worl ...

ceremony at the centre, which led her to pursue a career in film and television. Cross began working at Granada Media (now

ITV Studios ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...

) in 1980 and moved from its

dramatic programming In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

department to the

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

division, where she contributed to ''28 Up'', an installment of the documentary series '' 28 Up''. When Granada Films was founded in 1988, she was appointed its first head of development and oversaw the production of the company's first two films, ''

My Left Foot ''My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown'' is a 1989 Biographical film, biographical Comedy drama, comedy-drama film directed by Jim Sheridan (in his director debut) adapted by Sheridan and Shane Connaughton from My Left Foot (book), the 195 ...

'' (1989) and '' The Field'' (1990). She left to work at

Television South Television South (TVS) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder in the South East England, South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, init ...

for a short period before returning to Grenada in 1993. She was appointed Granada's head of film, a position she held from 1993 until 2002, where she produced or executive produced the films '' Jack and Sarah'' (1995), '' The Hole'' (2001), '' Ghost World'' (2001), '' Bloody Sunday'' (2002) and '' Vanity Fair'' (2004). In 2002, Cross left Granada to set up CrossDay Productions, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

, with her business partner. At CrossDay, she has produced '' Shooting Dogs'', a 2005 drama about the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

; '' Heartless'', a 2009 horror film; and '' Chalet Girl'', a 2011 romantic comedy, among others. She was a co-producer on '' Summer in February'' (2013). Cross is a member of the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

(BAFTA), sits on the

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports, and promotes British independent cinema and film-making talent in the United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early Nov ...

advisory panel, and was a director of the

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

from 2008 to 2012.

References

External links

*
"Interview: Pippa Cross, producer of 'Summer in February'"
'' Film Ireland'', June 2013
"Interview: Her.il Meets Pippa Cross, Producer for Summer in February"
Her.ie, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Pippa Living people 1956 births English film producers English television producers English women television producers Mass media people from Ipswich Alumni of the University of Oxford