Pippa Cross (born 13 March 1956) is an English

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and television producer. Since 1980 she has overseen the production of numerous films for

Granada Media Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company merged with Carlton Communicatio ...

and her independent production company, CrossDay Productions.

Life and career

Cross was born and raised in Ipswich,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. Her father, Robert Cross, was an executive on the Ipswich Borough Council and played a part in creating the Ipswich Film Theatre. She began a degree at the University of Oxford in English literature in 1974, and upon graduating in 1977 she took on a job at the newly opened Wembley Conference Centre. As part of her role she organised a

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

ceremony at the centre, which led her to pursue a career in film and television. Cross began working at Granada Media (now ITV Studios) in 1980 and moved from its

dramatic programming In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

department to the television documentary division, where she contributed to ''28 Up'', an installment of the documentary series ''

28 Up The ''Up'' series of documentary films follows the lives of ten males and four females in England beginning in 1964, when they were seven years old. The first film was titled ''Seven Up!'', with later films adjusting the number in the title t ...

''. 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'' (1989) and '' The Field'' (1990). She left to work at Television South 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 production company, with her business partner. At CrossDay, she has produced ''

Shooting Dogs ''Shooting Dogs'', released in the United States as ''Beyond the Gates'', is a 2005 film, directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring John Hurt, Hugh Dancy and Clare-Hope Ashitey. It is based on the experiences of BBC news producer David Belto ...

'', a 2005 drama about the Rwandan genocide; ''

Heartless Heartless may refer to: Books * ''Heartless'' (Carriger novel), a 2011 novel in the ''New York Times'' best-selling "Parasol Protectorate" series by Gail Carriger * ''Heartless'' (Pretty Little Liars), a 2010 novel in the "Pretty Little Liars" se ...

'', a 2009 horror film; and ''

Chalet Girl ''Chalet Girl'' is a 2011 romantic comedy sports film directed by Phil Traill. The film stars Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, Tamsin Egerton, Ken Duken, Sophia Bush, Bill Bailey, Brooke Shields and Bill Nighy. The film was produced by Pippa Cross, H ...

'', a 2011 romantic comedy, among others. She was a co-producer on ''

Summer in February ''Summer in February'' is a 2013 British romantic drama film directed by Christopher Menaul. Novelist Jonathan Smith adapted the screenplay from his 1995 eponymous novel. The film stars Dominic Cooper, Emily Browning, Dan Stevens, Hattie Moraha ...

'' (2013). Cross is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), sits on the British Independent Film Awards advisory panel, and was a director of the UK Film Council 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 British women television producers Mass media people from Ipswich Alumni of the University of Oxford