Veteran Shorts fans will know that Manchester’s Jason Wingard is no stranger to the shortlist. In 2010 his film Bus Baby, made with co-director Gino Evans, found its way to the final 12 for the first time and even snapped up the People’s Choice Award. A short about teenage pregnancy (starring a talking newborn baby berating his young mother on a bus), it turned heads and went down a storm with audiences everywhere.

Last year Jason returned with the very different 2:20, a sci-fi thriller about a pair of glasses with a unique power. This time he took the Grand Prize, awarded by judge John Hurt at a swish Awards night at BFI Southbank. Jason was thrilled to win the big prize this time around, but couldn’t celebrate too much – he had to be up at an ungodly hour the next morning to appear on Daybreak with John Hurt! 

Since his win in 2011, Jason has been working with BBC Comedy North, creating six pilot/non-broadcast shows. He’s worked with comedian Tom Binns on The Sweet Stall, a comedy taster featuring his characters Ian D Montfort and Ivan Brackenbury. He worked with Tom again on the pilot Hospital People. Jason has also made two panel shows; Ace of Clubs, with Warwick Davis and North vs South, with German stand-up Henning When. You can see samples of these in his showreel here.

Alongside co-writer David Isaac, Jason wrote the comedy Going To Mecca. A story about two brothers – one of which is half Asian – who decide, after the death of their father, to go and look for his Asian family in Blackpool. While the film was shortlisted for iFeatures last summer, it didn’t make it through to the last eight. However, the BFI and Creative England liked the idea a lot and wanted to see further development.

Jason has continued his mentoring with the BFI and has worked on a number of scripts. The first, Poison Tree, was about rap battles set against the London riots while the second, Looters, was a comedy set much along the same lines.

However, Jason has now turned his attention back to his short, Going To Mecca with the backing of the BFI. Currently in pre-production, Jason is busy scouting locations and finding the right cast with the aim to start shooting this spring.

And of course, we’ll keep you up-to-date on Jason’s new film.