Tom Harvey

Tom Harvey is Chief Executive of SohoCreate, a London based festival taking place every year in June. The festival explores creativity and champions creative people and their work.

Early life

Harvey was born outside Stevenage New Town; his father was sculptor Mark Harvey ^[1] and his grandfather was author William Fryer Harvey. He attended the Nobel School Stevenage and the London College of Printing, gaining a degree in photography, film and television. He went on to attend Desmond Jones School of Mime in 1982, and worked in the London Dungeon as an exhibit that year.

Career

Prior to SohoCreate, Harvey was Chief Executive of Northern Film & Media,^[2][3] the creative industries development agency for North East England. The company invests in creative people, ideas and companies, working in film, television, web, mobile, games and music.

With North Star Ventures, Harvey helped raise £6m now invested in a range of projects from television dramas like Inspector George Gently, Joe Maddison’s War, United and Vera starring Brenda Blethyn.^[4] Northern Film & The fund also invested in feature films like Song For Marion, starring Terence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave, and The Liability starring Tim Roth and Talulah Riley.^[5] Harvey is an Executive Producer on One Night in Turin directed by James Erskine,^[6] and feature films Rising Tide, No Place To Hide, Frank, directed by Richard Heslop and Unconditional, directed by Bryn Higgins.^[7] The fund’s TV investments have so far reached 80 million viewers across the UK.^[8]

Harvey began working in the media industry at David Puttnam's feature film company Enigma Productions, during the post production period of The Killing Fields. He then worked as an Assistant Director, Production Manager and Producer across a range of productions, including US and UK movies, television films and series, documentaries, short films and pop promos, including Happy Mondays and New Order, including their controversial promo Touched by the Hand of God, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.^[9]

He ran the Edinburgh International Television Festival for three years, signing up speakers including Barry Diller, Denis Potter and John Birt, and developing the festival strands for young people, TVYP and TV25.^[10] He worked in senior management at the BBC as Commissions and Strategy Executive on BBC2 for Michael Jackson and as Manager of the Independent Commissioning Group for Jane Root.^[11] He was Managing Director of online interactive entertainment company XPT with Tim Wright and Rob Bevan, during which time the team won a BAFTA for the interactive drama Online Caroline in 2000 at the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards. He led on the sale of 19% of XPT to Freeserve in 1999.^[12]

Harvey wrote the plays Pool and Bed and Lydia^[13] about Henri Matisse’s final muse Lydia Delectorskaya. "Pool" won the Brockley Jack Theatre playwriting competition in 2014^[14] and was produced by the Theatre in May/June 2014.^[15]

Harvey is a Fellow 2007 of the Clore Leadership Programme,^[16] a graduate of Harvard Business School’s short course in Private Equity and Venture Capital 2009,^[17] and a Common Purpose Graduate 2003.^[18]

Membership

Harvey is a member of BAFTA.^[19] He has an honours degree in film & TV, and in the past has served on the Advisory Board for IPPR North,^[20] the Board of Culture North East and the management board of music accelerator Generator.^[21]

Awards

In the 2012 New Year Honours Harvey was awarded an MBE for services to the creative industries.^[22]

Personal life

Harvey rides regularly with the Rapha Cycle Club in London.^[23] His paternal grandfather was the writer William Fryer Harvey.

References