Tim rubs shoulders with Hollywood stars (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Tim rubs shoulders with Hollywood stars

A FORMER Malmesbury School pupil has swapped the stroll down Malmesbury High Street for a walk along Hollywood Boulevard as his career takes off.

Tim Mewton, 22, rubs shoulders with stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Tom Cruise and Pierce Brosnan in his job as a director for hit television show Tinseltown.

Tim, from Foxley, left Malmesbury School, where his brother is still a pupil, in 1997 after sitting GCSEs and went on to sit A Levels at Cirencester College where he made short films and videos while completing courses in film and video techniques.

After leaving college, Tim worked as a runner for a London editing company, before getting his big break following a chance meeting in a restaurant with Sheeraz Hasan, television producer and CEO of Tinseltown Entertainment.

Tim said: "Like all hopeful filmmakers, I had my ten minute showreel. Sheeraz agreed to take a look and was blown away."

However, the reel wasn't enough, according to Tim. He added: "Later that day at a nearby edit suite, he told me to cut together a cool segment from some party footage - in ten minutes."

The film so impressed Sheeraz that Tim had a contract within hours and was on a plane to Los Angeles in three days.

After a year of working on the show as a cameraman and editor, Tim was awarded a coveted director position, which sees him work with producers to oversee the creative aspects of the show.

Tim said: "I dreamed this would happen over time but I just can't fathom it out - it has all happened so quickly that it is really, really hard to digest.

"It's been my dream job from a young age."

One of the high points of Tim's time in America came when he met Peter Jackson, director of the phenomenally successful Lord of the Rings films.

Tim said: "I got on very well with him as I am a huge Lord of The Rings fan, and I told him he should make a film about The Hobbit, which he said he was thinking about."

Tim is currently making a short film which he plans to submit to various festivals and is also writing a script.

He has received several job offers on both sides of the Atlantic, but is staying with current company Tinseltown. He said: "Right now the company is growing with me.

"I have a lot of freedom to create, and that's what I want to do."