Father-daughter duo showcase the worst of regional news in new short

The award-winning wildlife and western movie producers are trying their hand at comedy with their latest film “In Other News”.

The short looks at a fake news channel called “SYN” (South Yorkshire News) in which the channel and its staff are the worst in the business with breaking stories aimed to make you laugh.

The idea was for Dean and Rebecca to demonstrate just how good regional news programmes such as ITV Calendar and BBC Look North are and what would happen if they were not.

The two, who live in Bolton on Dearne, have been interviewed a number of times on the local news and Dean said: “They always do a superb job, so it gave me an idea to make a film that looks at a really bad regional news channel.”

Dean wrote the script in two days with Rebecca throwing in her own ideas.

The news anchor Dean plays in the short film is called Ian Black, who is a tribute act to Calendar presenter Ian White.

The actor wears a wig to make his role look more silly but reads the news out in a serious manner.

The film, in which Rebecca has done all the cinematography and editing, is part of her course work at Sheffield Hallam University.

In Other News also stars Sheffield Actors Keiron Goodwin and Serene Fensom.

Keiron plays a news reporter called Justin Time, who hates his job and likes to criticise Ian Black live on air.

Serene plays weather girl Gail Force, who brings so much to the role as a young meteorologist she believes her talents are wasted at SYN and dreams of becoming a children’s TV presenter.

The film is already doing the festival circuit and has picked up four awards, with Keiron and Serene picking up wins for their best supporting acting roles along with Dean and Rebecca scooping two Best Micro Short Film awards at the Rohip International Film Festival and the Makizhmithran International Film Festival.

The team have also made a mock trailer called SYN which looks at the channel and the public’s views on it.

It features actors and non-actors including Rotherham Advertiser cartoonist Blist and Dean’s son Daniel.

Friends of Dean and Rebecca sent mobile phone clips to them including Sarah Williams from South Wales, Beverley Jacques from Wombwell and Samantha Fisher from Bradford.

Rebecca is now focusing on a wildlife documentary and a documentary on Rotherham Advertiser cartoonist Blist.

Dean and Rebecca have scooped around 100 awards for their short nature movies and western A Dollar To Die For.

In Other News can be seen at https://youtu.be/kCC2pt7mYfQ.