Why Under the Moon
At the heart of Under The Moon we're a small team committed to cheerful, intelligent delivery of creative services with extraordinary attention to detail. We chose our name because when we first started out people kept telling us how ‘over the moon’ they were with our work, so (being people who like to think differently) we imagined all those people sitting under the same big kindly moon, mulling over great ideas and finding similarities in all their differences. That made us feel happy, so here we are.
Ruth Pitt, Creative Director
Ruth founded Under The Moon in 2015. She is also director of the Creative Cities Convention and was inaugural chair of Leeds 2023, a multi-million pound festival of culture for the Leeds city region in 2023. She is also chair of the National Poetry Centre, a £20m project led by the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage to create the country’s first national HQ for poetry, based in Leeds.
Ruth is a former head of factual at Tiger Aspect productions, head of documentaries at Granada Television and creative director of documentaries in BBC Religion and Ethics. She was founding MD of Real Life Productions and executive director of Screen England and is a trained print and radio journalist and a former presenter and reporter at Yorkshire Television. A specialist in diversity as well as all things nations and regions, Ruth has an extensive consultancy portfolio that includes the successful Leeds bid for Channel 4’s new national HQ, which garnered an RTS award for outstanding contribution to television. Ruth is a regular session chair and political interviewer at festivals and events and works between London and her home in Yorkshire.
Susie Townson, Director of Operations
Susie began her career at the BBC where she worked as a producer on both live and pre-recorded studio-based shows and as a talent producer in programme development.
With extensive expertise in making sure events and activities fully deliver, Susie ensures the smooth running of the operation. Having worked with Under The Moon for over ten years, she has organised and run a wide range of events including the Creative Cities Convention, the Channel 4 Commissioning Mentor Network, Pact’s 30th birthday celebrations for 700 people in central London, the ScreenSkills/Channel 4 FilmMakers25 mentor project in Bradford and a wide range of other mentor networks and workshops.
Laura Burrows, Project and Office Support
Laura has a broad range of business experience including publishing, marketing and housing. Her specialisms include property management, account management and strategic planning.
At Under The Moon Laura provides administrative, office and PA support for Creative Director, Ruth Pitt.
Tammie Ash, Development Associate
Tammie is a freelance creative producer having worked on large-scale, national events such as the Turner Prize, Creative Cities Convention and the launch of the Young Poet Laureate programme for the National Poetry Centre.
She spent five years working in TV development and production on reality, factual-entertainment and documentary programmes for the BBC, YouTube, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky and Discovery. Before that, she trained and worked as a civil and structural engineer.
