Creating

Creative Services

Little Gidding Churchyard — oil on canvas — 1993
Art: Little Gidding Churchyard (oil)
My Daddy is a Fireman
Filmmaking: My Daddy is a Fireman (cinematographer)

The other side of Maria Ingold’s reality is the creative part of her mind.

This creativity is integral to who she is and how she looks at life, solves problems and innovates – across multiple dimensions.

It also stands on its own. This ranges from: art – to fiction – to her passion for film (in front of the camera, behind the camera, and as a BAFTA voting member).

Symptoms Poster
Acting: Symptoms (Judy)
Dance Eternal — oil on canvas — 1994
Dance Eternal (oil)

Art

Maria specializes in watercolour and oils of landscapes, people and abstractions of life, as in her Portals series.  She has completed several commission pieces and exhibited in the USA.  

Maria’s first memory is drawing a face on a portable chalkboard. She consistently stood out as one of the top artists throughout school and studied privately with Pat Beatty, her home town’s top watercolourist.

Maria was the first student to combine both Fine Art and Computer Science at the University of New Mexico in 1986.

Art Gallery

Film

BAFTA mask Maria has been a BAFTA voting member since 2002. She started as a specialist category judge in interactive and has since judged games, film and TV. She was the only voting member on BAFTA’s Digital Strategy and Communications Committee.

London Film AcademyMaria did a Masters of Fine Art in Computer Animation at Florida Atlantic University. She later studied filmmaking at London Film Academy’s Panico and the Documentary Filmmakers Group (DFG), gaining practical experience in directing, editing, lighting, filming, acting and script writing. 

As CTO for FilmFlex Movies, a Disney and Sony joint venture, Maria worked with the studios (Disney, Fox, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony and Warner) to create on-demand film distribution. She also helped Virgin Media establish the technical structure for Virgin Media Shorts annual competition. FilmFlex showcased both First Light Movies (for emerging young talent) and Virgin Media Shorts’ nominees. 

Filmography

Brick Noise

2006
Director/Editor: Maria Ingold
Cinematographer: Andrew Irving
Running time: 3 mins
Format: PD 150 DVCam edited on Final Cut Pro
Company: Documentary Filmmakers Group
Synopsis: An experimental visual journey into the rhythms of noise generated by a brick factory. The repetitive grinding is similar to some modern industrial noise music, but how does it affect those who work there?

My Daddy is a Fireman

My Daddy is a Fireman

2006
Director/Editor: Andrew Irving
Cinematographer: Maria Ingold
Running time: 4 mins
Format: PD 150 DVCam edited on Final Cut Pro
Company: Documentary Filmmakers Group
Synopsis: Fireman have a saying: ‘Keep the fire burning, we’ll be there soon.’ Join the Kotla Volunteer Fire Brigade and take a journey to the end of the blaze…

Bear to Be Apart

Bear to Be Apart

2005
Director/Cinematographer: Maria Ingold and Alfonso Gugino
Running time: 1 min
Format: 16mm edited on Avid
Company: Panico
Synopsis: A short Japanese styled horror piece in which Jud demonstrates how he can’t bear to be apart from his girlfriend.

Maria in Holby City
CBN journalist in Holby City | Series 17: 44. Speak True

Acting

Maria has appeared in ads, music videos, shorts, TV and feature films. She also does voiceover. She studied the Meisner Technique at The Actors’ Temple. Acting also helps with her public speaking.

Maria is represented by Guys and Dolls Casting and Casting Collective as a supporting artist or featured extra and is on IMDB. She can be commissioned directly for supporting roles or bit parts. 

Screening Gallery

2020

  • Roadkill (TV) : Extra

2019

  • Holby City (TV) : Extra
  • Misbehaviour (film) : Featured extra —Woman in stage left theatre box

2018

  • Temple (TV): Extra
  • Brexit: The Uncivil War (film) : Extra — Photographer 
  • Turn Up Charlie (TV) : Extra — Rich parent

2017

  • Good Omens (TV) : Extra
  • EastEnders (TV) : Extra
  • Railway Ad (ad) : Extra

2016

  • Jason Bourne (film) : Extra – American conference attendee
  • Symptoms (short) : Judy, Medical Examiner
  • Corporate Transport Video (voiceover) : Voiceover artist (American executive)

2015

  • A Streetcat Named Bob (film) : Extra
  • Big Ol’ Baddy (music video) : The Woman
  • New Blood (TV) : Extra
  • Mindhorn (film) : Extra — Lunching lady
  • Lucky Man, Series 1, Episode 7: The Charm Offensive (TV) : (Featured) extra — Carrie’s Mother
  • Barbara Windsor’s Jackpotjoy Bingo Ad (ad) : Extra
  • Holby City: Series 17, Episode 44 – Speak True (TV) : Walk on — CBN journalist with line

2014

  • Cuckoo (TV) : Extra — audience for Christmas play
  • Huawei mobile phone advert (ad) : Featured extra
  • Holby City, Series 16, Episode 19, Aftertaste (TV) : Extra — passerby

2013

  • Brand New-U (film) : Extra
  • My Daughter’s Bride (short) : Extra
  • Holby City (TV) : Extra — patient

Fiction

It started when Maria wrote her novella, Senseless, which her fellow writing students at City University described as 

“a modern gothic fairy tale”. 

With some very positive feedback from authors and publishers, but pushback on its length, she’s turning Senseless into the first novel of a trilogy. Each novel is itself a trio of linked novellas. Maria imagines them as illustrated.

Senseless is about a young woman whose unconscious mind decides to manipulate her through a series of dreams. Each dream, based on the legends of north London around Hampstead Heath, and parts of her life, appears to both give and take something away. As dreaming becomes reality, her life changes completely. In style it is similar to a Neil Gaiman story (illustrated by Charlie Vess or Dave McKean).

Katy Darby, her writing teacher and author of The Whores’ Asylum, described Senseless as “overall, pretty damn good”.

Publishing Director, Gillian Redfearn of Gollancz (Orion) said, “It’s smart and beautifully constructed, and I liked your writing style very much. Although (as you noted in our submission guidelines) Gollancz doesn’t publish novellas, I was very pleased I found the time to read Senseless and I think your plan to write a trio of linked novellas will produce lovely results.”

Writer Gard Goldsmith has said, “I LOVE it! It’s beautifully written, and you’ve composed the structure in an utterly intriguing way” and “It’s great. The mixture of external forces and internal mental issues for Iris is fascinating, and since you’ve layered things temporally, it’s very intriguing”.

Growing up in a small town in New Mexico, Maria entertained herself with sci-fi, fantasy and horror novels. She honed her writing skills after moving to London and studying with the amazing Katy Darby.  She has been published multiple times as a technical writer. Maria is also inspired by two famous writers in her family. She is the second cousin of Jack Vance and the grand-niece of William Shirer.