{{Short description|English film producer and casting director}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Jo Gilbert | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Joanne Lesley Gilbert | birth_date = {{Birth date|1955|6|7|df=y}} | birth_place = Leicester, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2018|9|15|1955|6|7|df=y}} | death_place = Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland | occupation = Film producer, casting director | spouse = Marc Sinden (1977–1997) (divorced) }}
'''Joanne Lesley Gilbert''' (7 June 1955 – 15 September 2018) was an English film producer and casting director based in Holywood, near Belfast, Northern Ireland, and ran Real Holywood Productions.<ref>Sunday Times Business 18 May 2008</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/12/16/cnfilm116.xml | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Personal Finance}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
== Career == ===Producing=== At the time of her death, Jo Gilbert was in pre-production with the movie ''The Ribbon'' with Ed Burns and starring Julia Stiles{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}, and was producing the 40-part documentary series ''Great West End Theatres'' for Great Productions. In their review of the series, the ''British Theatre Guide'' said "This film is as close as one can get to standing on the stage taking an ovation. This series is beautifully filmed and gets the balance exactly right between classy camera work, history, reminiscence and gossip."<ref name="British Theatre Guide reviews">{{cite news |url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/great-west-end-7230|title=British Theatre Guide reviews - Great West End Theatres|publisher=British Theatre Guide|date=2012-02-19|access-date=2012-02-19}}</ref>
She produced the film ''Closing the Ring'', the last film directed by Richard Attenborough, which was shot in and around Belfast and released in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.screendaily.com/richard-attenborough-starts-belfast-shoot-for-closing-the-ring/4026662.article|title=Richard Attenborough starts Belfast shoot for Closing The Ring|first=Wendy|last=Mitchell |date=2006-03-28 |website=Screen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/producer-who-brought-film-world-to-northern-ireland-dies-at-63-37341938.html|title=Producer who brought film world to Northern Ireland dies at 63|via=www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk}}</ref>
Her previous film credits as associate producer are ''Puckoon'' (2002), directed by Terence Ryan; ''Darkness Falls'' (1999) directed by Gerry Lively; ''The Brylcreem Boys'' (1998) directed and produced by Terence Ryan and ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' (1993).{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
She was also instrumental in originally creating the Paint Hall Film Studios in Belfast, now known as the Titanic Studios, in the Titanic Quarter, Belfast.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.4rfv.co.uk/industrynews/4425/paint_hall_studios_launched|title=PAINT HALL STUDIOS LAUNCHED - UK Broadcast News | 13/12/2000|website=www.4rfv.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk/news/jo-gilbert/|title=Jo Gilbert|date=September 20, 2018|website=Northern Ireland Screen}}</ref>
===Casting Director=== As Casting Director, her credits included ''The Jungle Book 2'' (2003); ''The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo'' (1997) and ''The Harpist'' (1997).
As a casting director working on the 1997 film ''The Brylcreem Boys'' for the Producer/Director Terence Ryan, they were the first film to choose the Isle of Man as a location since the 1936 film ''No Limit'' starring George Formby. Ryan based his movie there and used various locations on the island to stand-in for Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iomguide.com/brylcreemboys.php|title=Isle of Man Guide - ECONOMY, Manx Films, The Brylcreem Boys|website=www.iomguide.com}}</ref>
Gilbert appeared in a 2003 episode of the UK serialised fly on the wall documentary ''Airline'', having missed an EasyJet flight to Belfast in which she attempted to use her vocation as a method of intimidating and bullying airport staff.
On 15 September 2018, she died of a brain tumour.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/producer-who-brought-film-world-to-northern-ireland-dies-at-63-37341938.html |title=Producer who brought film world to Northern Ireland dies at 63 |website=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |language=en-GB |access-date=2018-09-22}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0318098}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Jo}} Category:1955 births Category:2018 deaths Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:21st-century English businesspeople Category:British women casting directors Category:English film producers Category:Mass media people from Leicester Category:Sinden family