Emmy Award for sound man Mervyn

A Coleraine man was part of a sound crew which won a prestigious Emmy award for his work on Game of Thrones in Los Angeles at the weekend.

Mervyn Moore from Coleraine and Ronan Hill from Ballycastle were part of the team that won the Outstanding Sound Mixing category for a TV drama series.

The two production mixers beat off stiff competition from Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, Homeland and Person of Interest to take the award.

Speaking from Los Angeles, Mervyn said he didn’t think that they were going to win.

“When we went in we didn’t think we had much of a chance of winning so when we did, it was absolutely wonderful,” he said.

“Everyone gets their own award so I’m looking forward to bringing it back home, but I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to get it on the plane.”

Ronan Hill said he was delighted with the win.

“The Emmy Awards are huge. We were nominated for episode nine in series two, it was called Blackwater and it had a lot of dialogue. When you are trying to record dialogue and there’s a battle going on, it can be a bit tricky,” he said.

“It was a fantastic night and it made it all the better that we won. I don’t even really remember what happened or who gave us the award, I was in such shock.

“We went to a ball after and rounded off the night by having a trip round Hollywood and walking on the famous stars.

“We have a great crew base here. There is a lot of knowledge and expertise here and with large productions like Game of Thrones coming here that is only going to build the skill level.

“This year I have a trainee from Northern Ireland Screen working with me so it’s great to see a new generation being able to get experience on such a big production.

“A lot of money has also gone into infrastructure in the last few years. In the Painthall, they opened two new sound stages this year which are perfect for recording sound and therefore make the location more appealing.

Ronan’s brother Conleth Hill also is part of Game of Thrones. He plays the character Varys. Most of the scenes for the HBO programme were filmed in Belfast.

The Creative Arts Emmy Awards recognise arts, craft and technical work on television shows. Game of Thrones won a total of six Emmy Awards at the show which was presented by Friends actress Lisa Kudrow.

Northern Ireland Screen congratulated Ronan and Mervyn on Twitter.

Series three of Game of Thrones is currently being filmed at the Painthall in Belfast.

Related topics: