Gateshead Oscar winner Peter Straughan ‘still reeling from shock’

A screenwriter says he is “still reeling from the shock” of winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Peter Straughan, who was born in Gateshead, was awarded the gong for Conclave at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

He said: “Helpfully, just before they announced me they said that the show was being watched by a billion people, so I had that in my head when they called my name out.

“When you walk around holding the Oscar, everybody in LA says congratulations to you all night long, so that was kind of nice.”

Straughan also won a Golden Globe earlier this year for Conclave, and the Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA for Tinker Taylor Solider Spy in 2012.

He said went back to the hotel “quite early” following Sunday’s ceremony.

“I woke up this morning and the Oscar was sitting on the table across from me and it was just such a surreal moment to think, ‘Oh, that’s mine. I’m taking that home with me,'” Straughan said.

He said team behind the film, which is an adaptation of the 2016 novel by Robert Harris, had been “so lovely” to work with.

“We’ve all been on this journey together.”

Straughan said Tyneside arts organisations had been “absolutely vital” to his career.

He thanked New Writing North, which helps develop writers in the north-east of England, and Live Theatre in Newcastle.

“Both of those organisations are vital for giving writers both a financial backing but also the self-belief that you could do this.”

He described the “surreal” moment he spoke at an event at the Live Theatre Company a few weeks ago, where he was welcomed on stage as a Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominated writer.

Straughan said he had acted on that same stage as a student when he was first thinking about a career in theatre.

He said it was a “full-circle moment”.

The writer said he had a lot of projects in the pipeline.

“There’s lots to work on,” Straughan said.