Edinburgh Announce The Story Works Line-Up

10 June 2010

The Edinburgh International Film Festival today announced an impressive array of A-list screenwriters and film industry professionals who will lead masterclasses for the newly established screenwriters’ initiative The Story Works.

Screenwriters Jane Campion (Bright Star, The Piano), Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies, Vera Drake), Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, The Pianist), Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me, Gangs of New York, Analyze This), Mogens Rukov (Festen, When A Man Comes Home) and DV DeVincentis (High Fidelity, Grosse Point Blank) will all visit the Scottish capital this June to undertake masterclasses with the participating screenwriters.

Other masterclass guests who are experts in their field include director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown), DoP John Mathieson (Robin Hood, Gladiator), Editor Pietro Scalia (Good Will Hunting, Gladiator & JFK) and Christopher Nolan’s regular composer David Julyan.

The Story Works is a screenwriters’ initiative run by story editor Kate Leys with the EIFF and Oscar-nominated producers Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey.

It is a programme for ten experienced British screenwriters, which will run for a year with the residential week of masterclasses in Edinburgh beginning just before the start of the 64th EIFF.

The dates (14 - 18 June) will overlap with the Festival, allowing both the participants and industry speakers the opportunity to attend industry events, panels and Festival screenings.

Throughout the year there will be further group sessions and the opportunity for each participant to work with an experienced mentor.

Kate Leys said: "I couldn’t be more proud of what we’re doing with The Story Works; creating an opportunity for this astonishingly talented group of British screenwriters to come together with some of the most brilliant film storytellers from all over the world to focus on story, the thing we all go to the movies for and the thing that shines at the heart of every great film.

"We couldn’t have done this without the generous support of Skillset, EIFF, Scottish Screen, our advisory board and our sponsors."

EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill added: "Supporting screenwriters is very important to EIFF. The Story Works is an incredibly exciting new scheme and the participants really are the best and the brightest UK screenwriters.

"Our brilliant team have put together such an impressive set of advisors and mentors to work with them - and I can't wait to see the results onscreen in years to come!"

The 10 screenwriters this year are:

Amanda Coe is currently adapting Room at the Top for BBC Films and previously wrote the single dramas Margot, Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Experience and Elizabeth David: A Life in Recipes for the BBC. She has also written for Channel 4’s hit show, Shameless and current commissions include a series pilot for HBO, a feature adaptation of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook for Film4, and an original screenplay for BBC films.

Alicia Duffy is a writer and director who received critical acclaim and a BAFTA nomination for her short film The Most Beautiful Man in the World. All Good Children is her first feature and was selected for Director’s Fortnight at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival.

David Farr is an Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company and has two screenplays currently in production, including Hanna, directed by Joe Wright for Focus Features. He also has written regularly for the television series Spooks. He was formerly Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre.

Cameron Fraser is a producer and writer. Cameron is currently working on a number of feature film and television projects. With Neil Jack he wrote, produced and directed two half-hour animations for BBC Scotland, Haunted Hogmanay and the sequel Glendogie Bogey. They have recently developed an animated feature script, drama series and a children’s series for BBC Scotland.

Olivia Hetreed wrote the screenplay for the internationally acclaimed and BAFTA-nominated Girl with a Pearl Earring starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, and her adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, is currently in pre-production to be directed by Andrea Arnold.

Neil Jack wrote and directed animated film The Tree Officer, which won two Scottish BAFTAs for Best New Screenplay and Best Animation. He set up Ko Lik Films in 2004 with producer Cameron Fraser. He co-wrote and directed two half-hour animations for BBC Scotland, with a third feature-length script featuring the same characters recently commissioned.

Mike Lesslie is a playwright and screenwriter; he has developed feature scripts for companies such as Pathé Films, Film4, and Blueprint Pictures and he has written plays for the Royal National Theatre amongst others. His original screenplay War Reporting for Cowards for Film4 and the UK Film Council was included on the Variety Brit List of 2008.

Nathan Parker wrote EIFF’s Michael Powell Award and BAFTA winner Moon, which was directed by Duncan Jones. He is now based in Los Angeles, and wrote Blitz for Lionsgate staring Jason Statham, due for release in 2011

Jon Ronson is a screenwriter, journalist, author and broadcaster working with Channel 4, the Guardian and Radio 4. He is the author of the non-fiction bestsellers The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was adapted into a hit film starring George Clooney, as well as Them: Adventures with Extremists, which is also being adapted for screen. Jon is now developing his own screenplays, including co-writing with Goats’ adaptor Peter Straughan. As writer and presenter, Jon has made a number of films for Channel 4 including The Secret Rulers of the World and Tottenham Ayatollah.

Jack Thorne is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning playwright for stage and radio, who won the Best Newcomer award at 2009 London Film Festival for his first feature screenplay, Scouting Book for Boys. He is now adapting Nick Hornby’s novel A Long Way Down for the screen, and has written for hit shows Skins and Shameless.