About Me

I've always been a writer

As a writer, I should hate such a cliché, but I've made up stories for as long as I can remember - even football scores (Manchester United would always win).

Through Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Doctor Who, I fell in love with film, books and TV.

I wanted more of those worlds, so I wrote fanfiction. Then, I came up with my own ideas and never looked back...

"Who am I? You sure you wanna know? The story of my life is not for the faint of heart.
If somebody told you I was just your average, ordinary guy, not a care in the world...
then somebody lied."

MY ORIGIN STORY

HOOK

My dad likes to wind up my mum about when she left me as a baby in the house to pop to the corner shop, saying it's no wonder I'm so into TV because I was always sitting in front of one. But it's true! Not the part about my mum neglecting me but the role she played in influencing me.

My mum was an accountant at Granada Television. She got the whole family (even my sister in her belly) a walk-on part in the original Cold Feet. I have a picture somewhere with James Nesbitt.

Growing up, I was a funny kid, but it was clear what I was interested in. At parties and nighttime entertainment at holiday parks, I'd always be in the corner with my nose in a book or scribbling stories. Same at playtime. I'd prefer to stay inside, read, watch TV and make up my own worlds.

I remember some of this, but it's mostly what I've been told, and these stories make me feel like I was destined to write.

INCITING INCIDENTs

I first wanted to write for TV because of Doctor Who: Confidential, when I realised one man was behind my favourite show - Russell T. Davies. I thought, if he could do it, I could too. So, I wrote, directed, edited and starred in My Doctor Who (imaginative name, I know).

I might've become famous at school for all the wrong reasons, but My Doctor Who helped me get chosen out of 1,000 applicants to attend a workshop at ITV.

That's when I decided I wanted to work in the creative industry...

I just didn't know in what way yet.

FIRST FOCUS POINT

After I finished My Doctor Who in 2011, I started making sketches and vlogs with dreams of being a full-time YouTuber. Unfortunately, that career never took off, but it did help me get into the University of Leeds.

There, I studied Cinema and Photography, collaborating on short films as a writer, editor, camera operator, stand-in - you name it!

When I started the course, I wanted to be an editor. But by my third year, I specialised in screenwriting. I learned everything I know from my lecturer, Ian Macdonald, and thanks to the mentorship of Dr Beth Johnson and television writer Jaden Clark (who continued to be my mentor), my final year project, a short film script called Madhead, won the Independent Project Award for the highest mark on my course and I graduated First Class.

I felt like I was on the right path.

Determined to become a professional screenwriter, I enrolled in MA Writing for Script & Screen at Falmouth Flexible. I chose a part-time online course, so I had time to work and gain experience in the media industry. As part of my MA, I wrote short films, production documents and even led a writers room for an existing sitcom earning me a 2:1!

During my time as a student, I had work experience at Red Production Company. Organised through Post-Production Coordinator Amy Gill, I sat in with Daniel Gale-Coyne as he edited Last Tango in Halifax and wrote practice script reports for Development Editor Freya Boroda.

These experiences led me to be a volunteer script reader for Manchester ADP, an assistant script supervisor for an independent film and a freelance edit assistant at Cosmic Joke.

Working in these various roles across all stages of production in film, television and commercial production gave me the knowledge, experience and confidence to pursue a career in The Industry™.

TURNING POINT

Around the same time I completed my Masters, I experimented with adapting one of my TV pilots into a novel. I'd recently gotten back into reading and wanted to tell the rest of the story, so I went back to my roots.

At the same time, I got a steady job and met the love of my life. It felt like the start of a new chapter.

Then, in June 2020, I was shortlisted for Penguin's WriteNow programme, meaning my book was going to be read by editors with the possibility of a publishing deal. At the start of the year, I'd planned to self-publish because I thought it would be a long time before I could get an agent.

I didn't quite make it all the way with Penguin, but I received interest from a few agents, and it gave me the confidence to give being an author a proper go. Since then, I've continued writing novels and submitting them to literary agents.

Over the years, I tried a bit of everything, but throughout, I've always wanted to tell stories, and I should've known it was inevitable for the boy who wrote an entire Harry Potter fanfiction novel to want to become an author.

Not that that's going to stop me from writing everything else as well.

POINT OF NO RETURN

This time of my life feels like the Second Act. The longest part where the protagonist develops, encounters obstacles, wins and loses with an end goal in mind.

My dream is to write books for the rest of my life. I just want people to enjoy my stories for as long as I can come up with them. Hopefully, one of the people reading this can help make that happen.

But for now...

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