Biog
is a script and story editor who works on projects at all stages of development.
Recent completed films include BENJAMIN by Simon Amstell, London Film Festival & UK 2019; HOW TO FAKE A WAR by Rudolph Herzog 2019; AMERICAN ANIMALS by Bart Layton, Sundance & worldwide 2018; PIN CUSHION by Deborah Haywood, Venice 2017 and UK 2018; KINGDOM OF US, a feature doc by Lucy Cohen London Film Festival 2017 & Netflix. MILLIE LIES LOW is in post in NZ; BABY DONE for Piki Films is on Netflix; BUNNY for Firefly Films is currently in post; Jorge Thielen Armand's LA FORTALEZA screened in Rotterdam 2020. Moin Hussain's BIRCHANGER GREEN will be in productoin this year, and John MacLean's TORNADO will shoot next year.
Kate also often works informally with writers and filmmakers to develop story at early stages: recent projects she has contributed to include DARK HORSE for Raw starring Toni Colette; DO NOT HESITATE for Shariff Korver and Jolein Laarman; LADY MACBETH Toronto & Sundance 2017; I AM NOT A WITCH by Rungano Nyoni Cannes and London 2017; DARK RIVER by Clio Barnard Toronto, London 2017. KINGDOM OF US, LADY MACBETH and I AM NOT A WITCH were all nominated for Best Outstanding Debut at the Baftas 2018.
During Lockdown 2020 Kate has continued to work with filmmakers and producers across the UK and all over the world and has run masterclasses and workshops online for the Helsinki Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, the Netherlands Film Festival, various parts of the BBC, the UK's National Film School, the Edinburgh Film Festival, the Sami Film Institute, Watershed in Bristol, ImagineNATIVE in Toronto, the BFI, the Norwegian National Film School in Oslo, Northern Ireland Screen and the London Film School.
TV drama includes I AM for Dominic Savage on C4; BABYLON for C4 with Jesse Amrstrong & Sam Bain; THE VALHALLA MURDERS for Mystery Films and Truenorth in Iceland; FIRST VICTIM for Real Eyes Films in S Africa; and Emmy award-winning HOFF THE RECORD for Me&You. Other series are still in very early development. Kate spoke at the NRK Oslo Series Days in September.
In the last few years she has worked for British producers including Avalon, Eon Films, Fable PIctures, Altitude, Calamity Films, Warp Films, See-Saw Films, Raw TV, Me&You, Jonescompany, Origin Films, Andy Brunskill at SUMS, Number 9, Pulse Films, F&ME, Film4, Stray Bear, 42, Quark Films, the Sami Film Institute in Norway, Film London, iFeatures, the BFI Film Fund, Screen Australia, Creative England, the New Zealand Film Commission, Ffilm Cymru, Screen Ireland and Screen Scotland. She works with screenwriters and filmmakers including John Maclean, Nanouk Leopold, Alex von Tunzelmann, Bart Layton, Ainslie Henderson, Paul Wright, Nick Payne, Guillem Morales, Martina Amati, Tom Harper, Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain, Alice Lowe, Tom Green, Deborah Haywood, Eran Creevy, Rowan Athale, Michael Please, Ben Schiffer, Roy Williams, Josh Appignanesi and documentary filmmakers Lucy Cohen, Eva Weber and Sam Firth. She works in all genres, on adaptations as well as original screenplays, and on some TV drama and short films.
She has been head of development at several companies including Film4, where she was based for 5 years and where she was part of the small team commissioning and developing some of the UK's most successful feature films including FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and TRAINSPOTTING. She developed ORPHANS and brought in EAST IS EAST and GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, working with countless British writers and directors along the way. As head of development at Capitol Films she spotted LEAVING LAS VEGAS and THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD, and worked with talent including Roman Polanski and William Boyd. She has also been a film agent; a TV presenter & producer; director of the Edinburgh Television Festival; Associate Director of Cinema at the ICA; a location caterer, a film festival programmer, a screenwriting lecturer, a film distributor and a cinema usherette.
Kate speaks regularly at festivals and industry events including Bafta, the London Comedy Film Festival, the Edinburgh Film Festival, BFI South Bank, Creative England, Guiding Lights, the Institute of Contemporary Art and Film London Microwave.
In the last year she has worked with indigenous writers from all the Arctic Circle countries (Norway, Finland, Sweden, Alaska, Greenland, Canada and Russia) in the far North of Norway; spoken about story at Adidas HQ in Germany and at London advertising agency Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO; and given the keynote address to women producers from all over Europe at PROPRO in Vienna.
She runs regular workshops at the London Film School and masterclasses in screenwriting for The Guardian. She has taught screenwriting at the Northern Film School, at the University of London and the Arvon Foundation; script development at the National Film School; and been a visiting lecturer at film schools all over the UK. She evaluates screenwriting courses for Skillset, film and TV projects for Media, and was external examiner at the London Film School for 3 years. She also worked for several years with the Wellcome Trust on film projects: she helped to establish and chaired the Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship in partnership with the BFI and Film4.
She has run talent labs and mentoring projects for filmmakers since 2009 and has organised masterclasses by filmmakers including Jane Campion, Mike Leigh, Sir Ronald Harwood, John Madden, Mogens Rukov, Kenneth Lonergan, and editor Pietro Scalia.
She has been on many film and screenwriting awards juries, chaired and taken part in panel discussions, chairs the screenwriting award for WFTV, is a Bafta Rocliffe jury member; is a member of the writer/director shortlisting committee at the British Independent Film Awards; and has been a BAFTA member for over 20 years.