We currently have 70 talented directors from around the world on our roster to read the best screenplays entered into this year’s screenplay contests.
View our Judges and Industry Roster.
We will always get prior approval before sending a writer’s work out to our directors.
In 2013 Alex was selected as director attachment to Bruce Beresford on the production of BONNIE & CLYDE and in 2014 he received Hot Shots Program funding through Screen Australia to make the short film ARI, which premiered at TIFF Kids 2016 and screened at thirty international festivals, picking up a Vimeo Staff Pick. He is a Screen Australia Talent Escalator recipient and MIFF Accelerator alumnus.
Co-founder of Runaway Train, Chicago-based director, and producer Alex Thompson produced the features “King Rat” and “Our Father”, and directed the features “Brother Sister” and “Saint Frances” this past year. Short films and pilots he produced and/or directed have premiered at festivals around the world. He has a BA from DePauw University and an MFA in directing from DePaul University.
Alex von Hofmann is a writer-director with a love of genre films. He has made a number of shorts that have had success on the festival circuit, including an AACTA nomination. He has recently moved to Melbourne Australia and is focused on making his first feature film. Alex was selected for a Director’s attachment, shadowing a TV director, David Petrarca, while he filmed two episodes of Netflix’s Marco Polo. Recently Alex was placed in the top five of the Australian Writers Guilds Monte Miller Awards.
Her last film, SEX ED, was produced via the NFTF and EON Productions. In 2016, Alice directed PREGNANT PAUSE, which starred Alexandra Roach, and was made through Film London’s London Calling scheme. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was longlisted for a BAFTA. She is a member of directing collective Cinesisters and is represented by Troika Talent Agency.
Alissa trains her eye on moments of lyricism and magic in the everyday world. She’s collaborated with Liev Schreiber, Zooey Deschanel, and Will.I.Am and worked on campaigns for Johnson & Johnson, Wix, and HP. Her first feature film is set to premiere in the Fall of 2019.
A Chinese-Australian filmmaker whose undergraduate film Blind Luck, 2010 received an honorable mention at the LA Film Festival and screened in numerous festivals around the world. In 2018 Amy won Gold at the New Directors Cannes Lions Awards for her film Unnatural. Amy is currently developing a limited series aimed at humanizing social pariahs and two features focused on two extremely flawed women.
Andrew is a Cali-living, genre-loving, globe-trotting writer/director and travel videographer. He has directed shorts for Disney XD and Crypt TV, as well as commercial content for a variety of major brands. Currently developing an indie horror feature which he plans to direct. House-broken. Has all shots.
As well as being a Screenwriter for nearly 20 years (Hugh Bonneville attached to her feature comedy) and a freelance Script Editor for the BFI, Euroscript & Rather Good Films, Anna is also an award-winning Director. Her short film I SEEK ASYLUM starring Emma Thompson was selected for 8 international festivals. She is currently developing a comedy-drama short with Globe Productions (Universal Music).
Ariel began his career in NY as an actor, appearing in Blue Man Group, then later in War Horse at Lincoln Center Theater. Now based in LA, Ariel studied at USC’s graduate film program where his thesis film Mammoth won a Student Academy Award in 2017. Currently, his first feature script Red Salvador is on the 2018 Hit List, and his new short will be starting its festival run this fall.
Aurora is an award-winning director with a slate of genre projects in development, including TIPPING POINT, with BFI Vision Awardee Lunar Lander Films. Her ambitious sci-fi short PULSAR starring David Gyasi and Jessie Buckley was recently released by DUST. 104 Films produced Aurora’s short STRUCK, which screened at Sydney, Edinburgh and Cork Film Festivals before being released online by Shortoftheweek.com. Directors UK commissioned her suspenseful short MURMUR.
Azeem is a British-Pakistani writer, director and playwright, based in London. Projects he has worked on have included the film Page One and the Scott Free and Google produced documentary, India in a Day. In 2018, three of his plays were performed on the London stage. His first written and directed short film, Our Kind of Love was long-listed for a BAFTA in 2019.
Award-winning UK-based writer/director with a background in painting. Bailey creates absurd and surreal nightmares which grow out of everyday life, focusing on personal crises; psychological and physical. Sometimes these are funny, as in upcoming short THE HISTORY OF NIPPLES. His works have played international festivals and featured on Nowness. He is currently developing feature scripts.
Ben has worked as a Director in Commercials and TV Drama in various countries, for brands from PRADA to VOLVO and the BBC and Channel 4 – in both English and Spanish. He’s had shorts in renowned festivals as a Writer/Director and is developing Film and TV. He is a BAFTA LA Newcomer, Warner Bros Emerging Film Director Finalist and Shore Scripts Fund Winner. He’s represented by Independent Talent in the UK and Grandview in the US.
Ben Mallaby is a BAFTA nominated director of comedy shorts and commercials. Most recently he finished work on the second series of Climaxed for BBC3.
Ben prides himself on his interdisciplinary visual expertise and has a clear focus on intelligent and visually driven storytelling. From directing short form content, commercials, interactive films, VR, installations, and digital experiences, his career has been focused on finding innovative ways to tell stories, engage and excite audiences.
As a writer, his feature scripts have placed highly in the Nicholl Fellowship, as well as Script Pipeline and Shore Scripts. He is currently in pre-production on his feature debut, IN CASE OF RAPTURE (featured on The Hit List as one of the best specs of the year in 2016).
A Writer/Director based in London. Self-taught in film making from a young age, Billy has written and directed many short films such as Absent (2013), The Break Up Of Dave (2015), Household (2017), and Father’s Day (2018) which won a BFI Future Film award for Best Drama. Billy believes that anyone can make a film using only what’s around them… as long as what you have around you is a camera… that helps.
Brendan write, directs and edits commercials for major brands and agencies. In 2015 his award winning short film “Intersection” played at major film festivals worldwide. He has since picked up feature film representation with Management 360 and is in the process of pitching several feature screenplays, which he also plans on directing.
Hailed by Filmmaker Magazine as one of 2018’s New Faces of Independent Film, Carey Williams is a director bringing a unique and visually striking cinematic eye to the exploration of the human condition. Carey’s most recent film EMERGENCY has received awards from festivals such as Sundance and SXSW. Most recently he joined NBC’s Emerging Director Fellowship Program and aspires to evoke thought, reflection and positive change with his work.
Award-winning Film, TV & Theatre writer/director – winning Best Short Film Awards across the world (I DON’T CARE, PAPA, MAN UP & NIGHT ARMOUR) Series of period short films CIVIL WAR FILMS won 2x CANNES TV & Media awards & RTS AWARD. TV includes CASUALTY, SHAKESPEARE & HATHWAY, VERA. Her feature film PIZZA FACE has received funding from BFI/CREATIVE ENGLAND to make a pilot HOLY CANNELLONI.
Carys Watford is an award-winning Writer/Director based in London (UK) passionate about making films packed with personality and heart. Her latest film ‘Space Girls’ has screened internationally at over 25 festivals & recently won the Grand Prize Children’s Live Action Short Award at the Oscar & BAFTA-qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. Carys is a member of BAFTA Crew.
Chloë is currently developing her debut feature with the BFI. Her short films have played at festivals including London Short Film Festival, Underwire, Prague, Short Waves. She is part of directing collective Cinesisters.
Christiana is an award-winning drama director, selected for the BAFTA Elevate 2017 scheme. She has directed Call the Midwife, Father Brown, Holby City, Doctors, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Emmerdale and recently, a Film London Calling Plus short called, Support and a Creative England supported short, Some Sweet Oblivious Antidote starring Sir Lenny Henry, Wunmi Mosaku, Colin Salmon, and Fatima Koroma. The latter was longlisted for the 2018 BAFTA Awards.
Claire Fowler is a Welsh writer & director. Her short film, SALAM (our first Short Film Fund Winner) premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Recently she directed eight episodes of the BBC Wales/S4C digital series RESPECTABLE WOMEN before heading to Morocco to shadow director Alex Graves (GAME OF THRONES) on Ep. 5 of the final season of HOMELAND. She is currently developing several projects that combine her interests in social justice and fiction storytelling.
Clare is a writer and director of comedy. She read Classics at Oxford and trained at NFTS. Her debut short was nominated Best Comedy, Best Writer, and awarded NFTS Star of Tomorrow at BAFTA. Recent work includes six-part web series Bleachers, a short starring Lou Sanders, a feature, winner of JETS, Berlinale ‘18, Bad Nun, finalist at Sundance X YouTube Episodic Lab, Table Read winner at PLTV18.
In 2017 Dan directed the short film “To Wendy Who Kicked Me When I Said I Love You” supported by Film London. It has gone on to screen at over 15 festivals around the world. Dan started his career as a directors assistant working for Nicolas Roeg, Alex De La Iglesia, and Armando Iannucci. In 2016, Dan directed his first pilot for BBC 3, “3 GUYS EAT”. He has just directed a series of comedy films for TSB and the Guardian in early 2018.
Deva is shooting FINDING CLIVE, a Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist, starring Shirley Henderson, with Revolution Films in 2019. Her short films have won numerous awards, screening at many BAFTA & Oscar-qualifying festivals. Fishy, distributed by Shorts International, is now on iTunes. The Grab, her latest short film, will premiere at a top BAFTA qualifying festival – to be announced in May 2019.
Drew is a Los Angeles-based director who has created numerous pieces for clients such as Fuse, MTV and Sony. In 2018, his short film STRAY is making the festival rounds, most recently at the Palm Springs International Shortfest. He is currently developing a docu-series that will follow the journeys of several elite female wrestlers as they battle for a spot on the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team.
Elham is an actor and filmmaker born in Afghanistan but who immigrated to London at the age of 10. He started off his acting career in the critically acclaimed film The Kite Runner and many others before filmmaking. As writer/director, Elham makes films that portray ethnic stories that haven’t yet been told on screen. His first short, Our Kind of Love, was long-listed for a BAFTA in 2019 and within a month of release on Youtube has been viewed by almost half a million viewers and rising.
Ella moved through Film and TV development, into directing and script editing. Her short films have played at festivals including Phoenix, Triforce, LOCO, LA Comedy Fest, Portland, Cambridge and Encounters. Her latest short ‘Sarah Chong is Going to Kill Herself’ was made through Creative England’s ‘Funny Girls’ scheme. Ella’s first feature, a romantic comedy about polyamory, is in development with Film4.
Fabien is from the self-taught school of filmmaking. Born and raised in Paris, he moved to New York with his family in 2008. His feature film One Buck won several Awards including the Manhattan Film Festival, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Texas, Sydney, Madrid, Calcutta, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and 34 more awards globally.
Wrote, produced and directed “The Observer Effect” which began its festival run in August 2017 with its premiere at the prestigious LA Shorts International Film Festival. Since then it has gone on to win numerous awards and festival selections across the US and Europe.
Harry Sherriff is a writer-director based in Manchester, UK. In 2014 Harry made his short film Hits Like A Girl through the inaugural iShorts scheme, and in 2016 he went on to make 12 shorts in 12 months. Harry has been awarded video of the day on VOTD.tv and was chosen as a One To Watch by HIIIVE. In 2018 Harry was selected to join the BFI Network BAFTA Crew.
Isaac “Icey” is a writer/director with 100+ million views on youtube for Sony, Universal, Beats By Dre and Ministry Of Sound. His promo for Sam Feldt “Show Me Love” was Promo News 2nd most viewed 2015. His work has been staged at Arcola, Southwark and Stratford Royal. His TV pilot “AFTERS” was top 4% of BBC Drama writersroom 2018. He is developing a series with Gunpowder Sky as writer/director.
An award-winning director and NYU Grad Film alum, Isabella is a FI and NYFF Artist Academy Fellow and Sloan award recipient. Her short films have played at festivals around the world incl Cambridge, Leeds, LSFF (nom. Best woman director), RIIFF, Woodstock, IFFBoston, with casts incl. Hermione Norris, Chloë Sevigny, and Tim Blake Nelson, and producers incl. James Franco and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Jacqueline Pepall is an award-winning director for film and television. Her recent credits include the short film “Wishin’ & Hopin'” (BFI Flare), “The Hotel Affair” (London Short Film Festival), and the comedy pilot “Upstaged” (CBC Canada; Best Pilot, LA Comedy Festival). She is one of the Edinburgh TV Festival’s ‘Ones to Watch’ for 2018/2019. Her work celebrates new, underrepresented heroes.
Jacquie is a London-based director and writer. Her recent short film about the intricacies of the gender pay gap, Just Ask For It, premiered at the 2018 Austin Film Festival. Jacquie grew up in Canada and worked professionally as a Civil Engineer on commercial construction projects. She then went on to complete her MBA and shifted her career to directing in 2016.
Jenna Kanell delivered a TEDx Talk on her short film “Bumblebees,” which after its worldwide, award-winning festival run led her to speak at institutions such as Harvard Medical School and the National Inclusion Institute. Her short “Max & The Monster” premiered on the opening night of the Austin Film Festival. She’s also a SAG-AFTRA actor (“The Front Runner,” “Terrifier”) and stunt performer.
An award-winning director and editor from London. Her short ‘Rocket’, won the grand prize at the Virgin Media Shorts competition in 2012 and since then she has directed six more award winning shorts. Nominated for Best New Director at the D&AD Awards 2017; as one half of AFLOAT. She is currently in development with First Look Media (NY), on a digital series and shooting her debut horror feature next year.
Jon is an Emmy nominated Director / Producer working mostly in comedy. He founded an Oscar-winning production company which he then sold to concentrate on comedy, like an idiot. His debut feature the superhero rom-com “SuperBob” was critically acclaimed and got 4 stars from Empire magazine, which he’ll probably have etched onto his gravestone. He works with the UK’s top comedy talent and is totally fine talking about himself in the 3rd person.
An LA-based writer and director with an MFA in Directing from Columbia University. She has directed multiple short films that have screened at festivals around the country, as well as online spots and advertising work for various companies. She is a recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker’s Grant and a member of New York Women in Film.
Keith Wilhelm Kopp is an award-winning film director and army veteran from Oregon based in Bath, UK. He is interested in films about transformation, trauma and difficult relationships. His short films have screened in film festivals globally and have screened on Sky TV in the UK. He is currently developing his first feature film with the BFI early development award.
Lauren is a London based writer, director, and actor. Her debut short film, Pendulum, was made back-packing around India and had its UK premiere at the Oscar-qualifying Encounters film festival. She is currently developing a feature version, supported by Modern Tales, BFI and Creative Skillset. She has several other TV series and features in development.
Leonora is a Student Academy Award-nominated director whose short films have won a Hollywood Foreign Press Assoc. grant & screened at multiple BAFTA & Oscar-qualifying festivals. She was selected for 2016’s iFeatures with Ex Sanguis & is currently developing the film with Ardimages UK (God’s Own Country). She attended NYU Tisch’s graduate film program and is represented by Independent Talent.
Lola Blanc is a writer, director, actor and musician whose journey into filmmaking began with music: first writing songs (including one for Britney) and then directing music videos, soon graduating into writing and directing narrative. She recently directed a short starring Kenny Lucas of the Lucas Brothers. Blanc’s directing work has been spotlighted by Funny or Die, Billboard, Popcrush, & more.
Louis did an MA in Directing at the National Film and Television School. His latest short, SATAN HAS A BUSHY TAIL was completed as part of Film London’s shorts scheme and has picked up multiple best comedy awards during its festival run. Louis is currently in development with the Scottish Film Talent Network on THE INCOMER – this will be his first feature film as Writer/Director.
Raised in the Midlands by a beauty therapist and civil servant, Lucy splits her time between personal projects and commercial work. Influenced by the likes of Andrea Arnold and Jill Soloway, Lucy wants to tell stories that feel real, intimate and absorbing with a focus on awkward transitional periods in people’s lives. Lucy’s first short ‘Mothering’ has already been selected by 4 BAFTA recognised festivals.
A writer and director whose award-winning work has screened around the world. Most notably, he was featured in the 2017 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes.
Award-winning Writer/Director working in London and Dublin. Megan’s short film work has won over a dozen awards, garnered high profile nominations and broadcast on global TV. Highlights of her young career include screening work at the Barbican and BFI, winning the WFTV Lifetime Shorts Competition and Best Director Under 25 at BAFTA qualifying Underwire Festival.
Nathan Deming is a filmmaker from Wisconsin. He studied filmmaking at the London Film School where he made several shorts (Dog Days, Tongues) that were featured in the London Short Film Festival, the Edinburgh Film Festival, and Premiers Plans d’Angers. His first feature, Speaking in Tongues, premiered at the 2018 Austin Film Festival. His films are usually personal, focused on culture, religion and growing up in the Midwest.
Tipped as a future star on BBC’s 2017 hotlist, JBA awardee Nour Wazzi has collaborated on award-winning features (e.g. OSCAR nominee ‘Waste Land’) and shorts – most recently directing on the BBC mini-series ‘The Break’, short thriller ‘Baby Mine,’ and sci-fi/thriller ‘Lab Rat’. She’s worked with talent incl. Emilia Clarke (‘Solo: A Star Wars story), and Maisie Williams (‘X-Men: The New Mutants’).
Bristol/UK based working-class director who writes character-driven genre cinema with a grounded, real-world feel. Paul has had films selected for Bafta-Qualifying ASFF and LSFF as well as winning several awards across the globe including ‘Best UK Short’ at MANIFF and ‘Best Film’ at CFF. Paul was part of Creative England’s Talent Module 2016 and BaftaXcrew 2018.
Named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, Prano’s strong body of shorts and music videos invoke imaginative worlds, fusing a dark vocabulary with eerie allure. Her short NASTY screened at over 100 festivals, premiering at BFI London Film Festival. She is developing her debut feature with the BFI, Ffilm Cymru Wales, and Creative England. Prano is represented as a writer/director by Casarotto.
Born in India, Pratyusha now lives and works in London. Her most recent short ‘Oysters’ commissioned by Film London and BFI NET.work was selected for the East End and Underwire Film Festivals in 2017. Her short ‘Safar’ first showed at Aesthetica and won the audience award for best short film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. She is currently developing her first feature as a writer-director.
An NYC-based statistician-turned-filmmaker, Richa’s first short film “Taaza Khoon” (Fresh Blood) has won 7 awards across 25 film festivals. Her scripts have been shortlisted for programs such as ScreenCraft Film Fund, Shore Scripts Film Fund, and Nashville Film Festival’s Pitch. She’s currently working on her second short film “The Seal”.
Writer/Director Rob Lambert has always been fascinated by case studies on human behavior. He started off working in film pre-production at Paramount Pictures before launching LA-based production company Rimrock Pictures. After receiving the Shore Scripts 2016 TV Pilot Grand Prize for Los Niños Sicarios, Rob sold and developed the show for a year with Crackle before adapting it to a feature screenplay. His first feature film CUCK will be getting a theatrical run in October 2019.
An Emmy-nominated Writer/Director, with a particular affinity for dark or dramatic comedy, Ruth’s short films, and music videos have played at festivals including LOCO, the UK’s biggest comedy film festival, and Bafta-affiliated Aesthetica and Underwire. Her feature film The Opposite of Everything was awarded development funding via Film London’s Microwave scheme and she is a member of Cinesisters.
Sam and Tom McKeith are Sydney-based directors. Their first feature, Beast starred Garret Dillahunt and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it was nominated for the DropBox award for a best first feature. Their short films have played at Berlin, Telluride and Busan amongst other festivals. They are interested in exploring the human frailties of characters striving for something better in their lives. Their work often has a social focus.
Recently wrote and directed the short film The Orgy starring Amit Shah (Crashing) & Alexandra Roach (Black Mirror), which received funding from the Shore Scripts Film Fund. Sam’s previous comedy short films have over 6 million hits online, received Vimeo Staff Picks, and been featured on Short Of The Week. Sam is developing his feature The Science Of Love And Laughter with the BFI. The script won the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship award.
Sam is a writer-director based in the UK working mostly in short film. Sam fuses high-concept genre elements with an authentic social realist aesthetic. His work has been shown at several BAFTA-affiliated festivals and been awarded Best Film at MANIFF and CFF in 2018. Sam also works in wildlife documentary television.
A Cypriot filmmaker based in London. His narrative short films have screened internationally at festivals and as a music video director his work has been picked up by platforms such as Nowness. Savvas’ latest feature script was one of 8 projects to be selected for the Sundance Mediterranean Filmmakers Lab in 2018.
A New York-based filmmaker. Serge has been a screenwriter and director for well over a decade. His recent feature film The Idea Of Manhood took home best screenplay and best picture at The Phoenix Film Festival. Serge’s storytelling is rooted in what he sees it means to be human and imperfect.
Film-maker Shahir Daud is originally from New Zealand and is now based in NYC. Shahir’s narrative short attracted a haul of awards including wins at the St Tropez International Film Festival, Harlem International Film Festival and the New York Short Fest. Shahir is also the co-host of “The Only Podcast About Movies.”
An award winning, BAFTA shortlisted filmmaker currently in development on her debut feature, a psychological horror, IN OUR BLOOD. The screenplay was a semi-finalist in the 2016 Shore Scripts feature competition and was awarded Creative England/BFI Emerging Talent Development Funds and chosen for the 2018 BAFTA X Crew.
Steve is an award-winning UK-based filmmaker who has directed episodes of Doctor Who (BBC), Creeped Out (Netflix), Wolfblood (CBBC) and Land Girls (BBC), amongst many others. He is the lead director on the new CW sci-fi drama Pandora and directed 2nd unit on Killing Eve (BBC America) and Strike Back (Cinemax). He is also a huge film geek and possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of film scores.
Tobias is a London-based director interested in smart thriller and sci-fi projects. Following a decade shooting shorts and corporates he produced the feature dark-comedy, ‘The Drummond Will’, picking up 8 Best Feature awards. Tobias’ own debut feature, ‘Confine’, a hostage thriller starring Daisy Lowe and Alfie Allen, premiered at Raindance before being released in UK and USA.
Tom started his career in production before moving into feature editing. He’s edited Annabelle (New Line), Inferno (directed by Ron Howard), Flatliner’s (Sony), The Prodigy (MGM), and Child’s Play. Editing 2009’s thriller, The Haunting in Connecticut, gave Tom the opportunity to make his directorial debut, directing the sequel which was released by Lionsgate.
Tre Manchester is an award-winning film producer and director. He holds several wins and nominations in both national and international festivals including three “Best Feature” film awards, a “Best Picture” nomination from the Houston Film Critics Society, and a “Best Original Screenplay” award for his work on his debut feature drama, The Things We’ve Seen.
Wade Jackson is a British director living on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Credits include campaigns for BBC, Audi, and The Nature Conservancy. Founder of Manor House Films and recipient of PDN’s Annual Great Outdoor Content and SIFF Jury Prize. His current feature, BREAKER, debuts at festivals in 2019.
A Brooklyn based filmmaker. He is currently in development on RUSTLANDS, a feature adaption of his short RUST IN PEACE. Coming from theater, Will received an Edinburgh Fringe First award in 2004.
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