about me

Compressing my bio, I am a former advertising copywriter. Amongst many other dubious achievements I used to write gags for BBC radio. I now spend my time writing movie screenplays, TV pilots, and crime fiction.

My short story ‘FOX’ won the HarperCollins/Alibi TV crime short story competition at the 2010 Theakstons International Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate.

The second draft of my first crime novel ‘Kill Club’ is based on the notes offered by an interested literary agent with the offer of a resubmit. Still no rejection yet.

Onto the big and small screen… I was shortlisted for the 2007 Red Planet screenplay competition with ‘RIBBONS’ a take on the 1979 Iranian/US Embassy hostage crisis, and the formation of the American Special Forces unit Delta Force by a former SAS officer.

Apart from the screenplays, I have written numerous one-hour episodic TV pilots, with an accompanying six-episode story arc.

These include 'DODGER’ (completed May 2010) … pitched as Deadwood meets Dickens – currently being considered by ScottFree following its enthusiastic first read.

However as fate and ideas would have it, a mate tells me that the novel "Dodger" written by one Terry Pratchett is slated for release in September.

Of course, my idea for the Artful Dodger is better than Sir Terry's and written first (not counting Dickens, of course) but who's going to believe me!

(Bitter and twisted. You betcha! Imagine how Dickens feels.)

I have also written the pilot episode for ‘FOX’ centred on Melody Fox, the eponymous teenage brainiac student sleuth who was the hero of my award-winning short crime story.

I have to be honest and admit that I write solely for myself, about the characters I would personally pay good money to hear and see.

Unfortunately this means I am only interested in commercial ideas which can reach, excite and appeal to the widest possible audience. Work that’s both character and plot driven, with dialogue that really pops.

No overt Pinteresque slash Sammy Beckett-EMO angst here. Sorry!

favourite books

I would rather say favourite WRITERS (of all genres)...

So here is a truncated list of my writing and film-making heroes, and influences, if I should be so lucky:

Wodehouse, Tarantino, Joss Whedon, Tolkien, Orwell, Mamet, James Ellroy, Barbara Cartland, Elmore Leonard, David Milch, Larry David, Dickens, Robert Crais, Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Deaver, Jane Austen, Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond, Hitchcock, Jane Espenson, Denis Lehane, David Fincher, et al.

my websites