New challenges for 2015

Hard to believe it's been almost four months since my last blog post, during which time I've been busy being busy: finishing my first book, leaving behind the freelance world for full-time employment and planning new projects for 2015. On the book front, a few unexpected occurrences - including the announcement of a fifth film...

Big screen debut in A Dangerous Game

That headline is perhaps slightly misleading, in that I've not appeared in Anthony Baxter's latest film, A Dangerous Game, but some footage I filmed has. Let me explain... Between 2011 and 2014 I was lucky enough to be involved with Scotland's finest cinema, the Screen Machine, a mobile unit which takes films to some of the...

Covering Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014

Another bumper year of interviews at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Tremors book cover and trailer online

The cover and trailer from my upcoming book are now online.

Time to end Reel Time

Today sees the publication in the Edinburgh Evening News of my final Reel Time, the weekly film column I've been writing since January 2009. Since then the word count has dropped gradually from 500 to 350 to the current 300 and my (very rough) calculations tell me I've written somewhere in the region of 100,000...

New interviews on the BBC

We're lucky to have some fantastic film festivals here in Scotland, meaning I can head along with my (well, the BBC's) trusty microphone and gather together various interviews for future broadcast on the Radio Scotland Culture Studio. In February I was at the Glasgow Film Festival, where I spoke to director Richard Ayoade about his...

Writing the guide to Tremors

Details of my first book, Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors.

Creating content with MovieMail

Details of my role working with MovieMail.

Short Circuit feature in SFX

A return to SFX with a feature on cult movie, Short Circuit.

Local Hero comes home with Screen Machine

I was back with the Screen Machine at the start of November, celebrating two iconic Scottish productions as part of the cinema's 15th anniversary. Over the course of the previous few months I'd been planning (in association with Natural Scotland on Screen and BAFTA in Scotland) screenings of Bill Forsyth's Local Hero and the BBC...

On sequels and the return of Dunsinane

It's been a while since I had a chance to review a theatre production, so I was delighted when The National Theatre of Scotland got in touch to commission me for an article for a tour of David Greig's Dunsinane. Dunsinane is Greig's sequel to Shakespeare's Macbeth, so the NTS team were keen to feature...

New iPad magazine in iTunes

It was just over a year ago that I wrote about a new iPad magazine I'd worked on for the Highlands of Scotland Film Commission. Earlier this year, I headed up to Skye to start work on issue two of the magazine, interviewing a number of local filmmakers and educators. I visited Sabhal Mòr Ostaig college...

Noah Baumbach interview on Radio Scotland

Recorded back in June at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, my interview with US film director, Noah Baumbach, was broadcast on the BBC Radio Scotland Culture Studio last Thursday. Baumbach was in town for screenings of his latest low budget drama, Frances Ha, the story of a young New Yorker, Frances (Greta Gerwig), trying to...

Much Ado about Joss Whedon

As a long time fan of Joss Whedon's work, be it Buffy, Angel, Firefly or any number of other projects, I was delighted to get the chance to interview him for this week's Culture Studio on BBC Radio Scotland. He was in Scotland to promote his latest film, Much Ado About Nothing, and he explained...

Launching Screen Machine’s 15th anniversary

I spent last Thursday beside the Scottish Parliament with Screen Machine, Scotland's mobile cinema, as it made a rare visit to the capital for its 15th anniversary launch. As Project Coordinator for the anniversary, I've been working for the last few months on a programme of activities around the Highlands, Argyll & Bute, North Ayrshire and...