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Alternative bio

Hi, so, predictable question - what is your favourite film?

Probably, Terence Malick's The Thin Red Line - that was the movie that made me want to make movies, but it changes regularly.

What place means the most to you?

The Eden Valley, Cumbria, where I grew up.

Have you noticed that journalists ask questions in certain areas when they interview people in 'the arts'?

What, you mean culture-speak? Yes.

Don't you think using phrases like culture speak makes you sound like a bit of a knob?

Yes - but it also tells you I've read 1984 so, ha.

I'm not sure you're helping your case there.

Anyway, how would you describe yourself in current culture-speak?

I suppose I would say I'm privileged, thanks to the personal and financial sacrifices of my parents. Not Sofia Coppola style privileged but, yes, lucky.

It's interesting isn't it how in arts journalism pain is beginning to replace power in terms of prestige more widely than ever before. Speaking in these terms, I've suffered from depression, anxiety, chronic pain and obsessive thinking.

I'm all for openness around mental health but the tone of these articles sometimes feels like 'my pain is bigger than yours'. Is pain a form of privilege, does it counteract privilege, does it make us more empathetic or more cynical? These are questions I'm interested in.

Have you got other projects in the works?

I have rough drafts of two short films on the go and also two embryonic feature scripts that I'm working on, slowly.

You've been writing these questions all along, haven't you?

Yes, yes I have.

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