John McPhail (director)
John McPhail | |
---|---|
Born | Glasgow, Scotland |
Alma mater | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland |
Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
Years active | 2008–present |
Notable work |
John McPhail is a Scottish film director and screenwriter.
Life and career
McPhail studied Cinematography at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. During his time there he met and formed a close working relationship with Tyler Collins and Andrew Lanni. After graduating from the Conservatoire he worked on the BBC television series Waterloo Road and was the assistant camera operator on the film Up There by Zam Salim.
In 2013 he formed his own production company Worrying Drake Productions and reunited with Collins and Lanni to produce a trilogy of short comedy films. The first film was the romantic comedy Notes which saw Collins in the leading role of Adam. The film told the story of a pair of roommates whose relationship develops through a series of post it notes. The film was warmly received by audicences and critics with Thomas Simpson of MovieScramble writing:
"In less than 10 minutes, McPhail has achieved what many feature films can not. A touching romance with a genuine humour to stop it from being too schmaltzy."[1]
Later that year he released V for Visa and Doug & Steve's Big Holy Adventure which completed the comedy trilogy. V for Visa had its North American premiere at Robert De Niro's TriBeCa Film Centre in New York as part of the Bootleg Film Festival.[2] The film went on to win the Best Director accolade at the festival.
Whilst filming the comedy trilogy, McPhail wrote a short 3 minute film called Just Say Hi to enter into the 2013 edition of the Virgin Media Shorts Competition. The film, starring Collins with Lanni in the role of producer, tells the story of a blossoming romance between a boy and a girl who meet every morning at a bus stop. The film made it through to the top 13 out of a short list of 250 films. Writing about his experience as a member of the judging panel, Robbie Collin of the Daily Telegraph said that Just Say Hi was:
"One of the sweetest payoffs I’ve seen in any rom-com this year."[3]
The film proved to be a hit with the judges and with the audience at home winning 2 out of the 3 awards available at the festival making McPhail the only director in the competition's history to win multiple awards. The production team were presented with the awards at a ceremony in London which included £5,000 in film funding with mentoring from the British Film Institute and a voucher for £5,000 to spend on Nikon Equipment.[4] The film was later picked up by the Très Court International Film Festival where it was screened in over 100 cities in 23 countries.[5] With the success of his short films on the domestic and international festival circuit, McPhail launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund his first feature film Where Do We Go From Here?. The campaign was a success, raising £10,630 in just two months.[6] Production began in the summer of 2014 with McPhail directing the film in just 16 days in various location across Scotland including Falkirk, Alloa, Coatbridge, Glasgow and Loch Lomond. Speaking of his experience filming the feature to Impulse Magazine, McPhail said:
"It was the single best experience of my life. I didn’t eat or sleep for two and a bit weeks but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world."[7]
After editing the film himself, McPhail began entering the film into festivals across the globe. The film was shown at the Cluj Comedy Film Festival in Romania which McPhail attended along with producer Lauren Lamarr. In late October 2015, the film was screened at the Sydney Indie Film Festival where it was nominated for 7 awards. Unable to attend the awards ceremony, McPhail was represented by a friend who happened to be travelling around Australia at the time.[8] The film picked up three awards at the festival for Best Score, Best Supporting Actress and Best Film. Speaking to the National Newspaper about the awards success, McPhail said:
"I couldn’t believe we had won for our first feature film – we were jumping about in my kitchen going crazy when we heard. I would have liked to have been there but we had so much fun in the kitchen I’m kind of glad the way it worked out."[9]
Upon hearing the news of McPhail's success in at the Australian festival, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland posted a message of congraulations to him on their Twitter account.[10]
In 2016, McPhail was approached by Nicholas Crum and Naysun Alae-Carew of Blazing Griffin about the possibility of directing their feature length musical film, Anna and the Apocalypse.[11] The film based on the short film Zombie Musical by the late writer Ryan McHenry, tells the story of Anna and her school mates in their bid to survive a sudden zombie apocalypse which descends on their town in the run up to Christmas. A horror fan with John Carpenter considered as one of his biggest film influences[12], McPhail accepted the offer and filming began later that year in Greenock in Scotland.[13]
Anna and the Apocalypse had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2017 with McPhail and many of the films cast and crew in attendance.[14] The film was a hit with the American audience and began trending on twitter during the festival. In the United Kingdom, the film had its first screening as part of the 2018 Edinburgh International Film Festival and was considered one of the top 5 must see films that year by the Scotsman Newspaper.[15] Later that year, McPhail - along with Naysun Alae-Carew, Nicholas Crum and Alan McDonald - was amongst the nominees for Best Feature Film at the 2018 British Academy Scotland Awards.[16]
Filmography
Film
Year | Film | Credited as | Additional Roles | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | ScreenWriter | Camera | Film Editor | ||||
2008 | Battlestar Galactica: By Your Command | Yes | |||||
2010 | Wiped | Yes | |||||
Dear Mom | Yes | ||||||
I Love Luci | Yes | Daily Camera Trainee | |||||
2012 | Up There | Yes | Assistant Camera | ||||
2013 | Notes | Yes | Yes | Producer | |||
V for Visa | Yes | Yes | |||||
Just Say Hi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Actor - Norbert | |||
2014 | Take It Back and Start All Over | Yes | First Assistant Director | ||||
Broken Record | Colourist | ||||||
2015 | Where Do We Go From Here? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Executive Producer Actor - Dog Poo Man |
||
Aviatrix | Yes | Assistant Director | |||||
2017 | Anna and the Apocalypse | Yes |
Television
Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012-2013 | Waterloo Road | Various | Assistant Camera | 6 Episodes |
2015 | Metalhedz | Himself | Director | 1 Episode |
2016 | The Crews | Colin Ross Smith | Cinematographer | 10 Episodes |
Awards
Year | Nominated Work | Awards | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Just Say Hi | Virgin Media Short Awards | The TiVo Award | Won |
The Nikon People's Choice Award | Won | |||
Notes | Bootleg Film Festival Edinburgh | Best Scottish Film | Won | |
Roughcut | Audience Choice Award | Won | ||
Aberfeldy Film Festival | Palme-Dewar Audience Choice Award | Won | ||
2014 | Notes | Ayr International Film Festival | Best Director | Won |
Audience Choice Award | Won | |||
V for Visa | Bootleg Film Festival NYC | Best Director | Won | |
Just Say Hi | The Scottish Short Film Festival | Audience Choice Award | Won | |
Aberfeldy Film Festival | Palme-Dewar Audience Choice Award | Won | ||
2015 | Where Do We Go From Here? | Sydney Indie Film Festival | Best Film (Shared with Andrew Lanni and Lauren Lamarr) |
Won |
Best Editing | Nominated | |||
Just Say Hi | Loch Ness Film Festival | Best Micro Short | Won | |
2016 | Where Do We Go From Here? | Bay Street Film Festival | People's Choice Award | Won |
Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival | Best Director | Won | ||
Blow-Up Chicago International Arthouse Film Fest | Best Comedy (Shared with Andrew Lanni and Lauren Lamarr) |
Won | ||
2017 | Anna and the Apocalypse | Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards | Best Independent Film | Nominated |
2018 | Edinburgh International Film Festival | Audience Award | Nominated | |
British Academy Scotland Awards | Best Feature Film (Shared with Naysun Alae-Carew, Nicholas Crum, and Alan McDonald) |
Nominated | ||
References
- ↑ "Notes". 31 May 2013.
- ↑ "Scots film goes on show in de Niro's cinema". Glasgow Evening Times. 21 September 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
- ↑ Collin, Robbie (11 September 2013). "Virgin Media Shorts film competition shortlist: 'more energy and wit than many feature-length films'" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ↑ "See press releases and make press enquiries". www.europe-nikon.com.
- ↑ s.r.o., Burn IT,. "IFP -- Francouzský institut v Praze - Úvod". www.ifp.cz.
- ↑ "Where Do We Go From Here? Crowd Funding Campaign". Indiegogo.
- ↑ Impulse Magazine Archived 19 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Glasgow Film-maker John McPhail picks up three awards at Sydney Indie Film Festival". Glasgow Evening Times. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ↑ "Profile: Scottish romantic comedy Where Do We Go From Here? storms Australian film festival". The National.
- ↑ "Royal Conservatoire on Twitter".
- ↑ "ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE'S DIRECTOR SHARES THE SECRETS OF THE ZOMBIE-STUFFED HOLIDAY MUSICAL COMEDY". Syfy.Com.
- ↑ "Edinburgh 2018 Interview: Director John McPhail on Christmas Zombie Musical ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE". Screen Anarchy.
- ↑ "Zombie flick filmed at old Port school". Greenock Telegraph.
- ↑ Waldo, Barry (9 August 2017). "Zombie musical Anna and the Apocalypse to get World Premiere at Fantastic Fest". Creative Scotland. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
- ↑ "Five must-see movies at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival". The Scotsman Newspaper.
- ↑ "British Academy Scotland Awards: Nominees in 2018". BAFTA. Retrieved 2018-09-26.