Before becoming a full-time screenwriter and director, Phil spent more than 20 years as a Fleet Street journalist, principally with the Daily Mail.
Since entering the film industry, he has written and directed two full-length features, Barefooting and Deep Lies, both of which were screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and 2009 respectively. His screenplay Wodehouses’s War was optioned by the UK’s Corona Pictures and Olav Wyper is a co-producer on this film. Meanwhile Phil completed the screenplay of The Club 1948, a thriller set during the Berlin airlift, for the Munich based ART-OKO Film GmbH.
He was the founder and artistic director of the North West-based Arena Theatre Company, which gave a platform for the works of new writers. He is the author of five published plays, two of which – The Last Time I Saw Paris and Where The Brass Bands Play – won national playwriting awards.
The latter was made into a feature film, A Summer’s Tale. Set in 1958, it’s the story of a lonely, middle-aged man who belatedly finds love on a summer holiday but with a woman whose tormented past leads them both to heartbreak.
Screenplays In Development
Wodehouse’s War – feature film optioned by Corona Pictures: The film dramatically chronicles the circumstances that led to the life sentence passed without trial on one of the world’s greatest humorists. Amid the hysteria of war, Wodehouse’s broadcasts from Berlin caused an international scandal still reverberating today.
Bluesheart – feature film to be directed by Phil: The world of a passionate blues guitarist is turned upside down when he falls in love with a beautiful East European drug addict. He risks his life to help her escape the clutches of a vicious underworld gang.
The Tenth Wave – feature film to be directed by Phil: Set against the beautiful backdrop of the North Wales coast, this is the poignant story of a couple who, in the midst of a bitter divorce, rediscover their love for one another when their child is kidnapped.
