2.Main Content
About Us
Kate Leys
Kate Leys
Kate Leys is a feature film script editor who works on projects at all stages of development. Currently she is working on projects for producers including Chris Coen at Unanimous Pictures, Mia Bays at Microwave/Film London, Bob Last at Ink, Stewart le Marechal at Met Film, Peter Fudadowsoki at UKFTV, Beatsheet Films in New York, Rodar y Rodar in Spain, Karlene Page at Big Hug Productions, Lucy Robinson at Little Comet, Neomis Films in Paris, North West Vision, South West Screen, Scottish Screen and the UKFC. She is working with a wide range of talent including Cameron Fraser, Hope Dickson Leach, Mark Tonderai, Charlie Belleville, Hania and Gaia Elkington, Chris Reddy and Esther May Campbell. She works in all genres; on adaptations as well as original screenplays; and on a handful of short films. She is often brought in to advise on projects in development with commercial producers including DNA, The Weinstein Co, Unanimous Films, Celador and Slingshot; she advises Media Plus Europe on slate finance applications, and the New Zealand Film Commission on feature finance.
She has been head of development at several companies including FilmFour, where she was based for 5 years and where she was part of the small team commissioning and developing some of the UK’s most successful feature films including Four Weddings and A Funeral, Trainspotting and The Full Monty. She developed Orphans and brought in both East Is East and Girl With A Pearl Earring, working with countless British writers and directors along the way. As head of development at Capitol Films she spotted Leaving Las Vegas and Things to do in Denver When You're Dead, and worked with talent including Roman Polanski and William Boyd. She has commissioned at least one Oscar nominated film (Solomon and Gaenor) and has also been involved in commissioning well over 100 short films.
Previously she was a film agent at Gillon Aitken Associates; presented & produced for BBC2's The Late Show and Moving Pictures; was director of the Edinburgh Television Festival; and was Associate Director of Cinema at the ICA. In addition she has been a location caterer, a film festival programmer, a visiting lecturer in screenwriting, a film distributor and a cinema usherette.
Kate teaches script development on the National Film and Television School and Script Factory's Diploma in Script Development, screenwriting to post graduate students at the University of London, and evaluates screenwriting courses for the UK Film Council via Skillset. She is a screenwriting mentor for Microwave at Film London and for the Writers Lab scheme at Met Film, is co-mentoring a new writing team with Simon Beaufoy for the UKFC, and is script editor to the first prizewinner of the Northern Lights Film Festival script development competition. She is currently running a project for Skillset to produce a Shortlist of the best graduating writers from all the key film schools in the UK. She speaks regularly at festivals and industry events including the London Film Festival, the Cheltenham Screenwriting Festival, Bird’s Eye View film festival, the Skillset Fellowship Programme, the New Producers’ Alliance, and provides workshops for The Script Factory's UKFC-funded 2008 digital shorts filmmakers. She was on the production committee at Scottish Screen for 7 years, has been a BAFTA member for 16 years, and was a former member of Script Factory's Advisory Board and is currently an Advisory Board Member of the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival.
Back to Biogs list