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Kate Leys
Kate Leys
Kate Leys is a feature film script editor who works on projects at all stages of development. At the moment she is working with producer Mia Bays at Film London and with Stewart le Marechal at APT. She is also working with writer/director Noel Clarke on a new project; comedian Jimmy Carr on his first screenplay; writer Toby Young on a screenplay and with New York filmmakers Todd Downey and Mike Albo on their first feature.
Recently she worked on an original screenplay with Peter Milligan, author of graphic novel Skin and several series for Marvel including X-MEN, X-Statix, Tank Girl. She is working on adaptations including English children’s classic Charlotte Sometimes, Julie Myerson’s bestselling Something Might happen and Jamie O’Neill’s At Swim Two Boys. She has worked on a handful of short films and was script editor on the 20-minute K by Piers Thompson, which screened in competition in Berlin in February 08. She also advises both commercial and public film financiers including DNA, The Weinstein Co, Celador, Slingshot and Media Plus Europe.
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 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 15 years, and was a former member of Script Factory's Advisory Board and is currently an Advisory Board Member of the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival.
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