Bruce McLeod is an author, playwright and screenwriter, based in North Yorkshire, UK.
Bruce McLeod was born in Scotland in 1965 and gained a doctorate in English Literature at the University of Iowa in the USA. His first book, The Geography of Empire in English Literature, 1580-1745, an examination of British culture, imagination and empire, was published by Cambridge University Press in 1999.
He has co-written, with Naomi Wallace, two plays for younger actors and audiences, The Girl Who Fell Through A Hole In Her Jumper (Aurora Metro Press; Broadway Publishing) Wand In the Sweat (Faber) which was performed at the National Theatre in London.
McLeod’s numerous screenwriting credits include:
Cross My Mind (co-writer with Naomi Wallace): currently in pre-production with producer Kees Kasander, director Alice Millar.
Wasteland (Undercliffe): directed by Lisa Mulcahy, produced by Alexandra Breede. The film stars Mark Addy (The Full Monty) and Laurie Kynaston (How To Build a Girl). This Open Palm Films production premiered at the Austin Film Festival (where it was one of the “staff picks”) and was released in 2018.
Flying Blind (co-writer with Naomi Wallace): directed by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz and produced by Alison Sterling. The film stars Helen McCrory and Kenneth Cranham (Layer Cake; Valkyrie). The Ignition Films and BBC Films production premiered in 2012 at the Edinburgh Film Festival, was nominated for the prestigious Michael Powell Award, and went on to win awards at Koszalin Debut Film Festival and Bath Film Festival. It was released in the UK by Soda Pictures and in Poland by Alter Ego.
The War Boys (co-writer with Naomi Wallace): produced for The Group Entertainment by Matt Parker and John Hart; directed by Ron Daniels. The film starred Peter Gallagher and Brian J. Smith. It won the Best Feature Film Award at the SoCal Independent Film Festival held in Huntington Beach, California.
In Development:
Burnt Grass (Ignition Films/Metro Films/Bulletproofcupid films; dir. Katarzyna Klimkiewcz), produced by Alison Sterling) received development funding from the Polish Film Institute; the cast includes Rory Kinnear and Adeel Akhtar.
He has adapted Wallace’s play, Night is a Room, which will star Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Invisible Man), Ann Dowd (Mass, The Handmaid’s Tale) and Justin Theroux (White House Plumbers). It is currently raising finance with Warren Littlefield as producer.
Original screenplay, Holy Land, is also in development with the German Hungarian producer Sandor Soeth.
