Iain Finlay Macleod

Iain Finlay Macleod

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The Third Wave - Short Story

My father had died at sea. For a long time, when I went to sea myself, I thought about him, and whether I would finally come across him again. Often the currents would bring people back to us. They didn’t this time. So it was strange to me to

Dramaturgy for writers

Some differences between German & UK approaches to making theatre.

I had a conversation with German theatre maker and lighting designer Kai Fischer to find out more about the European way of making drama. I was also interested in different models for the relationship between writer, director and dramaturg.

How to write copy for the future AI robot apocalypse.

Whenever AI finally becomes self-aware, there's a chance that it might wonder why, instead of colonising galaxies or building terminators, it spent most of its time writing AI generated content for Facebook posts.

What will you do with your 80,000 hours?

I don't know where you sit on the going to Mars thing. Maybe you think it's starting to look like having some kind of back-up of the human race might be handy. Or maybe you side more with Thomas Pinker, whose book 'The Better Angels of our Nature' argues that

Exploring the use of coaching techniques in the writing process.

In this blog entry, I will look at whether coaching techniques can be succesfully used in the script development process. I'll divide this across two posts. As always, am interested in your views and would appreciate any feedback/thoughts/leads etc... Why am I interested in this? Having gone through

Shooting a TV Documentary.

From a director's point of view.

Some excellent places online to learn some excellent stuff.

Three websites I keep going back to because of their unique takes and great resources.

Dramaturgy for writers

An account of a three day workshop with Theatre Director Thomas Ostermeier.

This piece goes over the ground we covered in a three day workshop with famous German theatre director Thomas Ostermeier. Ostermeier shared with us his thoughts on the nature of drama, his approach to developing as an artist and how he approaches working with a text. I've written a good

Planning a TV Documentary.

From a Director's point of view.

Dramaturgy for writers

Writing tips from David Greig

I led a week long course for writers and non-writers on Skye a good while back. As part of this we were very lucky to be joined by Scottish writer David Greig. He has written plays such as 'Outlying Islands', 'Dunsinane' and 'The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart'. He's one

Interviews Featured

A conversation with writer Stephen Greenhorn

Stephen Greenhorn is a writer I really respect. In this audio recording (about 35 minutes), I had the opportunity to ask Stephen about his development as a writer - from his early plays, to working on tv series like Doctor Who and musicals like Sunshine on Leith.