James Mavor

James is a professional screenwriter with credits for television spanning 25 years across soaps, series and single dramas, including The Bill, Doctor Finlay (Bafta Scotland Best Series), Monarch of the Glen and Split Second, a TV movie starring Clive Owen and Helen McCrory, directed by David Blair and Exec Produced by Jane Tranter for BBC One.

James has been involved in high-profile adaptations and collaborations with best-selling crime author Ian Rankin, including Reichenbach Falls for BBC 4 and Doors Open, a comedy-thriller starring Stephen Fry and Douglas Henshall, directed by Marc Evans for Sprout Pictures and ITV.

James has worked in other forms with some success. A short film Disco won a Bafta Scotland New Talent Award. His stage play Terminal won a Fringe First, and a radio adaptation for Radio 3 was nominated for a Sony Award. A libretto Out of Season with the Royal Opera House received an Olivier Award nomination. A short story Brittle was published in Work, as a winner of the Orange/Scotland on Sunday New Writing competition.
 
James combines his writing work with teaching at Edinburgh Napier University. He was the Programme Leader on the MA Screenwriting until 2020 and now leads the Kino Eyes Erasmus International Film Masters and MFA in Advanced Film Practice. Consultancy work includes script development with Edinburgh-based, Bafta-winning animation duo Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson on Dom, their debut feature documentary which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2022.

Current writing projects include Berwick Law, a low-budget feature film in development with Creative Scotland/BFI and Producer John McKay. The Hum is a high-end TV drama series set in Estonia and the UK, in development with Compact Pictures, Reel One Entertainment and Allfilm in Estonia.

Jeff in Venice, a feature film adaptation of Geoff Dyer's comic novel, is in development with director Peter Mackie Burns (Mayflies) and writer and comedian Dylan Moran (Black Books).