Mini Biography
Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, India, to an Irish mother and Scottish father. He obtained a Philosophy degree at the Gregorian University in Rome. Thereafter he obtained a law degree in Glasgow, Scotland, and went on to do an apprenticeship with two of Scotland's most celebrated lawyers. He became a fully qualified practicing lawyer concentrating on civil and criminal law. (Miscellaneous case-load, from homelessness to preparation of murder trials.) In the mid eighties he travelled to Nicaragua, Central America, and lived there for almost three years. He worked for a Nicaraguan domestic human rights organisation which provided hard evidence of human rights abuses during the war between the Nicaraguan Government (The Sandinistas) and the United States backed "Contras" in which the subject of human rights became highly contested. He travelled to the war-zones and obtained corroborated eye witness accounts which were past on to international human rights organisations. He also travelled widely in El Salvador, during its civil war, and Guatemala too. (His interests in Latin America affairs continued much later with long research trips to Chiapas in Mexico, and along the US - Mexican border concentrating on the city of Juarez.)
After his time in Central America Paul made contact with British director Ken Loach as a result of which he wrote Carla's Song, his first screenplay, starring Bobby Carlyle, followed by My Name is Joe in which Peter Mullan won best actor in the Cannes Film Festival of 2000, followed by Bread and Roses, shot in Los Angeles, starring Adrien Brodie. Paul's next script, Sweet Sixteen won best screenplay award in the Cannes film festival of 2002. Paul and Ken have a very close working relationship now spanning over ten years. Paul has written five full length feature scripts and one short directed by Ken Loach and they have several other projects in development. Both work closely with producer Rebecca O'Brien.
Before writing he likes to immerse himself in the world of the film and carries out detailed research before writing the first draft. While he continues to work with Ken Loach he has other feature projects in development with other directors.
Mini Biography By:
Alexandra Cann Representation
Mini Biography
As a law student he once hitch-hiked across the United States from New York to Los Angeles with many surreal experiences in between. He won a Fullbright Award to study film in the U.S. based on an open screenplay competition. During his time in California he researched a story while living with Latinos in McArthur Park, down-town Los Angeles, which finally became the film "Bread and Roses" which starred the future Oscar winner Adrien Brodie. He received an Honorary PH.D from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland in 2003. On a trip to China he was once accidentally flattened by an over enthusiastic Buddhist monk who was keen to show off his King Fu skills and got carried away. Paul works between Madrid, London and Glasgow and speaks good Spanish. Every project in which Paul and Ken have collaborated has premiered in the official section of a major "A" list European festival, either Cannes (3 times) Venice (twice) or Berlin (once). Together they have won a string of international prizes. My Name is Joe and Sweet Sixteen won the best British Independent Film Award in 2000 and 2002 respectively.
Mini Biography By:
Anonymous
2 wins
&
8 nominations