Today, I will have the pleasure of interviewing on film the acclaimed screenwriter, novelist, film critic and producer, David Pirie. The experience should be a great opportunity to discover more about an artform I am keen to pursue further in a professional capacity; writing, in all it’s numerous forms.
Pirie has years of experience within the creative industries, particularly within television and film, having written the screenplays for numerous screen dramas such as ITV’s Murderland, the BBC’s Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, and the BAFTA nominated BBC adaptation of The Woman in White. He has also written film reviews for Sight and Sound magazine (published by the BFI) as well as having been the Film Section editor for Time Out magazine. Furthermore, he is the author of the celebrated A Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema 1946-1972 (and the updated version published in 2008, A New Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema), which is still considered to be “the definitive study” of that particular era and genre of film in English cinema.
I am really looking forward to interviewing someone who works within a medium I love such as writing, especially within genres and writing forms I am particularly interested in, having myself written film and television reviews as well as having an invested interest in the art of filmmaking and screenwriting; I will, in fact, be taking a module in Screenwriting at uni this coming year. Pirie’s extensive knowledge of the Gothic and horror film genres will no doubt be invaluable to my work towards the BFI Gothic Season events at the Watershed this November. Hopefully my own interviewing skills won’t be too ghoulish, but it will be treat to have a discussion with an arts professional I admire!
Links of Interest