Frank Cottrell Boyce

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Frank Cottrell Boyce
Born 23 September 1959 (1959-09-23) (age 52)
Liverpool
Occupation Writer

Frank Cottrell Boyce (born 23 September 1959[1]) is a British screenwriter, novelist and occasional actor, known for his children's fiction and for his collaborations with film director Michael Winterbottom.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

Cottrell Boyce was born in 1959 in Liverpool[1] to an Irish Catholic family.[2] He was an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford and then completed a doctorate in English, also at Oxford University. Prior to his career as a screenwriter, he wrote criticism for the magazine Living Marxism. As a result there was supposedly always a copy of the magazine on sale in the newsagent set of long-running British soap Coronation Street, while Cottrell Boyce was on the writing staff of that programme. After he met Winterbottom, the two collaborated on Forget About Me.

Winterbottom made five further films based on screenplays written by Cottrell Boyce, Butterfly Kiss, Welcome to Sarajevo, The Claim, 24 Hour Party People and Code 46. Their 2005 collaboration, A Cock and Bull Story, is their last according to Cottrell Boyce, who asked that his contribution be credited to Martin Hardy, a pseudonym. He told Variety, "I just had to move on ... what better way to walk away than by giving Winterbottom a good script for free?"[3]

Other film directors Cottrell Boyce has worked with include Danny Boyle (Millions), Alex Cox (Revengers Tragedy), Richard Laxton (Grow Your Own) and Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie).

Cottrell Boyce has been praised by, among others, Roger Ebert, as one of the few truly inventive modern-day screenwriters. He has spoken against the "three-act structure" and the "hero's journey" formulas, which are often regarded as axiomatic truths in the business[citation needed][clarification needed].

In addition to original scripts, Cottrell Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction, winning the 2004 Carnegie Medal for his debut, Millions, based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name. His novel Framed was shortlisted for the Whitbread Book of the Year as well as the Carnegie Medal. He adapted the novel into a screenplay for a 2009 BBC television film. His 2009 novel Cosmic was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.[4] In 2011, he was commissioned to write a sequel to the Ian Fleming children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,[5] which was published in October 2011 as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again[6]

In addition to Coronation Street, he wrote many episodes of the soap opera Brookside, as well as its spin-off Damon and Debbie.

He wrote and staged his first original theatre production Proper Clever at the Liverpool Playhouse during the city's European Capital of Culture Year, in 2008.

On 18 September 2010, he co-presented the Papal Visit at Hyde Park with TV personality Carol Vorderman.

He is married and the father of seven children.[7]

[edit] Novels

  • Framed (2005)
  • Millions (2004)
  • Cosmic (2008)
  • Desirable (2008)
  • The Unforgotten Coat (2011)[8]
  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (2011) [9]

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Screenplays

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "COTTRELL-BOYCE, Frank", Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 2009 accessed 16 May 2010
  2. ^ Craig, Amanda (2008-06-06). "Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce's new children's book Cosmic is his best yet. Amanda Craig meets him". London: Times Online. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article4079529.ece?print=yes&randnum=1151003209000. Retrieved 2010-05-20. 
  3. ^ Variety
  4. ^ 2009 Carnegie shortlist
  5. ^ Brown, Mark (23 March 2011). "Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to fly again". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/23/ian-fleming-chitty-chitty-bang-bang?intcmp=239. 
  6. ^ Lacey, Josh (15 October 2011). "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce – review". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/14/chittychitty-bangbang-flies-again-review. 
  7. ^ HarperCollins
  8. ^ Walker Books. ISBN 978-1-4063-3385-5
  9. ^ Macmillan Children's Books ISBN 978-0230757738

[edit] External links

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