Sophie McVeigh

Originally from the West Midlands in the UK, Sophie McVeigh graduated with Distinction from the London Film School’s Screenwriting MA in 2017 and went on to be selected for the inaugural Canneseries Institute writers’ residency in 2018, where she developed a comedy-drama pilot and series bible in conjunction with Canal+ and Vivendi. Having previously lived and worked in Seville and Paris, she is interested in stories with a European connection, and currently works across TV and film on a wide variety of international projects and co-productions. 

Current projects include co-writing the Cyprus-set ‘med-noir’ crime thriller series Farpoint, which is in development with ZDF Studios, Splash Screen, Three River Fiction and CYTA, Cyprus, and was recently selected for MIA’s Drama Pitching Forum in Rome. She is also developing Woke in French with MediaWan and Auteurs Associés, Paris, as well as a comedy-drama series, One Star Review, with Mainstreet Pictures, who also optioned her Paris-set psychological thriller series It Could Have Been Us, both with co-writer Peter Altini. She is developing a comedy-drama series, The Replacements, with screenwriter Mika Watkins, and a sci-fi series, Channel, with co-writer Chris Hamilton and Plan Nine Pictures. She has written a feature exploring themes of immigration and sexuality, The Taj Motel, which was selected for TorinoLabs Extended Film, alongside up-and-coming director Nish Gera, and is also in development on a short and a feature with director Andrew Keresztes, both exploring themes of male violence and toxic masculinity. Other recent collaborations include a commission to develop a psychological thriller series, Sent to Coventry, set between Spain and the West Midlands with Silverprint Pictures. 

Sophie regularly translates screenplays from French and Spanish and has worked as a script doctor and reader for Leonine Studios, Munich, Cocktail Productions, Paris, and Temple Productions, Algeria. She has also worked closely with the Academy-winning Chilean screenwriter and director Gonzalo Maza on many of his English-language projects, including the translation and subtitling of his directorial debut Ella es Cristina, which won the Jordan Ressler Award for Best First Work at the Miami International Film Festival. 

Alongside this, Sophie has also taught undergraduate Introduction to Screenwriting at The University of Manchester, is a visiting lecturer on the filmmaking course at University of East London, and a mentor to MA Screenwriting students at London Film School and The University of Manchester. She sits on the London Film School’s Industry Advisory Panel.