05 Mar Introducing The FIRST DRAFT Screenwriters 2025
Our first cohort of screenwriters
From a historical reimagining to queer thriller, comedy and horror, the work of writers selected for the first cohort of FIRST DRAFT reflects the creative ambitions of Scottish screenwriting.
Dawn Sievewright – MIMI
Mimi offers a bold and provocative re-examination of the Madeleine Smith murder case, reframing the notorious Victorian scandal through a contemporary feminist lens. The project blends scandal, desire and class tension while drawing parallels with modern narratives around shame and public judgement.
Jason Bradbury – LAYBY
An atmospheric queer thriller, Layby follows a solitary Scottish lorry driver who becomes entangled with a volatile man on the run in Poland. As danger and intimacy deepen, the film explores grief, desire and the complicated need for human connection after loss.
Lillian Salvatore – SASHA GOES SWIMMING
Set in a remote Scottish motel, Sasha Goes Swimming is a dreamlike psychological drama about Sasha, a young woman whose world unravels when a magnetic actress arrives. A story of identity, longing and disappearance, it examines loneliness and emotional inheritance with a haunting, atmospheric sensibility.
Alia Ghafar – LAV STORY
A sharp and heartfelt comedy drama, Lav Story follows Orla Weir who abandons her disastrous birthday and embarks on a spontaneous night-long odyssey through Edinburgh after discovering a trail of cryptic graffiti. The film explores the pressures placed on women in their thirties and the freedom found in stepping outside expectation.
Sean Watson and Fin Cramb – CIRCLES
Circles is a taut Highland horror centred on estranged sisters trapped inside a protective Celtic circle while a Fae creature stalks them. The film blends supernatural dread with themes of trauma, fractured memory and the struggle to break from a destructive past.
After carefully considering over 200 applications, our chosen screenwriters represent the distinctiveness of Scotland’s writing. From November 2025, these writers will receive 12 months of fiscal and developmental script support, designed with industry experts, to develop a draft for their first feature-length screenplay.
Find out more about the FIRST DRAFT programme here
“FIRST DRAFT is a key part of Screen Scotland’s Talent Builder programme and this first cohort includes an incredibly exciting line-up of compelling films from new voices from across Scotland. The team at Portal Arts are putting in place a strong programme to guide these projects and the writers achieve their potential, including the invaluable opportunity for them to have the dedicated support of such a brilliant script exec in Lizzie Gray. It will be great to see these scripts take shape over the coming weeks and months.”
—Kieran Hannigan, Head of Scripted at Screen Scotland
“I am thrilled to be involved in this first year of FIRST DRAFT with The Portal Arts and Screen Scotland. The standard and variety of applications was an honour and pleasure to read. It is an incredibly exciting journey to be part of, and I am delighted to begin working with this year’s selected cohort.”
—Lizzie Gray, First Draft Development Executive
The FIRST DRAFT programme is supported by Screen Scotland and delivered by Moya Crowley, Creative Director, and Helen Sim-Robertson, Programme Producer, at The Portal Arts.
Find out more about the programme here