ABOUT ME
Emily is a writer/director from Birmingham, England. She writes dark, often political, dramedies that use surrealism and metatheatricality to investigate humanity’s most controversial moral questions.
In 2020, Emily wrote and directed history-themed sketch revue Alternative Histories at The Second City, Chicago, to sold-out audiences.
Her debut screenplay Reset was crowned Winner of the 2019 Vail Film Festival and WeScreenplay Shorts competition and is going into production, with Emily as director, this October.
Her TV Pilots Mother Russia and The Darkroom were Finalists at the Austin Screenplay Awards and Screencraft TV Pilot Competition respectively.
Emily’s theatre work continues to enjoy great success. Her most recent play Dark Matter was selected as part of Chicago’s New Works Festival last June and her debut musical Improv: the Musical received a staged reading at Chicago’s Wirtz Center for the Arts last March.
In rehearsals for Hillary’s Kitchen, 2018
In 2018, her debut political-comedy play Hillary’s Kitchen premiered at the Edinburgh Festival (with Emily as Director and Producer).
It follows Hillary Clinton as she commiserates the morning after the 2016 US Presidential election results with 6 women from history and a whole lot of chardonnay.
Emily cast 16 first-time performers and produced and directed the play at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2018 to great critical acclaim.
Move to Chicago, September 2018
After her success in the UK, in September 2018 Emily moved to Chicago. She gained a place on Northwestern University’s MFA Program in Writing for the Screen and Stage and auditioned for and gained a place on the prestigious Conservatory Program at Chicago’s famed improv theatre, The Second City. While studying 40 hours/week on a full-time Master’s program, she spent 20 hours a week writing and performing nightly improv and sketch shows at The Second City.
At the end of her fist year, she auditioned for various ensembles, including Sketchcast, Coached Ensembles and the Second City’s prestigious Conservatory Program where she studied and performed nightly improv shows for the next year. Emily is a keen improviser in The Second City’s Conservatory Program and loves anything by Tina Fey or Victoria Wood.
Q&A with Northwestern Alumni Julia Louis-Dreyfus and husband Brad Hall, Northwestern University, November 2019
MFA Writing for the Screen and Stage seminar, Northwestern University, February 2020
While studying at the Second City, Emily worked as Assistant to the Touring Company Producers and helped rehearse and negotiate shows all over the U.S. for The Second City’s four touring companies: RedCo, BlueCo, GreenCo and PatchCo.
In 2017, Emily graduated with a degree in English and decided to become a writer. She wrote and performed in sketch revue Death, Taxes and Bonking which was crowned Winner of the 2017 Edinburgh Student Comedy Festival. After the success of this, Emily founded their all-female off-shoot - Fresh Lady Milk – with whom she promotes and fosters young female comedians.
Hugely interested in politics, Emily previously worked as a field reporter for Sky News, BBC News and BBC Sunday Politics.
She has also interned with The BBC, The Second City Touring Company and at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival…
…where she helped a drunken Robert De Niro onto a boat.
In 2014, she climbed Mount Everest, raised £24,000 and used the money to build a school for street children living in poverty in Pokhara, Nepal.
Besides writing, Emily is also a keen musician and composer. She has composed soundtracks for Sky Sports, Beatbox and the feature film Horrid Henry.
She is currently a Semifinalist in this year’s Screencraft Fellowship competition…
…And is delighted.
