Screenwriter


AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK
The Movie


Filming begins in August! Starring John Hurt as Quentin Crisp!

Keep an eye out for the movie An Englishman In New York, based on Quentin Crisp’s life in New York City following his move there in 1981. Brian Fillis will write the screenplay. Mr. Fillis studied English at Leeds University in the late 1980s but dropped out after two years. He was then a DJ at the Leeds Warehouse for two years, or during the “heady days of ‘baggy’ music and all things ‘Madchester’.”

In the early 1990s, Brian Fillis was the lead singer of a four-piece guitar band peddling 1960s cover versions to workingmen’s clubs throughout the North West. In 1996, Brian qualified as mathematics teacher and has to date published ten mathematics text and teacher-resource books. In 2002, he became a mathematics teaching consultant—effectively training teachers.

Mr. Fillis had his television debut with his adaptation of his cult comic play Fear of Fanny for BBC4, starring Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss. Devised from interviews with Fanny's colleagues, family and critics, the 90-minute television film about the life and supper times of the great cook/hostess Fanny Cradock aired on BBC4 on October 23, 2006. This critically acclaimed adaptation made its terrestrial premiere on BBC2 at 9pm on New Years Eve 2006.

The NRG Theatre Company stage production of Fear of Fanny premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002. Fear of Fanny then toured the UK in October and November 2003. Brian's next play was Non-Scene, a dark satire on the life of Lionel—a gay serial killer. The play premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2003.

Brian is presently writing a new drama for BBC4, The Curse of Steptoe, to be produced by Ben Bickerton. He has also been commissioned by Pathé Films (with BBC Films) to write a film about Britain’s formidable woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. The film will focus on Thatcher's battle to save her career in the 17 days immediately before the Falklands War in 1982.

Currently Mr. Fillis is working on An Englishman In New York for Leopard Drama, which will be the second installment of Quentin Crisp’s life story. The first installment or movie adaptation of Mr. Crisp's life, of course, is the 1975 BBC television movie The Naked Civil Servant, with screenplay written by Philip Mackie, starring actor John Hurt as Quentin Crisp.

Please check back for updates!