Screenwriter Guy Hibbert gives NFTS masterclass

Guy Hibbert, one of the leading political screenwriter working today, has given a Screen Arts Masterclass to an audience of NFTS students.

Following a screening of his BAFTA-winning film Complicit, Hibbert answered students questions in a session chaired by Dick Fiddy, NFTS guest tutor and TV programmer for the BFI.

Describing his career from leaving school, aged 15, Hibbert described how he started out working in theatre as a stagehand before getting his first break in BBC drama with legendary producer/commissioner Michael Wearing and executive producer Hilary Salmon.

He extolled the virtues of writing for television where the writer’s work is highly respected, and he revealed his own preference for writing for the two hour format - the film for television. Hibbert also spoke about his approach to real life material and about the respect he feels necessary to show real people whose lives he may be depicting.

Student screenwriters responded with interest and relief that such an attitude to work still has room to survive in today’s industry. He also went into some detail about how he develops ideas and characters, noting that for him characters should ideally be a blend of the personal and the political.

Hibbert’s forthcoming television films include One Child set in China with Donald Sumpter (Game of Thrones) and Katie Leung (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire); and a political thriller Eye in the Sky, with Helen Mirren and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) currently shooting in South Africa. Directed by Gavin Hood and produced by Colin Firth, the film is about drone warfare and the disparate characters it brings together.

Hibbert encouraged all young writers when starting out to say “yes” to everything and to take every opportunity to see their scripts in production. He also extolled the advantages of always being amenable to work with.

Guy Hibbert received a BAFTA for Best Drama twice (No Child of Mine with Peter Kosminsky in 1997 and Omagh with Paul Greengrass in 2005); and a third BAFTA Award for Best Writer, in 2010, for Five Minutes of Heaven.

Two other scripts, The Russian Bride and May 33rd received BAFTA nominations. He also won the world cinema screenwriting award at Sundance in 2009 and the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize 2010 (Northern Ireland peace prize) both awards for Five Minutes of Heaven.

He has twice won the Mental Health Media Award for his contribution to the understanding of mental health issues in the UK.

Hibbert’s work is often based on detailed research and immersion in the world of his story.