Krysty Wilson-Cairns | |
---|---|
Born | Glasgow, Scotland | 26 May 1987
Occupation | Screenwriter |
Education | |
Years active | 2012–present |
Krysty Norma Lesley Wilson-Cairns [1] (born 26 May 1987) is a Scottish screenwriter. Born and raised in Glasgow, she studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the National Film and Television School. During her teenage years, she was a runner on television series including the detective show Taggart. Her script for the unproduced science fiction thriller Aether made the 2014 Black List and led to a staff writer role on the television show Penny Dreadful. Her feature film debut was the screenplay for the Sam Mendes-directed 2019 war film 1917. She co-wrote it with Mendes and received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Wilson-Cairns was born on 26 May 1987 [2] [3] in Glasgow, Scotland. [4] She grew up in the Shawlands area of the city in a single-parent household. Wilson-Cairns attended the private Craigholme School. Her grandparents partly funded her place at the school. [4] At the age of 15, she had a work experience placement on the Scottish detective show Taggart. [5] The series had used the mechanic shop that her father worked in as a set and she reports watching the filming of it during her summer holidays. [4] [6] She became a runner on the show as well as on other television series including Rebus and Lip Service. [7] [8]
Wilson-Cairns had initially aspired to study physics and become an engineer but her on set experiences as a runner fostered her interest in working in the film industry. [6] She studied Digital Film and Television at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), and graduated in 2009. [9] Her first creative work at the RCS was a short story about killer guinea pigs. [4] [10] She credits her ambition to become a screenwriter on being inspired by one of her lecturers at the RCS, screenwriter Richard Smith. [11] She then spent a year working at the BBC Comedy Unit, before moving to London where she gained an MA in Screenwriting from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in 2013. [9] [12] While studying at the NFTS, she worked as a bartender in The Toucan, an Irish pub in Soho, and developed script ideas during her downtime. [13] [14]
Wilson-Cairns sold her first film script to FilmNation Entertainment in 2014. [15] It was for the science fiction thriller project Aether, which provided her breakthrough after it made the top ten of the Black List. [16] [17] [18] The script was read by screenwriter John Logan who hired her as a staff writer on his television show Penny Dreadful in 2015. [9] She also contributed to its comic book series. [19] After this, her first writing commission was for a potential film adaptation, to be directed by Tobias Lindholm, of Charles Graeber's non-fiction book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder. [20] [21] Filmmaker Sam Mendes was impressed by her treatment, and suggested collaborating on a future film project. [22] They had previously met while working on Penny Dreadful, for which he was an executive producer, and worked on two potential projects together. [23] This included a film adaptation of Gay Talese's book The Voyeur's Motel and an Invisibilia podcast. [24] However, both projects fell through due to licensing issues. [25] [26] In 2017, she was named as one of Forbes′ 30 under 30 in the Hollywood and Entertainment category. [27]
Her feature film debut was the screenplay for Mendes' World War I film 1917 (2019) which she co-wrote. [23] The film follows two young British soldiers on a mission to warn a fellow battalion of a German ambush, and is shot to appear as if it is one continuous take. [28] To help develop the script, she travelled to the battlefields and cemeteries of World War I in northern France with her mother and read frontline diaries at the Imperial War Museum. [4] [29] For her work on the film, Wilson-Cairns received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, [30] [31] and shared the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. [32] She was named as one of the 10 Screenwriters to Watch by the trade magazine Variety in their 2019 list. [33] In October 2020, she co-founded Great Company with producer Jack Ivins. [1] The following year, the company signed a two-year film deal with Universal Pictures. [34] She co-wrote the screenplay of Edgar Wright's psychological horror Last Night in Soho (2021), and had a cameo as a bartender. [26] [35] The following year, she wrote the screenplay for The Good Nurse, an adaptation of the Charles Graeber novel, which was first announced in 2014 as her first writing commission. [36] The film was about the serial killer nurse Charles Cullen and intensive care nurse Amy Loughren who helped to convict him. Wilson-Cairns spent a fortnight working in a burns unit in a hospital in Connecticut to learn about the American healthcare system to develop the script. [24] For her work on the film, she received a nomination for Best Writer Film/Television at the 2023 British Academy Scotland Awards. [37]
Her upcoming projects include an adaptation of journalist Evan Ratliff's book The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. about programmer-turned-drug cartel boss Paul Le Roux, for an Amazon Studios crime drama series. [38] [39] She is also writing the screenplay for a biopic on the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra directed by Denis Villeneuve, based on Stacy Schiff's biography Cleopatra: A Life. [40]
Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1917 | Co-written with Sam Mendes | [30] [31] [32] |
2021 | Last Night in Soho | Co-written with Edgar Wright | [35] |
2022 | The Good Nurse | [36] [41] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Penny Dreadful | Writer | 2 episodes: "No Beast So Fierce", "Perpetual Night" Also staff writer in season 3 |
[9] [17] [42] |
Award | Date | Category | Work | Result | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Writers Guild of America Awards | 1 February 2020 | Best Original Screenplay | 1917 | Nominated | [31] |
British Academy Film Awards | 2 February 2020 | Outstanding British Film | 1917 | Won | [32] |
Academy Awards | 9 February 2020 | Best Original Screenplay | 1917 | Nominated | [30] |
British Academy Scotland Awards | 19 November 2023 | Best Writer Film/Television | The Good Nurse | Nominated | [37] |
Krysty Wilson-Cairns | |
---|---|
Born | Glasgow, Scotland | 26 May 1987
Occupation | Screenwriter |
Education | |
Years active | 2012–present |
Krysty Norma Lesley Wilson-Cairns [1] (born 26 May 1987) is a Scottish screenwriter. Born and raised in Glasgow, she studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the National Film and Television School. During her teenage years, she was a runner on television series including the detective show Taggart. Her script for the unproduced science fiction thriller Aether made the 2014 Black List and led to a staff writer role on the television show Penny Dreadful. Her feature film debut was the screenplay for the Sam Mendes-directed 2019 war film 1917. She co-wrote it with Mendes and received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Wilson-Cairns was born on 26 May 1987 [2] [3] in Glasgow, Scotland. [4] She grew up in the Shawlands area of the city in a single-parent household. Wilson-Cairns attended the private Craigholme School. Her grandparents partly funded her place at the school. [4] At the age of 15, she had a work experience placement on the Scottish detective show Taggart. [5] The series had used the mechanic shop that her father worked in as a set and she reports watching the filming of it during her summer holidays. [4] [6] She became a runner on the show as well as on other television series including Rebus and Lip Service. [7] [8]
Wilson-Cairns had initially aspired to study physics and become an engineer but her on set experiences as a runner fostered her interest in working in the film industry. [6] She studied Digital Film and Television at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), and graduated in 2009. [9] Her first creative work at the RCS was a short story about killer guinea pigs. [4] [10] She credits her ambition to become a screenwriter on being inspired by one of her lecturers at the RCS, screenwriter Richard Smith. [11] She then spent a year working at the BBC Comedy Unit, before moving to London where she gained an MA in Screenwriting from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in 2013. [9] [12] While studying at the NFTS, she worked as a bartender in The Toucan, an Irish pub in Soho, and developed script ideas during her downtime. [13] [14]
Wilson-Cairns sold her first film script to FilmNation Entertainment in 2014. [15] It was for the science fiction thriller project Aether, which provided her breakthrough after it made the top ten of the Black List. [16] [17] [18] The script was read by screenwriter John Logan who hired her as a staff writer on his television show Penny Dreadful in 2015. [9] She also contributed to its comic book series. [19] After this, her first writing commission was for a potential film adaptation, to be directed by Tobias Lindholm, of Charles Graeber's non-fiction book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder. [20] [21] Filmmaker Sam Mendes was impressed by her treatment, and suggested collaborating on a future film project. [22] They had previously met while working on Penny Dreadful, for which he was an executive producer, and worked on two potential projects together. [23] This included a film adaptation of Gay Talese's book The Voyeur's Motel and an Invisibilia podcast. [24] However, both projects fell through due to licensing issues. [25] [26] In 2017, she was named as one of Forbes′ 30 under 30 in the Hollywood and Entertainment category. [27]
Her feature film debut was the screenplay for Mendes' World War I film 1917 (2019) which she co-wrote. [23] The film follows two young British soldiers on a mission to warn a fellow battalion of a German ambush, and is shot to appear as if it is one continuous take. [28] To help develop the script, she travelled to the battlefields and cemeteries of World War I in northern France with her mother and read frontline diaries at the Imperial War Museum. [4] [29] For her work on the film, Wilson-Cairns received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, [30] [31] and shared the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. [32] She was named as one of the 10 Screenwriters to Watch by the trade magazine Variety in their 2019 list. [33] In October 2020, she co-founded Great Company with producer Jack Ivins. [1] The following year, the company signed a two-year film deal with Universal Pictures. [34] She co-wrote the screenplay of Edgar Wright's psychological horror Last Night in Soho (2021), and had a cameo as a bartender. [26] [35] The following year, she wrote the screenplay for The Good Nurse, an adaptation of the Charles Graeber novel, which was first announced in 2014 as her first writing commission. [36] The film was about the serial killer nurse Charles Cullen and intensive care nurse Amy Loughren who helped to convict him. Wilson-Cairns spent a fortnight working in a burns unit in a hospital in Connecticut to learn about the American healthcare system to develop the script. [24] For her work on the film, she received a nomination for Best Writer Film/Television at the 2023 British Academy Scotland Awards. [37]
Her upcoming projects include an adaptation of journalist Evan Ratliff's book The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. about programmer-turned-drug cartel boss Paul Le Roux, for an Amazon Studios crime drama series. [38] [39] She is also writing the screenplay for a biopic on the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra directed by Denis Villeneuve, based on Stacy Schiff's biography Cleopatra: A Life. [40]
Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1917 | Co-written with Sam Mendes | [30] [31] [32] |
2021 | Last Night in Soho | Co-written with Edgar Wright | [35] |
2022 | The Good Nurse | [36] [41] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Penny Dreadful | Writer | 2 episodes: "No Beast So Fierce", "Perpetual Night" Also staff writer in season 3 |
[9] [17] [42] |
Award | Date | Category | Work | Result | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Writers Guild of America Awards | 1 February 2020 | Best Original Screenplay | 1917 | Nominated | [31] |
British Academy Film Awards | 2 February 2020 | Outstanding British Film | 1917 | Won | [32] |
Academy Awards | 9 February 2020 | Best Original Screenplay | 1917 | Nominated | [30] |
British Academy Scotland Awards | 19 November 2023 | Best Writer Film/Television | The Good Nurse | Nominated | [37] |