Graham Hughes

Born in Kirkintilloch, Hughes kicked things off with a Film and Media degree from Stirling back in '09. Not one to waste time, he jumped straight into writing with his old pals Graeme McGeagh and Keith Grantham. That trio cooked up The Big Slick—came out in 2011, and honestly, it made some waves. It even snagged the opening slot at the 2012 Loch Ness film festival. Pretty wild for a debut, right? Then the whole gang picked up a British Academy Scotland New Talent Award nom for writing, and, get this, they actually won it. Not too shabby. Fast forward to late 2012. Hughes, McGeagh, and Grantham got back together for another go, this time on a feature called A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide. McGeagh took the lead role, playing Tom—some guy who keeps messing up his suicide attempts and decides to go out with a bang. Funding? Yeah, Creative Scotland said “nah,” so Hughes just turned to the crowd, scraped together over three grand, and ran with it. When the film dropped in 2014, it took off—hit the international festival circuit, first in California at Cinequest, then at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Hughes even got nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film. More nominations rolled in at the British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards—Best Film and Best Acting Performance. By September, Hughes got invited as a special guest to screen his film in Luxembourg. Not bad for a story that started with a few friends and a shoestring budget.