HOPE DICKSON LEACH – WRITER/DIRECTOR Hope was born in Hong Kong and educated at boarding school in England from the age of nine. As a teenager she won a place in the design department of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. She studied philosophy at Edinburgh university, and then began her career in the industry with a placement at the Edinburgh International Film festival. After working in Scotland and Los Angeles in production and development for a couple of years, Hope decided to go to film school. She completed her MFA in filmmaking at Columbia University in New York, where she made three short films that played at festivals worldwide. While in New York she was assistant to Todd Solondz on his film PALINDROMES. Hope’s thesis film, THE DAWN CHORUS, won awards and the attention of Screen International where she was made a Star of Tomorrow upon her return to London in 2007. She was also named one of the ’25 New Faces of Independent Film’ by New York’s Filmmaker Magazine. In 2008, as well as a Coming Up film, PARLIAMO GLASGOW, nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award, she directed a series of 3 Minute Wonders for Channel 4, and MORNING ECHO, a Pulse Plus short film starring Kerry Fox – which has played at festivals all over the world, winning further awards and recognition. In 2011, following the birth of her first son in 2010, she directed a piece of Five Minute Theatre as part of the National Theatre of Scotland's 5th Anniversary Celebrations which has now been watched over 7,000 times on Youtube. Her debut feature THE LEVELLING, produced by Wellington Films, has made it to the final round of the iFeatures scheme, funded by BBC Films, the BFI and Creative England. She is also currently developing several other features including a coming-of-age comedy, a dystopian political thriller, a comedy about a neuroscientist who has to become a gymnastics coach, and a time travel sci-fi about a woman who wants to go back in time to reverse her accidental pregnancy and find her long lost father. She lives in Scotland with her husband and two sons. Hope is represented by Elinor Burns at Casarotto, Ramsay & Associates