“One of the most interesting film-makers in Britain today.” – MJ Simpson, British Horror Revival

I’ve directed some films so I call myself a director.

Some of the films I’ve directed have been paid for (by other people) and some have been shown on the TV, at cinemas and at festivals. Some have even won awards. In the interests of fairness however, a couple of the films have had really terrible reviews but I like to interpret those in a way which makes me sound like they really meant that I’m some kind of maverick rather than incompetent.

These films and programmes include Outlander (2nd Unit Dir and DoP), 4x1h TV Series ‘The Revolutionary Spirit’, Sky Arts Feature ‘Teenage Superstars’, Big Gold Dream and one of BFI’s ’35 Great British Horror Films’ ‘Far From the Apple Tree’

Some of these films have been reviewed in newspapers that people read, magazines that are available in shops and websites seen on the world wide web such as Sight and Sound.

The Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Telegraph, The Observer and even Daily Mail all gave my film, Teenage Superstars ‘Pick of the Day’. That was nice!

Radio Times, Vice, Clashmag, Dazed, Mojo, Q, Uncut, Louder than War, Record Collector, Nova and Pitchfork gave some very nice space to my films too.

And the awards/accolades I mentioned include one of Sight and Sound’s films of the year, The I’s Best Documentaries of the Year, EIFF’s Audience Award (and another nomination), BAFTA Scotland NT nominee and ‘BFI’s 35 Great Horror Films’.

Regardless of the reviews though, I do like to think of myself as a creative and exciting director who is always trying to achieve originality in all aspects of a film’s production.

I started my career as a camera assistant and worked my way up through the camera department ranks which has allowed me to work with – and learn from – some of my favourite directors and cinematographers. It really was a great experience as it allowed me to sneakily ask questions and advice from those more experienced to aid my own films. I’ve assisted on around 50 features, 150 commercials and over 100 hour long TV episodes.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Ken Loach, Danny Boyle, Jonathan Glazer, Stephen Soderbergh, George Clooney, Neil Marshall, Christopher Doyle, Anthony Dod Mantle and the ‘blue’ television ‘comedian’ Jim Davidson who were all amazing to learn from. Well, maybe less so Jim. And I’ve been lucky to watch the process of them directing actors such as Scarlett Johansson, Bob Hoskins, Brad Pitt, Rutger Hauer, Keira Knightley, Adrien Brody, Daniel Craig, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway and the “hilarious” television star Jack Whitehall. All amazing experiences which I’ve been incredibly honoured to have observed. Especially Whitehall.

Before I became interested in directing I was heavily involved in the transition of film to digital cinematography. In early 2007 I became aware of the Red camera and other early digital cinema cameras such as the Viper and Arri’s D20 and learned as much as I could about them. I soon started a company, Digital Onset with the aim of ensuring Scotland was as much at the forefront of this revolution as anywhere else in the world. This involved working heavily with producers, cinematographers and post-production facilities to ensure an infrastructure was created to facilitate this change. For many years this company was at the forefront of the revolution in Scotland, leading all technological changes that occurred – from initially ensuring a safe back-up of data, progressing to creating graded dailies to finally providing onset grading and reassuring that travelling productions would be confident in their digital workflow needs when filming in Scotland.

In addition to directing I also write non-fiction books. I’ve been lucky to have my first book, Hungry Beat published by one of the ‘big 5’ publishing companies, Hachette, under their very cool ‘White Rabbit’. Two further books have been finished and will be published in 2024, with a new book on Scotland’s film industry in the works.

Anyway, more about me and my films…

…These awards and festivals I mentioned, below is a selected list/filmography of them – and some nice words:

‘Teenage Superstars’ – Feature Documentary (2017). Sky Arts/Creative Scotland

Edinburgh International Film Festival. Nominee: Audience Award, Best Documentary

Raindance Film Festival

Mojo Magazine – 4 stars, Uncut Magazine, Louder than War – 4 stars, Record Collector and Long Live Vinyl – 4 stars

‘Far From the Apple Tree’ – Feature (2019).

Featured at 2017’s EIFF ‘Works in Progress’ strand. Released on DVD in UK by Redemption Films, streaming by BFI and in the US by Kino Lorber.

” This is an excellent piece of work. No doubt some viewers will be turned off by its unwillingness to compromise for the sake of accessibility, but others will fall in love.” – Eye For Film

“McPhee’s third trippy feature confirms him as one of the most interesting film-makers in Britain today.” – British Horror Revival

“A funny thing happened after I finished it. I sat for a moment. I thought for a few minutes about what I had just seen… and then I watched it again. I’ve been doing this thing for a while now, but I can’t recall another instance where I watched a film back-to-back. Far From the Apple Tree is simply one of the most authentic horror films I’ve ever seen.” – Modern Horrors

‘Big Gold Dream’ – Feature Documentary (2015). BBC Scotland/Creative Scotland

Screened on BBC2.

Edinburgh International Film Festival. Winner: Audience Award

Sight and Sound’s Best Films of 2015

BIFA Long List for Best Documentary

I’s best films of 2017 (after its TV screening)

Dazed’s best film so 2015

Raindance Film Festival, Leeds Film Festival, Cambridge Film Festival

“Brilliant film about post punk/ pop in Scotland and beyond…Big Gold Dream is amazing” – Tim Burgess from The Charlatans

“I loved it” – Andrew Macdonald – Trainspotting Producer

“Just Watched Big Gold Dream Re-Write History to fit a Story – Fuck Off” – Film Director, and pop star Richard Jobson, who was not featured in the film.