Scott McQuaid

Scott McQuaid is a British writer and director for stage, screen and audio theatre. He grew up in Essex, England, and spent most of his childhood making camcorder movies with the kids in his neighborhood. The first chapter of Scott's life circled around martial arts, which stemmed from his love for it in movies - particularly, in Bruce Lee's 'Enter The Dragon', and John Carpenter's 'Big Trouble In Little China'. His love for martial arts led him to Hong Kong cinema. And shortly after graduating school, he moved to Hong Kong, where he began his career, volunteering on film sets as a production assistant, and occasionally appearing as an extra. During this period of 1995 to 1998, McQuaid worked on sets with renowned Hong Kong film directors such as Tsui Hark, Herman Yau, and Benny Chan. His career would then take a detour as he began focusing on becoming a proficient fighter in a rare Indonesian martial art 'Silat Harimau'. McQuaid became a dedicated student in the art, relocating to Southeast Asia - living in Sumatra, Philippines, and Malaysia. During this time, he still continued to study the craft of directing, earning a Bachelor's degree in Performing Arts, and eventually a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking. He also juggled working at several cinemas as an usher, to put himself through college and university, all the while having the opportunity to study film on the big screen every evening at work. McQuaid fast became an acclaimed figure in Silat Harimau, earning the title of Guru, and then Pendekar, meaning warrior, as well as the hero title of Wira. He is also one of only two foreigners to win a title at the Mahaguru Championship in Malaysia. He became a historian on this Indonesian combat system, documenting his findings and teachings with publications in various martial arts magazines, holding seminars across the UK, Europe, and the United States, promoting the art, before ending this journey by making a documentary film on silat, which took over seven years to produce, and was shot in six countries. After more than two and half decades practicing martial arts, Scott retired...Well, perhaps, semi-retired, as he's never too far from a punching bag. McQuaid was ready to fully embrace his directing career in the second chapter of his life. After writing and directing small skits across England, he was hired as the Resident Director by the Cempaka Performing Arts Company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since then, he has directed numerous plays and musicals, winning consecutive BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, including the Best Director award, and was also recognized by Malaysia Book of Records with an achievement award for producing an original musical written and directed by himself. In 2016, McQuaid started his own theatre company, Pop Up Theatre, where he began writing and directing his own brand of black comedy plays for the stage, that would be performed all around Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. In 2017, he launched his indie movie company, Plastic Monkey Films. And after producing a handful of short movies that screened at various film festivals, he set out to make his first feature film. On a shoestring budget and an intense 22-day shoot, McQuaid wrote, directed, and produced the self-aware B-movie, 'Space Ninjas'. The movie debuted at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival and was immediately picked up by Amazon Prime and Apple TV with worldwide distribution in 2019. When the pandemic hit, Scott had just started shooting his second movie, which can be described as an unworldly, dark fairy-tale. During the lock-down period, McQuaid shifted his focus to audio theatre, writing and directing various podcast plays, including original Sherlock Holmes adventures, where the detective tackled true crimes in a factual fiction series. These audio plays quickly earned a loyal and dedicated following, streaming across the globe on Audible, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and YouTube. As lock-down restrictions began to ease, Scott also explored virtual theatre, blending his knowledge of film and theatre to create works that would stream on his Pop Up Theatre YouTube channel. In mid-2021, Scott became an author, publishing his first book, featuring a collection of his black comedy plays, in the aptly titled book, 'Scott Forgot The Title', available on Amazon, Book Depository, Indie Bound, Google Books, Dymocks, and more. McQuaid is back at work on his delayed second movie, which is already generating interest within the industry, and he continues to create innovative, pop-cultural, genre-defying cinema.